One of my favorite T-shirts in college featured a torso-sized likeness of Jesus, illuminated from behind, with a pale porcelain hand lifted. He was crowned with a halo and this caption: "Thou Shalt Not Decaffeinate."
At the time, I was writing my honors dissertation and working two jobs. Coffee was such a big part of my existence that I credited it in the acknowledgments section of my thesis. Fast forward about 15 years, and I'm still a big-time coffee drinker.
So it's with no small amount of interest that I've been following the Coffee Wars. Simply put, Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's are moving in to challenge Starbucks. In New York City, Dunkin has been a presence for a while now, and I'm not stepping foot in McDonald's -- I don't care how good their coffee is. So for me, no big whoop. Until, Starbucks managed to take the Clover coffeemaker off the market by buying up its parent company.
The Clover's been hailed as coffee's Holy Grail. I literally salivated when I read the first story about it and prayed the machines would be affordable enough for at-home use. Not so much at $11,000 per.
The acquisition is a smart move for Starbucks -- giving it a chance to lure coffee connoisseurs back to the chain that's notorious (at least in my neighborhood) for burning coffee.
What does it mean for the little guys? Well, they're losing an obvious competitive differentiator in the Clover. If you read the AP story linked above, many of the small stores that had bought Clovers are turning around and selling them. But, maybe there's a hidden disadvantage to the Clover for Starbucks. This story suggests the machine, when fed Starbucks coffee at least, doesn't produce such a heavenly brew. And, I'm sure it won't do anything to help the long lines that dog the chain in major cities. The only thing I need more than coffee, you see, is time.