The Vancouver Indy Coffee Scene

Starbucks buys Clover

Last night I heard that Clover sold to Starbucks. I was shocked and couldn’t believe it. Well, I am sure that the folks over at Clover made a tied profit off this and yet I wonder if this was the final end-game for the Zander Nosler and Randy Hulett.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but hey look at the facts!

Clover company colour’s Green
Starbucks company colour’s Green
Clover Company sold in March
Four leaf Clovers are found in Ireland
Ireland’s most greenest day is St. Patty’s in March

OK, more seriously lets look back about two years ago to my first Clover experience.

Why Clover Why?

It was the summer of 2005 and I was working at the Whitefish Group’s Canadian licensed Seattle’s Best Coffee in the Bental V located in downtown Vancouver. It was a high pace and slightly higher quality then Starbucks, but not by much.

While I was working downtown, Caffe Artigiano celebrated its $5 cup of coffee. This coffee made news across Canada and was a great marketing coup for the company. People who had never been in Caffe Artigiano before were coming in for that coffee and also Clover made its first appearance in the local media. Hearing about a $10,000 coffee brewer that brews a $5 cup of precise coffee, I had to try it.

It was still one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had. It danced in my mouth like a prima ballerina in her final performance, which brings me to the sale of Clover to Starbucks.

It really is a simple equation:

Excellent Roast + Excellent Machine + Trained Barista = Great cup of Coffee

You need all three, and the Clover is not an automatic machine. It needs a well trained staff to stir the roast and adjust the time according to each roast. Plus it really isn’t all that fast. So it goes against all of the automation that Starbucks had previously implemented.

Mark Prince over at CoffeeGeek has provided some great insight into this sale on his recent podcast. He goes into much more detail than I have. But let’s just say I am sticking to my pour over, Starbucks can’t buy the license to that!

Pour Over Filter