Mysterious ‘Meth Coffee’ launches in San Francisco
Posted by TheShot on 11 Jan 2007 | Tagged as: Beans, Consumer Trends
I came across a coffee-related press release yesterday (as I often do), and I truly resisted writing about it — hoping it would just go away unnoticed. But then the company behind it is based out of San Francisco, and the press release hit the Associated Press today: AP Wire | 01/11/2007 | Mysterious `Meth Coffee’ launches in San Francisco.
Why was I so reluctant? Because this product screams “crap coffee” disguised by an idiotic marketing gimmick. Thus my posting about it here would only encourage such idiotic behavior. Ultimately, the degree with which their goth-teen-targeted idiocy made me spew good coffee across the room in laughter outweighed any concerns over contributing to their publicity. So now I’m posting good old-fashioned ridicule for the ridiculous.
Now it’s no secret that I’ve been ranting a lot lately about how coffee lovers are equated with caffeine addicts — in ways where we wouldn’t presume that a wine aficionado is naturally an alcoholic. (The hideous wine analogy rears its ugly head yet again!) But come on… “Meth Coffee”?! I just read today that bath soap qualifies as an instrument of caffeine delivery: A New Type of Java Jolt: Caffeinated Soap. Is the Dove Unscented Crack Beauty Bar up next for a little Fight Club-like marketing?
Please. Try again. Next time like you mean it.
UPDATE: January 12, 2007
One press release later, and now Tully’s Coffee lays claim to the very same yerba maté additive that Meth Coffee says gives their brew that special caffeinated crank. Yet here, Tully’s takes the “healthy energy” approach with the same substance, making it sound like a fresh-scented bar of Irish Spring by comparison: Tully’s Coffee Puts Focus On “Healthy Energy”; Adds Yerba Maté To Menu :: News :: Natural and Nutritional Products Industry Center.
Apparently one man’s meth is another man’s rainforest-grown, immune-system-boosting herbal medicine to complement his yoga sessions.
3 Comments »
on 19 Jan 2007 at 11:50 am -06:00T 1.jeremy said …
Hey, Greg — I saw this too and contacted the company contact in my position as a pseudo-journalist. My sample came in the mail last night; the Trimethyldioxypurist’s official opinion should be on SFist on Monday.
Sneak preview: I’ve brewed one batch in my Bodum Vac Pot and it’s pretty good; at least on par with what you’d get at ‘bucks, Tully’s, or even Peet’s. I definitely feel the “matte” aspect; my buzz is different than usual. And boy I needed it today.
However, a very similar product from Jeremiah’s Pick (a dark roast with matte), which I used to get when readily available at a local store, was better. Another coffee that’s marketed similarly as as a “get up and go” coffee, Carribean Coffee’s “hair raiser”, also a superdark, caffeine-heavy product, is better in my opinion in terms of flavor profile (though I’ll admit the Meth takes milk much better than Hair Raiser, which is best black.) And you know I don’t have your palate, but the Meth has does have one sort of card-board-ish element in its flavor profile that’s restraining my enjoyment of it (a sort of flatness on the tip of one’s tongue that I’d usually associate with being a stale coffee, though this characteristic is isolated enough that I think it’s just part of the profile; i.e., the coffee’s fresh).
So, in sum, while the marketing is initially distasteful/silly/poser-ish/Gonzo-y (though once you dig deeper onto the site it gets sorta funny; they, for instance, give instructions on making coffee using a sock), it’s not bad. It’s also sort of nice to see coffee get attention in different kinds of media; I heard a dude on news radio talking about this back on the 11th. Since decent coffee is so often not in headlines (”BK introduces better coffee” is the norm), I think we’re still at the stage in the industry where any micro-roaster getting attention is a good thing, even for silly reasons.
Anyways — mixed feelings. But I’m enjoying the brew overall. I can’t be too snarky about people that are trying anything to get better-than-market coffee up off the ground, particularly since they are based here in SF
on 23 Feb 2007 at 11:59 pm -06:00T 2.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Fusion Energy Coffee will keep you up 7-Eleven said …
[...] In the words of 7-Eleven’s wordsmiths, it’s “the only coffee infused with all-natural ingredients and powered by ginseng, guarana and yerba mate. … It’s the perfect way to totally seize the day!” Excuse me while I totally seize my air sickness bag. Or one better — time to break out the rubbing alcohol, Coleman’s fuel, hydrogen peroxide, and a few over-the-counter packages of Sudafed to make me some home-brewed meth coffee … the real deal. [...]
on 01 May 2007 at 3:55 pm -05:00T 3.Espresso News and Reviews - TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Crack coffee: when coffee has nothing to do with it said …
[...] Case and point with Shock Coffee and its ilk (i.e., Fusion Energy Coffee, Meth Coffee, and anyone else trying to make a buck of this dreck): Shock coffee is all the buzz. This is the malt liquor of coffee. Coffee becomes just a pointless delivery mechanism, so why not just purchase purified caffeine? [...]