Barista in the Wild, Part 5: The Future of the Coffee Shop
At the Pike Place Market store
I can sit around and jive talk about coffee for hours, but many others don't necessarily want to know more about it—instead, they're drawn to the experience of drinking it, socializing with friends, talking about the previous night, peeling off layers of a cranberry walnut muffin, until we reach that coffee buzz which makes surviving the upcoming day all that much more plausible. No wonder so many successful coffee shops around the country create living rooms for their customers with dark wooden floors, light colored walls, communal tables, and the endless aroma of freshly ground beans. We're drawn to comfort in the aroma of brewing, the barista's choice of music, and the milk-infused espresso beverages which bring us back to Italy, France, and more locally, Seattle.
The original location of Starbucks only has some of these desired elements. Located in Pike Place Market in Seattle, the store opened in 1971 as a National Landmark offering only whole bean coffee, tea, and spices. Eventually they offered prepared beverages, but to this day, they do not sell pastries or sandwiches. If I owned the store, I wouldn't either—Pike Place Market's stands beat the food offerings at Starbucks any day. The baristas perform on an elevated stage, with a real La Marzocco (nice!). You don't come here to sit. You come as a tourist, to be entertained, and maybe to pick up a bag of special edition beans which are only sold in this location.
Snapshots of the new LEED-certified store at 1st & Pike
Enter the new store, a two-block walk away at First and Pike. It might be the largest Starbucks I've ever seen—or at least it appeared to be since it was 9 a.m. and not in New York City. As the first LEED-certified store in the company, the intention is to pave the way for future locations.
In typical down-home coffee shop style, they offer drinks "to stay." No prices on the menu board means you should come with at least five dollars and cross your fingers. Employees encourage a cup of Clover-crafted coffee, made with small batch beans ground to order and miraculously prepared to enhance the flavor profile. If it wasn't for the walls plastered in mugs and 1 lb. coffee bags, I wouldn't even know I was at a Starbucks. What's the future of the coffee shop, then? Starbucks thinks it will bring us back to nature, giving us the appearance we're in a lazy Northeastern town while deceiving us with LED lighting and specialty hand driers.
My experience at Starbucks HQ included two full days of coffee knowledge, both within Starbucks and in the industry as a whole. While I didn't learn any trade secrets or hidden ingredients, what I found was people who know, love, and live coffee, and have been employed with the company for five years and more. Starbucks will still remain a place I visit while traveling when there's nothing else, where I can reliably get a cup of semi-decent coffee without feeling like I'm supporting a company that beats their employees and scams on small Latin American coffee farmers.
As an education enthusiast, I have one suggestion for Starbucks and their new locations: start offering public cuppings. (In my dreams, discontinuing 20 ounce espresso beverages would also be on the list.) Many local independent shops thrive on the community developed by these informal sessions where the subject is solely tasting coffee—and coming up with the unique adjectives to describe how it hits your palate. If Starbucks wants to enhance their reputation and convince the world they know coffee, then they need to educate the public and offer "coffee college" externally. I want to live in a world where people know the origins of their cup, choose their supplier wisely, and still treat the cup like an experience they want to come back to every morning.
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15 Comments:
One thing Starbuck's should really start doing ASAP, is delete the words "and Tea" from their advertising and signage. Their supposed tea offerings are a joke. The unnecessary "shaken iced tea" and weirdly prepared "tea lattes" do not cut it. Stick to coffee.
mrsegg at 11:01AM on 06/05/09
Good series.
I'd love to see a world where Starbucks does public cuppings too, but first we need to see some of the 'small-batch' coffees you say they have trickle down to the stores outside of Seattle. Somehow I feel like you would hear the word 'smoky' quite a bit at cupping at your average Starbucks.
jonathan1 at 11:33AM on 06/05/09
This has been a pretty cool series. Here is an interesting iPhone app that came from Starbucks Baristas' frustration with large group orders. Its taking over the coffee world.
http://www.exectones.com/apps.php
robmarreel at 12:57PM on 06/05/09
If you want a good cup of coffee, try Seattle's Best. Rich, low acid coffee. Border's Books all have Seattle's Best in their cafes, with real barrista's brewing.
zak822
zak822 at 5:11PM on 06/05/09
@robmareel & @jonathan: thanks for the feedback. glad you guys enjoyed it.
I think the small-batch coffees will make their way out of Seattle and some of the other Clover markets, they're rolling them out slowly.
Allison Hemler at 6:57PM on 06/05/09
Cuppings or comparative tastings?
Every coffee wonk has it in their head that layman consumers are going to want to slurp, spit, make rude noises, and go through all the machinations coffee professionals have used for years to taste for defects.
Meat inspection might be a fun social game in your social circles, but not mine. A comparative tasting will do just fine instead.
swagv at 10:28PM on 06/05/09
Cuppings or comparative tastings?
Every coffee wonk has it in their head that layman consumers are going to want to slurp, spit, make rude noises, and go through all the machinations coffee professionals have used for years to taste for defects.
Meat inspection might be a fun social game in your social circles, but not mine. A comparative tasting will do just fine instead.
swagv at 10:29PM on 06/05/09
@zak822: Seattle's Best is owned by Starbucks.
hefloats at 12:53AM on 06/06/09
I was a barista for a few years and miss using the La Marzocco machine. My weak left wrist is a constant reminder of those days.
Marls Barkley at 12:26AM on 06/07/09
I find Seattle's Best to be the most ironic name--I'll stick to Lighthouse... then Vivace, Cafe Vita, and Herkimer all have both SBs beat by a mudslide.
nallukka at 12:21AM on 06/10/09
I agree. Stop shaking iced coffee and iced tea. If you want to make iced tea -- make iced tea. Shaking iced tea (or iced coffee and making it foam) is just -wrong-. And using iced tea concentrate and then just watering it down and filling up the cup with water is bad...
I really think you guys should make -real tea- and then put it back on the menu :)
craighuff at 1:08PM on 06/10/09
Uhh- The definition of SMALL batch makes it impossible to distribute nationally. THey don't have enough, keeping true to the mantra "Quality over quantity." Small batch. Small amount of beans. Small amount of coffee. Limited availability. Would you also have a small production winery make their wines available at Costco, or your local supermarket. It's a specialty item. ALSO, Starbucks DOES do public cuppings. It's completely up to your local store, but they can do public tastings, educations, learning series, and presentations whenever they want. Actually, part of the "black apron" training is to prepare and give a presentation. Has anyone ever asked their local store managers to consider something like this? Stop complaining and start being proactive.
lauralinetas at 5:10PM on 06/14/09
I think the term "small batch" is pretty relative in this case, granted I'm not sure how small the "small batches" really are, but they are in limited qualities in contrast to the large amounts of the regular packaged coffees they sell.
Additionally—I suggested cuppings as a way for people in the coffee industry to take Starbucks a bit more seriously. so many of us disregard Starbucks as a viable coffee option, but the fact is, a lot of the process of selecting coffee for the stores is such an intense process made by some really knowledgeable people. I haven't seen any cuppings in the NYC area but I'd love to start seeing them around. NYC stores are usually so crowded it's hard for me to imagine how a cupping would actually work. I'm into the more proactive approach so I'd love to start seeing some of these popping up around the city to get more minds wrapped around how coffee cuppings are just like wine tastings.. and they can be just as popular if approached in an accessible way.
Allison Hemler at 11:50PM on 06/14/09
Hi Allison
I'm sorry if you thought my comment was directed at you. I agree that not enough people take Starbucks seriously. They do so many charitable things and really are environmentally and socially conscious so that it makes it hard to actually consider an alternative. No way the local shops can afford to pay for the coffee growers health insurance...or have as much of a committment to recycling as *$ does. And the volunteer programs are incredibly generous. When I said "stop complaining" I was referring to some of the other comments.
lauralinetas at 4:36PM on 06/15/09
I also think that food like pastries and the like should NOT be served at Starbucks b/c they usually taste disgusting (not even if placed in their microwave/toaster oven) and are only offered b/c it's an easy, cheap way to make a bigger profit (just like soda at fast-food places).
ymariala at 3:53AM on 06/17/09