Tag Archive 'cafe_cleanliness'

Does the growth in high-quality independent cafés mean the mom-and-pops are making a comeback?

Posted by TheShot on 28 Dec 2009 | Filed under: Café Society, Consumer Trends, Foreign Brew, Quality Issues, Starbucks

Has it really been a couple weeks since our last third wave rant? A few years after we thought this topic was dead and buried, lately newbie third wave coffee articles have been cropping up in local newspapers like teenage vampire profiteers. London, Oakland, and now Vancouver: Indie cafés perfectly poised to quench coffee aficionados’ [...]

Common Cues for Recognizing Good and Bad Espresso

Posted by TheShot on 27 Jul 2009 | Filed under: Add Milk, Barista, Beans, Café Society, CoffeeRatings.com, Quality Issues

For a few years now, we had an idea for a post that sat in our unpublished queue: how can you tell a good espresso shop from a bad one? (At least before sampling it.) Given the thousands of good, bad, and mediocre espresso shots we’ve reviewed over the years, we have definitely noticed some [...]

On Starbucks, CRM, Coffee Shops and Customer Service

Posted by TheShot on 03 Aug 2006 | Filed under: Consumer Trends, Starbucks

First CoffeeSM is a blog that generally focuses on issues related to CRM, or Customer Relationship Management — and generally not on anything having to do with coffee (go figure). Except today, where David Sims commented on how Starbucks‘ worldwide geographic sprawl has set new standards of customer service for coffeehouses everywhere: On Starbucks, CRM, [...]