Friday July 2, 2010
I arrived in NYC to spend the day before having a nice long weekend away from home.
First stop, after dropping my things off in MilitiaJim’s office, was the NYC Clover Starbucks (72 Spring Street). I believe this is also a LEED certified store.
I was able to find the store this time without getting lost! If you know me you’ll know that it was pure luck and not skill.
This store had a large selection of prepared foods and bakery items as well as whole bean selection. There were large shelves of beans, a kiosk of merchandise, a three layer cold case and the normal bakery case.
The store was very busy, and stayed busy the entire time I was there. There was a barista on a headset taking the orders of those getting into line before you reach the pastry and food area. I found this frustrating as I was not sure what the offerings were when ordering. I then got to the register (after a barista yelled NEXT in a not so romantic or theatrical way) and re-told the other barista my order and paid. No one was smiling or pleasant they just wanted to get me through the queue. The store was trying to be very efficient but ended up being non-welcoming and impersonal.
I wonder how many times the store gets ripped off on what a person orders versus what they pay for.
I ordered the Jamaica Blue Mountain done via clover and a ‘perfect oatmeal’. Most people seemed to be ordering iced coffees and taking them to-go.
I was looking for the Starbucks Organic Shade Grown Mexico (inspired by this Starbucks Melody Blog post: Guest Post: Starbucks Organic Shade Grown Mexico review http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2010/06/28/guest-post-starbucks-organic-shade-grown-mexico-review/ )
Melody actually did a Jamaica Mountain Blue blog post here: http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2010/07/02/starbucks-jamaica-mountain-blue-coffee-rarest/
There is a MSI (My Starbucks Idea) post as well: http://blogs.starbucks.com/blogs/customer/archive/2010/06/28/from-the-blue-mountains-of-jamaica-to-clover.aspx
I saw the JMB post after my visit., it was nice to have a real Starbucks and coffee enthusiasts take on the coffee.
The efficiency made the line move quickly but people were clumped around the bar delivery area, so I am not sure how well this system was working out. Are people more or less patient after they have ordered and paid?
I picked up my clover at the bar, it was done by the time I got there so I didn't get to see it made. I was wondering where my perfect oatmeal would come from, in the end I had to circle back to the middle of the line before the registers where the food was and the barista was taking orders and handing out food. I had to ask for my oatmeal.
This seems like a bad idea to have to have customers cut back into the line to get the food they already paid for. It was not just me either, there were other customers looking confused and wondering where their food item was.
The coffee smelled roasty, dark, and spicy. The coffee tasted bitter, acidic, citrus, earthy and spicy.
I always end up loving the smell of coffee more than the taste.
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