March 20, 2008
Howard Schultz acquires my morning coffee
The world moves fast these days. Barely has one heard of something than it turns into a phenomenon.
Take the Clover filter coffee machine, which I learned the other day from perusing a local blog is an $11,000 machine that somehow makes better filter coffee than almost any of the alternatives.
It is being installed in a coffee bar that is about to open up near the subway station I use every morning so I was planning to go in and try a sip.
Now Starbucks announces that it is buying the company that makes the Clover and will start installing the machines in all many of its outlets. It is part of Howard Schultz’s plan to bring some sorely-needed magic back to his chain.
If all Clovers are going to be commandeered for Starbucks outlets, does that mean it will try to confiscate the Clovers that are already out there? Presumably not, in which case my local machine will have scarcity value.
Somehow, however, my anticipation of trying a Clover-brewed coffee has been spoiled by the disclosure that there will shortly be one on every street corner.
