Comments on: Trip Report: Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea @ Millennium Park (Chicago, IL)

By: Skip

Skip — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 07:04:51 +0000

This place looks awesome, forwarding the info to a friend in Chicago.

By: TheShot

TheShot — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 08:34:48 +0000

It is unfair to criticize a business simply because it is trying to make a profit. Whether you are a coffee roaster or a maker of airline parts, it’s not feasible for most people to run their living as a charity.

And running a viable business that keeps shareholders happy and thus keeps your employees in decent jobs is an endeavor full of headaches. People are often too quick to hold companies to standards that they would never hold for themselves.

That said, my reference was most certainly a reference to some of your names, and Starbucks in particular. The challenge of growth at all costs is that your quality standards have to drop — to find suppliers large enough to offer a semi-consistent cup at your countless stores, for the level of skill in the volume of employees that you have to hire on a daily basis, etc.

In Starbucks’ case, there are pockets of people who are still passionate about coffee. But they are finding themselves more and more in the minority. There are very few jobs at Starbucks anymore that would attract anyone who is really passionate about good quality coffee.

By: javajohn

javajohn — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:44:06 +0000

“You get big, you get less selective about your coffee growers and suppliers.”
That’s actually funny. I’m sure you didn’t mean for it to come across that way, but it is. You think Starbucks [or even Peet's] is in the coffee business because they’re passionate about coffee? They’re passionate about stock options, bonuses and making a bundle before the ‘next thing’ comes along and suddenly this java boom goes to bust and it’s all over. These guys are in it for the money - and don’t ever kid yourself that they’re not. Sure, they love a good cup of coffee and play the ‘quality’ game because it sells coffee, beans, drinks, cd’s and whatever - but in the end, Howard Schultz + Company want to make as many billions as they can.

By: TheShot

TheShot — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:04:37 +0000

Ah, the Clover. Thanks for catching that oversight.

By: Man Seeking Coffee

Man Seeking Coffee — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:32:52 +0000

I love this location and went there every day I stayed downtown a while back. I know that The Shot goes for the espresso, but something particularly pleasing at Intelligentsia is that they’ll serve any of their restaurant blends on the clover. I found this a particularly pleasing waste to capture a bit of the many of the higher end restaurants around Chicago at a single sitting.