For their normal coffee I totally agree, but have you tried one of their Reserve coffees on the Clover machine mentioned in the article? As far as I know it tunes its brewing parameters to each individual type of bean and it's consistently the best coffee I've had besides what I can make on my own.
I haven't, actually, because I assumed it was just a gimmick. And honestly, it IS a gimmick, allowing Starbucks to offer fancy "boutique" coffee at multiple locations at the press of a button instead of emphasizing barista training and artistry.
I am completely happy to be a Luddite for this particular subject because to me part of what I want from boutique coffee is the expierence. I want some bearded hipster dude who has spent the last decade of his life perfecting his craft to work in conjunction with a tattooed college drop-out who has two decades of roasting experience to craft me a cup of coffee that has never been and will never be seen again on this earth because of infinite subtle variations in the exact beans that were used in making it. I consider making amazing coffee to be an art form, same as making amazing French Pâtisserie or Jamón Ibérico[1] or Colonnata lardo[2]. Starbucks offering boutique coffee to me is like Target saying they now are carrying Ibérico ham- it might be made out of pig and it might be cured in the same fashion but it is not, cannot, and will not ever be Jamón Ibérico and calling it such not only cheapens the entire concept of artistry in making Jamón Ibérico but also misleads the thousands of consumers who might buy it, decide it's not that good, and then completely write off Jamón Ibérico for the rest of their lives, thus missing out on something incredible that many generations have toiled away at perfecting.
Agreed. I really love coffee and the Starbucks Ethiopian Yirgacheffe made on the clover is one of the best cups of coffee I've ever had.
It consistently out-performs all the other extremely high end coffee houses I have been to. There is an Intelligentsia in my neighborhood where several of the baristas have coffee beans tattooed on their arms and hands as a symbol of their dedication to the craft, yet they cannot produce a better cup of coffee made by this machine at than the "McDonalds" of coffee houses. Pretty surprising.
