An Apologia for Starbucks: A Synthetic Coffee House Experience or the Real Deal?
Long, long ago, I was a girl who visited Italy and, while in the back of someone's Fiat was informed that we were going to a truck stop for some coffee on the way home. I thought "truck stop? coffee? weird glass carafe with another orange carafe to indicate decaf? boiled chemical tasting coffee with special flavored "cremes"?" This seemed like a very bad idea.
We stopped at an Agip gas station whose symbol resembles a firebreathing chimera-like creature who likes tires. As we got inside, I noticed that half of the building was devoted to one very long and shiny bad-ass espresso machine. We order two coffees and I have so far experienced the best espresso yet. Ever.
A few days later, in the sleepy town of Mantova, we stop for coffee and this time I notice the staff before the machinery or the location. The women behind the counter are middle-aged, well-coiffed, and all business. They operate the espresso machinery with an efficiency I've never seen before and, when I receive my cappucino, I'm stunned that something so perfect took under a minute to produce. I have to ask my Italian friends: "Why are all the women so old and serious here?" I'm told that the barista is usually a woman, sometimes a man, who takes their job very seriously, and is paid handsomely with many state benefits. You cannot become a barista if your devotion to coffee is anything less than total, and, as such, are accorded a great deal of respect. Throughout my trip, which involved much coffee-drinking, I sampled espressos and cappucinos in Rome, Verona, Padova and noticed little, if any, variation between them. My coffee experience in Italy was transcendantly homogeneous.
A common complaint about Starbucks is that it attempts to provide the same experience to all its customers. Those of us loath to identify ourselves (though the label fits more often than not) as bourgeois, shun this as typical American strip-mall depersonalized b.s. We claim that we'd rather go to the corner shop and be served by the art student with sketchy hygienic habits who learned to make a halfway passable cappucino last week. If her boyfriend broke up with her that day, you can bet it might be a latte instead. I don't deny that there's a charm in that, but for me, a girl who takes her coffee seriously, it starts to wear thin.
Comments
You bring up an interesting point on SBUX. But that point is only one
among many that are linked to the SBUX "experience".
First, given your tales from Italy, I'll make the assumption you drink
and appreciate coffee in its simpler forms, not all caramel mocchiatoed
and foamed to the nines.
It's at that point - having respect for the beans - that the bourgeois
argument of "sameness of experience" transcends to one of "programmed
taste".
Certainly lots of people feel that SBUX coffees taste good. You have
to
more or less accept that as a fact because they're everywhere.
Certainly much of their success has to do with the other concoctions
they design that appeal to kids and soccer moms, plus their reputation
for sustainable coffee farming (to which all major indie roasters also
subscribe) and of course, their brand, which seems to be most important
to those 25-and-under who are keenly brand-concious.
What we indie coffeeshops usually (can't talk for all of us) aim to
provide is an alternative to the SBUX roast. While SBUX buys a lot of
quality beans, they're not necessarily the best available. They buy
beans that will work with SBUX's roasting parameters, which is more
ofthen than not an overroasting process which allows them to produce a
consistent taste regardless of the specific harvest. That's not a
critique, it's a published and public part of SBUX strategy.
This consistency coupled with the huge number of SBUX outlets is why
many people believe SBUX brews are how espresso (or specialty coffee in
general) is supposed to taste.
Of course that would be like saying all white wine should taste like
the
best-selling California chardonnays (heavily oaked). Which is
obviously
not the case. There are many factors involved in getting the most of a
particular grape in a particular year from a particular place. As
you're probably aware, the French call this "terroir", or "taste of
place".
What good indie roasters try to do is apply their art to accentuate the
best characteristics of the beans they've purchased. We believe our
roaster, Intelligentsia from Chicago, is one of the best at this.
Their
varietals and blends consistently rate 90+ on Coffee Review. Other top
indies would include Stumptown (Portland Or), The Roasterie (KC),
Terroir (Boston) and Peet's (SF).
Most of us don't - and won't - employ unhygenic slobs to serve as
baristas. But I know where you're coming from on that having recently
done taste testing downtown, which included a couple of sketchy places.
So while you're right on the one hand about the benefits of
consistency,
I'd also encourage you to not settle for one specific presentation of
consistency.
There are indies who do a better job overall in selecting their roasts,
preparing milk foam and creating the presentation.
We're but one of several in the Pittsburgh area who should be able to
meet and exceed your expecations of what a great cappy or con panna
should taste like. We hope you'll give us a try at some point.
Regards,
Rich Westerfield
Aldo Coffee Co.
675 Washington Road
Mt. Lebanon, PA 15228
412.563.1220
www.aldocoffee.com
aldo@aldocoffee.com
Posted by: Anonymous | September 21, 2005 10:54 AM