Archive for July, 2008
Posted on July 16, 2008 - by deCadmus
July 16, 2008
Posted on July 15, 2008 - by deCadmus
A Brief Program Note
Let me paint you a picture…
As I sit here in my favorite club chair, I am wearing a day-glow yellow motorcycle helmet on my head. This is because:
a) I am extremely concerned about an impending hard drive crash.
b) I am taking this whole Internet privacy issue quite seriously, and tin-foil hats are for noobs.
c) The ceiling fan above my head is flinging tiny, nearly invisible spiders onto nearly every conceivable surface.
d) I’m test-driving the helmet before I wear it on the road, to make sure it doesn’t make me crazy claustrophobic or extrude my head like so much play dough.
Hint: it’s not the spiders. That happened last week (honest to God) and I didn’t have a helmet to protect me.
Posted on July 14, 2008 - by deCadmus
Science, Magic and Starbucks
So this weekend I’m catching up on a collection of blog essays — continuations and corollaries on the never-ending debate of what constitutes science and magic in the world of, er… speculative fiction — when what to my wondering eyes should appear but an altogether apt metaphor for the state of Starbucks. From a post by Ted Chiang on the effects of the Industrial Revolution:
Before mass production, technology usually involved the personal touch. Every artifact was the product of an individual’s care and attention; every tool was born of a conscious act. If a device worked well, it was usually because someone had been concentrating really hard when they made it. After mass production, that was no longer the case. The personal touch vanished from many aspects of daily life.
Voila.
There remains only one remaining bit of existential inquery: is a great cappuccino the result of science, or magic? Discuss.
P.S. If you’re not familiar with Ted Chiang’s work, try his award-winning short story, The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate.
Posted on July 14, 2008 - by deCadmus
July 14, 2008
Posted on July 10, 2008 - by deCadmus
July 10, 2008
Posted on July 9, 2008 - by deCadmus
Coffee Notes from All Over
- Super-size me? Not any more. Doug Zell and the gang at Intelligentsia Coffee are ‘just saying no’ to Big Gulp portions of brewed coffee, as they discontinue their 20-oz. serving size. Is it about the bottom line? Doug says no, it’s not that at all…
“Drinking our coffee is not like drinking jug wine,” said Intelligentsia Coffee founder and Chief Executive Doug Zell on Tuesday. “We’re focused on intensity of flavors and providing coffee in the way it tastes best. And it’s not in that size.”
As a coffee snob, I think it’s a good call… coffee does not want to be slurped in giant takeaway cups. As a commentator on the business of coffee, I worry about the timing: folks are minding their pennies these days, and “value shoppers” may migrate to someplace where they feel they get more caffeine for their buck. ‘Course, that might be offset by an increase in same-day sales… folks who used to buy a Venti to last them the morning may visit twice for two twelve ounce cups. Maybe.
P.S. Speaking of Zell, have you seen his Amex ad? He’s the new Mr. Big, man.
- Rwanda preps for its first Cup of Excellence! Rwanda is rightly celebrating one coming out party after another… last year it hosted its first Golden Cup competition, and this year it’s joining the ranks of the prestigious Cup of Excellence program.
“As the host country of the first Cup of Excellence competition in Africa, Rwanda will set the stage and create the benchmark for the rest of the quality coffee-producing countries on the continent where coffee was born,” said Susie Spindler, Cup of Excellence director. “The farmers of Rwanda have worked very hard to produce exquisite coffee. We are pleased by the support these farmers have received from even the highest levels of their government and think this competition will have thrilling results.”
If you’ve been reading here for any length of time you know that I’m extremely happy about the rise of Rwandan coffee — and the consequent lifting-up of the Rwandan people. More, the recognition is well-deserved… through hard work and force of will, Rwandan coffee growers and processors just keep raising the bar on their own performance. Good on them. And congrats to friend-of-Bloggle Stephen Leighton [HasBean], who will be one of the jurists for the first Rwanda CoE. Lucky guy.
- Cold-brewed coffee is hot. It’s the sweaty season (not you: you don’t sweat, you glisten), and folks all over — even in the northern climes — are discovering a whole new way to drink coffee.
Cream and sugar is fine — for children. Once you start messing with the temperature and natural flavor of coffee, it’s a slippery slope ending in frothy, icy, sickeningly sweet concoctions.
You see, I’m fussy about coffee. I’m the purist sipping a steaming hot cup, even in the dog days of summer.
Then, one particularly sweltering day in Chicago last month, I broke down and had an iced coffee at a local Caribou Coffee; a large with a vanilla soy topper and one packet of raw sugar, to be precise. I was stunned. This velvety smooth, deeply refreshing, richly satisfying beverage was nothing less than a revelation in caffeine delivery.
Not so long ago cold-brewed (or “Toddy“) coffee was strictly a B-list brewing method, save for a select set of the javaratti, who knew a cold-brewed concentrate is the ideal foundation for iced coffee.
Me, I’m still holding out for the Coffee Snob Cold Drip Coffee Maker. Naturally.
Posted on July 9, 2008 - by deCadmus
July 9, 2008
Posted on July 8, 2008 - by deCadmus
Can Howie Get His Groove Back?
If you’re a Wall Street analyst, you might note that year over year, Starbucks’ valuation has slipped about 40%. If you’re one of several thousand Starbucks employees you may soon find a pink slip in your pay envelope, as the company moves to close 600 stores, eliminating some 12,000 jobs. 
If you’re an independent coffee house owner, you may be sitting there with your jaw hanging slack, just trying to wrap your head around the idea that, when Starbucks closes 600 frickin’ coffee shops, the move shrinks its overall footprint by a mere 8 points. And maybe if you’re a Starbucks customer you’re just so over that whole Starbucks thing. Sure, Starbucks was the epitome of hip for a while, but then they became, well… McDonalds:
Twenty years ago, it was love at first sip. Like every prisoner of love, I went from downing one cup a day to three or more. How, I wondered, had I gone more than 40 years without a midafternoon break or even a “for no reason” indulgence?
Today those memories are like bitter, stale grounds. These days the breaks aren’t fewer but are often enjoyed somewhere else. That early Starbucks mojo is no more. My disillusionment set in about three years ago, but the company’s ballyhooed “Starbucks experience” died even earlier, killed by a growing bureaucratic culture.
Ouch.
Maybe it *is* about the bureaucracy. There is, of course, a very real danger when you grow to the scale of Starbucks — or McDonalds — and your stores light up every other street corner, shopping mall and airport concourse. At some ill-defined point on your meteoric growth chart you may cease to become the sum of whatever got you there — whether that was a curiously strong cup of brewed coffee, a made-to-order espresso milkshake or a Happy Meal — and instead morph into a massive real estate holding company that also brews coffee by the gallon pot.
Or maybe it’s something else. What with mortgage meltdowns and gas prices at four bucks and change, a spiraling economy has customers feeling the pinch, caught between guzzling a latte or putting another gallon of fuel in the family hauler. Call it — as financial self-help author David Bach has — the latte factor:
The Latte Factor® is based on the simple idea that all you need to do to finish rich is to look at the small things you spend your money on every day and see whether you could redirect that spending to yourself. Putting aside as little as a few dollars a day for your future rather than spending it on little purchases such as lattes, fancy coffees, bottled water, fast food, cigarettes, magazines and so on, can really make a difference between accumulating wealth and living paycheck to paycheck.
Oh sure… financial gurus have been offering like-minded advice for decades… but those were years that lacked the incentive of four dollar gasoline and upside-down mortgages, too. Maybe folks are actually heeding the collective wisdom of the financial set. Maybe they don’t have a choice.
More likely what’s got Starbucks on the rocks is a bit — or a lot — of both factors. Which isn’t to say that Howard won’t be able to right the good ship Starbucks… but I’d wager the course corrections are far from over.
And while Starbucks is thrashing, other shops –small chains and indies alike — may be able to carve out some new opportunities for themselves, provided they’re able to keep their focus on the fundamentals: making great coffee and satisfied customers, one cup at a time.
Posted on July 7, 2008 - by deCadmus
July 7, 2008
Posted on July 7, 2008 - by deCadmus
Everything Old is New Again
In which I take one for the team. Ya know… for the the environment.
Back in the 80s (remember the 80s?) I used to scoot around town on a Honda Elite 250. Why? Well… ’cause it was easy on the pocketbook and got me where I wanted to go.
Fast forward 20 years and I’m scootin’ again. Why? Same reasons, really. Sure, it’s environmentally friendly. But honestly, that’s a bonus. (A good bonus, mind you.) At 60-70 miles a gallon, I’m digging the fact that it costs me less then 15 bucks to fill-up.
And the bit about it being a hoot to ride… well, that’s got nothing to do with it. Nope. Nothing at all.
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Hello.
Bloggle is the online playground of Doug Cadmus, a usability guy, writer, photographer and sometime dramatist who moved to Vermont for the coffee. When not writing, reading or walking his old, blind golden retriever, he roasts coffee in his garage and is the Web Guy for Green Mountain Coffee in Waterbury, VT. Flickr Photos
