#byebyeclover
As of recently the Intelligentsia Coffee near my work has backed away from their ‘all Clover, all the time’ policy, and started to brew their Pick of the Day using a kettle, hot water, unbleached paper filters and ceramic filter baskets. (There’s still a Clover around for when customers request it, but from the looks of it people hardly ever do.)
Why have they dropped the Clover, after making such a strong stand in favor of it? There are several surprisingly good reasons.
First, and most obvious, is the speed issue. Clovers make great coffee, but can take up to ten minutes per serving. When they went all-Clover last year it was clear Intelligentsia was placing quality over speed, but something funny seems to have happened: the demand for brewed coffee (if anything) increased, to the extent that it became faster to order an espresso beverage — any espresso beverage — than to wait around 10 minutes for a Clover cup.
But there’s also a simpler, better explanation, which one of my co-workers overheard from a barista there: the new brewing station only uses gear that customers can buy and use at home. Filter brewing is less about coffee nerdery and more about democratizing something awesome, and Intelligentsia is now saying that being able to brew a great cup every day is more important than being able to get a perfect cup from an $11,000 machine.
I love this, and I wish more high-end coffee places would follow suit.
