Category: coffee

Still life with espresso con panna, crumpled Glad Wrap, and half-eaten biscotti

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

If you follow my blog (ha-ha), you’ll know that I have a laser focus on the late Syd Barrett, formerly of Pink Floyd. When I sat down to enjoy my espresso con panna and biscotti at Caffe Amouri, I found this poster for a Pink Floyd concert at Fillmore East, post-Syd but pre-Dark Side of the Moon. What a coincidence.

Where is Caffe Amouri?

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Blue Bottle #Coffee starts trial to ban cash

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

Paying for Blue Bottle coffee by credit card
Paying for Blue Bottle coffee by credit card. Photo: Photos by Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Found through Twitter:

Blue Bottle will ban cash at twelve locations across the USA as part of a month-long experiment that aims to speed up purchases. Two participating stores are in San Francisco.

Is banning cash a ploy to exclude people unable to obtain credit cards or other electronic payment methods?

“For a lot of low-income San Franciscans, credit cards or other phone-based mobile payments aren’t an option,” said San Francisco Supervisor Vallie Brown.

I’m inclined to think that banning cash is a ploy to discourage the poor and homeless from entering their stores.

There were many different takes on this tweet. I prefer to pay cash for purchases under twenty dollars, as paying cash and accepting change is a tangible way to gauge how I spend my money. If I get a five-dollar bill, I just sock it away.

Sources:

Chinn, P. (n.d.). [Dianne Francisco pays for her order with a credit card at Blue Bottle Coffee at Market and 10th streets in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. At left, is barista Greg Alfaro. The cafe inside the Twitter headquarters building is one of a handful of Blue Bottle stores that will go cashless for a trial period beginning March 11.Photo: Photos by Paul Chinn / The Chronicle]. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/00/66/73/17002238/5/gallery_xlarge.jpg

EducatëdHillbilly™. (2019, Mar). Am I a total racist for thinking this is a way to keep poor & minority customers out of their hip San Francisco coffee shop? [Twitter post]. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/RobProvince/status/1101531306620530688.

Narayan, S. (2019, March 01). Blue Bottle buys into cashless trend. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Blue-Bottle-buys-into-cashless-trend-13653830.php

I am Starbucks

Cold Cream 'n' Roses

Every Saturday and Sunday, I go to Starbucks for coffee (double tall latte) and breakfast breads. Starbucks very cleverly places the CD stand near the cashier as a point-of-purchase (POP). Starbucks CD compilations such as Jazz Impressionists, Prestige Jazz, and Blistering Licks! has exposed me to music I might otherwise not hear. The cashiers say that the CDs don’t sell particularly well, which was surprising, given that Starbucks has become a force in the music industry.

Starbucks’ current campaign has features about their coffee suppliers and artists from the Americas, whose items are available for purchase at Starbucks stores. For stationery lovers (like myself), there are notepads and notebooks featuring the bright and bold designs of self-taught artist Yamileth “Yami” Luna Arias. There are also coffee drinks flavored with dulce de leche, banana coffee cake with dulce de leche swirl, and mango and pineapple empanada.

However, the slogan I am Starbucks for this campaign is maladroit, especially for a company as marketing-savvy as Starbucks. It sound more like one of those damage control campaigns where a company bring out its employees to say what a great company it is (think Wal-Mart), when the company is facing a lot of bad press.