Clover
Is this thing on?
Behind the scenes I’m working on the next phase of an attempt at a concept of a plan for a Youtube/podcast thing that might be sometimes about coffee. More on that soon. Or not. We’ll see.
But it occurred to me that while I’m working on goofy things that maybe nobody will ever see, I could also update the blog that nobody likely ever reads. This is low hanging fruit for building a habit of overcoming my cringe, my imposter syndrome(s), and the general inertia that comes from watching the world burn. I shall post!
The coffee world’s James Hoffmann just posted a great video of the story of the Clover coffee brewer and some of the lasting impact it had on coffee bar culture.
My own coffee history intertwines a lot with this gizmo — from playing with the early prototypes, organizing the unveiling event at Victrola’s under-construction roastery, writing the first story getting hyped about it, arranging its first test run in a coffeebar, designing the Intelligentsia LA project around them, setting them up inside of Google, pushing them to their limits at Slow Food Nation, and watching everyone freak out when Starbucks stepped in.
I did leave one comment on Hoffmann’s thesis:
The one bit of narrative I’d like to throw in — before Starbucks came into the picture, I think a lot of us who were Clover early adopters saw that the machine hype and the tech theater of it was starting to overshadow the coffee menus it was supposed to showcase. Personally I was starting to rebel against the implicit notion that all of our unobtainable barista toys, $20k siphon bars, and competition kabuki performances were a prerequisite for getting a great cup. If Starbucks hadn’t killed it, we definitely would’ve had to kill it ourselves!
People were going into shops looking to experience “clover coffee”—more aware of the brewing device than the coffee. This was still true to a degree for “pour-over” for quite a while. The novelty was getting coffee specially prepared by experts or with special tools. Shops of that era were still more interested in selling beverages than beans. There was always a message of “don’t try this at home” hiding inside the theatrics.
Another irritating thing about that era was people’s fixation with how much the Clover cost—echoed in the video too—with the apex being the New York Times piece on Freeman’s pricy siphon bar, imported from an exotic land of ancient mastery across the ocean. There are so many big ticket items in any buildout of a cafe or restaurant that don’t merit mentioning of their price tags. The NSF certified refrigerators, the water purification and remineralization systems—heck, installing a required grease trap might set you back an Ivy League college tuition! The sticker shock of how much any espresso machine, oven, or three compartment sink costs seems like a silly thing to focus on in a culinary context. If you’re thinking of opening a cafe and it’s somehow the cost of a coffee making machine that has you trembling, I have a lot of bad news for you about the many joys of operating a small business. Wait till you see those worker’s compensation insurance premiums!
Gosh, now I’m ranting. Maybe blogging is back on the menu? Maybe I’ve become cranky enough to churn this stuff out on the regular? Who knows? Stay tuned.