KobeJames Senior Member Joined: 8 Feb 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Toronto Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Fri Feb 15, 2008, 6:58am Subject: The Clover - at a Starbucks near you!
The competitive edge of the lovely Clover seems to be diminishing fast.......On the bright side, it will bring down the cost of Clove for cafe's that can't afford it. (Read below)
How to drive traffic? Raise the price, of course. Starbucks announced it will experiment with a new, premium product to help fight the first drop in U.S. customer visits in its 37-year history. In its hometown Seattle, the king of coffee is testing a 12-ounce cup of “fresh-press” coffee at $2.50 each. The new drink, which made in a machine that brews each cup individually, may become part of CEO Howard Schultz’s plan to increase traffic in Starbucks’ 15,000 stores.
RBC Capital Markets notes that if Starbucks can create a better-tasting product and if they can get people to pay more for it, then you’d have the missing ingredient, which is pricing power. At the same time, selling a more expensive drink may be tough as U.S. consumer spending slows, RBC added.
The new coffee is made by an $11,000 machine known as the Clover. Inside, a piston rises and creates a vacuum that pulls water through ground coffee, much like a French press. The Clover’s maker says it produces a better tasting drink because the grind, water temperature and other parameters can be set for each cup. The machine was designed in 2005 by two Stanford University graduates working from a converted trolley shed in Seattle. It’s now used in more than 100 cafes and has gained a cult following among coffee aficionados.
onocoffee Senior Member Joined: 5 Sep 2002 Posts: 725 Location: Towson, Maryland Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: La Marzocco Linea 2AV, 3AV &... Grinder: 4 Mazzer Major Autos, Compak... Vac Pot: That crazy Bodum eSantos Drip: Bunn CWT Twin, Bunn Water... Roaster: Petroncini The Crumb
Posted Mon Feb 18, 2008, 6:56am Subject: Re: The Clover - at a Starbucks near you!
The clover is an automatic brewing device.
Drop ground coffee into the chamber, hit a button and a minute later a cup of brewed coffee appears.
Bear in mind that this is all hype. Starbucks is a very large corporation that wants to control costs. They did not move to SuperAuto Espresso Machines without reason.
And I think it's quite unlikely that a mass installation will bring the price of the brewer down.
That depends on which portion of the price is determined by R&D costs (as opposed to manufacturing costs) and exclusivity. I guess that two graduate students don't have an exorbitant amount of R&D costs to earn back so you might be right. The fact that all *$ locations will be equipped with a Clover lowers its exclusivity which can only result in a decrease in price.
CoffeePhilter Senior Member Joined: 9 Feb 2005 Posts: 617 Location: St. Albert, Alberta Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Bricoletta Grinder: Macap
Posted Mon Feb 18, 2008, 9:15am Subject: Re: The Clover - at a Starbucks near you!
Since I don't like *$ beans prepared NOW as a drip coffee or as an espresso, I really don't see the clover changing anything though....it will just be a new preparation style of their same (IMO) horrible coffee.
I have been given their beans numerous times as gifts, and have yet to prepare anything I really like or would repeat purchase.
Grant
The Coffee Philter - Canada Home and Small Business Espresso Machines - www.coffeephilter.com "Wake up and Smell the Coffee"
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