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Early this year Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea stirred up some controversy over how they produced single-cup coffee orders. To wit: the local coffee purveyor had begun to switch how they brewed single cup coffee for patrons, abandoning the drip coffee method for a more labor and time intensive brew in the $11,000 Clover machine. That system, which was deployed in all but the Monadnock store resulted in a pricier cup of coffee and a longer wait. Fast forward seven months and Intelligentsia is again making changes in their stores.
I stopped by their Millennium Park store for a cup of coffee on my way to work one morning; Monadnock is my usual stop. I remembered that Intelligentsia was using the Clover method in this store and made my way over to the end of the coffee bar to wait for my cup. Here I was treated to another surprise - the Hario Ceramic Coffee Dripper, a system of ceramic funnels and a barista swirling hot water through coffee in filters. All of which made me wonder what Doug Zell was up to. A couple emails later, and I found that A.) Intelligentsia had "discovered" a new system to brew single cup coffee, and B.) that system will definitely replace drip coffee in all his stores.
Zell tells us that "frequently our customers say, 'why can’t I make coffee like this at home?' In the past the answer has been “you don’t have the same equipment (Clover, Urn, etc.). With the ceramic dripper, one can have a brew method that is exactly the same as we will be offering in our stores and have a great cup of coffee at home." The wait for Hario brewed coffee was about five minutes, but Zell assures us that he's "discovered a way to make sure our customers get their brewed coffee quickly in the busiest of times," through "a clever system with beautiful Japanese glass carafes." Brushing aside the costs of switching over to the Hario system, ("it was a happy accident that occurred when ALL THREE of our Clovers went down at the same time at Millennium Park... we can find a home for the Clovers we own as we have wholesale customers around the country that are interested in them"), Zell told Chicagoist that he didn't anticipate the increased cost of a cup of coffee would be an issue.
"The labor cost is not an issue as we expect our stores to cost a bit more to operate. We do, however, overall have revenues that exceed a typical Starbucks by 50-55%." There's no doubt that the change will cost Intelligentsia customers. As a loyal customer, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the issue, as I don't think either the Clover or the Hario system tastes better. The three strikes of higher cost, longer wait and a taste I don't enjoy will most likely leave me searching for a new coffee shop. That comment, from someone who has added ten minutes to his commute to get a cup of their coffee on my way into work, didn't seem to sway Zell. "If we are not what you are looking for, we can accept that," said after noting that "the vast majority of our customers are lawyers and traders I really don’t think the price point is the issue. I think the experience and quality of the product they get is."
Indeed, this is the continuation of Zell turning what has long been perceived a working-class foodstuff into a high end experience. And while it's unlikely that the competition will follow his lead, many of their customers will.
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also in this store you cannot get espresso to go. but it comes with a little glass of fizzy water. isn't that nice?
When we were in Eastern Europe earlier this fall our espresso came that way, too. I can't figure out why, though I'm sure there's a reason....
My friend was telling me over the weekend that they do the same thing at Julius Meinl.
I don't get so many parts of this, but the biggest part I don't get is that a coffee shop had three fairly new $11,000 coffee makers break down simultaneously.
My plan is to let the coffee snobs spend their money and have their fun. I'll continue with my mass-produced but better tasting Dunkin' Donuts coffee from across the street.
really, Double D? it's so weak. it's basically the Michelob Ultra of coffee.
Maybe. I don't know. It's good enough for me, but I'm not a coffee snob. Coffee's coffee, whether the coffee machine that makes it costs $30 or $11,000.
I'll give you that, I don't mind the coffee out of our cafteria for a buck. i do love a good strong cup, but i do have my price barrier.
I shall continue with my Yuban decaf at home.
Man, you beat me to it - I work at MillPark and am drafting a blog post on our barista blog about the switchover, you can see it up there later this week here: http://chi.intelligentsiacoffee.com
A few things I wanted to point out - Millenium Park probably won't have a price change. Our pick of the day price so far has been carried over from when we did cup by cup on the Clover. When Monadnock changes over to Hario drip from the urn, there will probably be a price change.
As far as wait times go, a single cup takes a bit longer than the Clover, but backed up lines go much quicker as we have eight drippers set up instead of just three machines.
I'd also like to point out that not all three of the Clover machines broke down - we still have one in the store that we brew our additional offerings on (we try to make sure we're always offering at least three of our coffees). The two other Clovers needing maintenance was just a good excuse to kick start this brew method.
Sorry to hear your dissatisfaction with the new method. I know as a coffee fan first and barista second that I'm extremely pumped about the Hario drippers and have been drinking most of my coffee in the past two weeks from them exclusively.
Also, I'm sure there's a better explanation for it from someone else in the company, but the carbonated water is designed to help cleanse the palette and wet your throat since espresso is a very concentrated diuretic and can dry out the throat. But that's just my take. (And, if you ask very nicely and are prepared for us to suggest it being served in a ceramic cup, we just may serve you an espresso to go. But it won't taste as good.)
"... is a very concentrated diuretic ..."
I can't tell you when I've heard a better advertisement.
I often find scientific explanations to be better than "will force the water out of your body, which can cause a dry throat."
In my opinion, there's two reasons you drink coffee: for a quick pick-me-up on the way to work, and as something you can sit down and savor on a Saturday at your local coffee shop. I'm OK if coffee shops cater specifically to one or the other - I don't want to sit with my laptop for 3 hours at Dunkin Donuts, but I also don't care if my weekday coffee isn't some designer blend - I just need to wake up.
For me, Intelligentsia falls into the "sit for three hours and read" category, in which case I'm fine with paying more and waiting longer if the coffee is going to be something I savor for more than 20 minutes. Their locations are terrific - free Wifi, interesting people, and not the same old shellacked interiors you see at Starbucks everywhere. As someone who doesn't stop by on the way to work, changes to the brewing make no difference to me - in fact, if they make the coffee taste better or make the overall experience more special, then I say bring it on.
Local coffee shops are becoming few and far between, and if they have to raise their prices or do things differently to stay in business, then more power to them. The haters can go next door to Starbucks.
I think the best combo is Intelligensia beans at a non-Intelligensia coffee shop. They roast a banging bean, but the stores aren't anywhere near me, and all this jazz about $5 coffee and long waits leaves me feeling fine about going somewhere else.
The overall time from entering the store to getting your coffee and leaving is probably about 5-10 minutes, depending on the line (about the same time it takes to get an espresso drink), and at MillPark the small coffee is $2.24 with tax, medium is $2.62, and large is $2.96, so five dollars is a bit off the mark.
Not that I'm saying you need to come into our stores, and I agree that a lot of our wholesale shops do a great job and that you should definitely keep supporting them, but I didn't want to let you go on thinking the wait was that much longer and the cost was that much higher.
starbucks owns clover, yo.
I appreciate the effort they put into the coffee...I only wish as much work was put into their customer service. I can't remember the last time I got as much as a "thank-you" at the counter at the Randolph St. location.
I never really understood buying coffee at a shop. I buy fair-trade beans from Star Lounge on Chicago ave, and brew my own coffee every morning. For the cost of probably 4 cups from Intelligentsia, I get a month's worth of coffee. And I would argue it tastes just as good...and i AM a coffee snob.
You know, I'm happy with coffee I brew at home, or that I have purchased at DD, because I pretty much love all coffee. That's not to say that there isn't a difference--all coffee is not the same. If you go to Intelligentsia and get a cup of Clover coffee, do not put cream and sugar in it, and wait 10 min for it to cool down, you will have the experience of coffee redefined for you. It's really an unbelievable difference. You may also be instantly converted to a black-coffee drinker...all these different flavor notes get pulled out of the bean in a way that no drip brewer will ever be able to replicate, and when you pair this with Intelligentsia's expertly sourced and roasted beans, it's a force to be reckoned with. I can only afford it every once in a while, but it's a nice treat when I can, and it's so amazing that I don't really give much thought to how long I have to wait.
Of course... taste is biologically different from person to person, so not everyone will have the same experience, but having talked to many people about the wonder that is Clover, I am shocked to see so many people saying "it tastes the same....."
If you dump a bunch of cream and sugar in there, you may not notice a difference between that and DD drip, and if your tongue can't tolerate black coffee, then yeah, there's no point in paying for this. For the rest of us, it's a bit of heaven in a mug, and I for one cannot wait to try the new brewing system, because when the folks at Intelligentsia say "this is amazing", I have learned to listen.