Makers of the Clover Bought Out By Starbucks
Starbucks announced the other day that it has bought the Coffee Equipment Company, makers of the much-ballyhooed Clover brewing machine, for an undisclosed sum. Apparently Starbucks intends to put Clovers in all but the smallest stores, as part of Howard Schultz’s overall push to increase quality in his stores and slow the recent but increasing decline in Big Green’s growth.
Considering that Clover brewers sell at well over $8000 each, this is no small feat. The Clover made waves when it debuted a couple of years ago, claiming to have perfected the four variables of coffee-brewing: time, temperature, grind, and extraction ratio. It was the product of several years of research and development by Zander Nosler and was practically an overnight success–at the moment there are only 200-300 Clovers operating in retail stores around the world, but at that $8-10k a pop, that’s a serious chunk of change.
The Clover has many devoted fans, but I must admit that while I admire Coffee Equipment Company’s engineering savvy I never really bought into the device. Most of its programmable features are present in a Fetco Extractor at a quarter of the price, thought the Extractor doesn’t work on a per-cup basis. It’s meant to do per-cup servings consistently at high volumes, but if your volume’s that high, why not just brew a whole airpot? And if your volume’s low enough for a cup at a time, why not just use a French press and a temp-adjustable tabletop water boiler? I’ve had great coffee out of a Clover, but nothing better than what I’ve had, say, from a Bodum French press using a correctly-measured amount of grounds.
Now, though, the point may well be academic. Because Schultz is in effect literally taking the Clover off the market, since it will now only be used to brew Starbucks’ own coffee–which seems like just pointless theater, since the coffee is roasted so poorly that no $8,000 brewer is going to fix it. As Greg Sherwin over at TheShot coffee blog very aptly put it: “Who buys a $30,000 sound system to listen to AM talk radio?”
