1.12.2006

Clovered

Well, I did get to try the Clover today after all.

Matt, a barista and enthusiastic member of the Elysian staff, let me know that Alistair was going to be stopping by to install the Clover and I should stick around for the festivities. I did.

My first impression of the Clover was that it was larger than I expected. It is also really slick. It's design, though primarily black, is reminiscent of Apple and their tight tolerances. Well, I didn't get that close of a look for too long. Alistair played around with the settings and split 10 ozs between four of us. We definitely had a Nicaragua and a Sidamo, and I think there may have been a Salvador in among the myriad of cups poured. I must say, the coffee is excellent. When I think about how it's being brewed, with this "Vacuum Press" technology alluded to in the Coffee Equipment Company's literature, I realize how incredible this all is. And then I think of further possibilities with the Clover. You can program brew time, brew temp and volume easily, and I'm guessing there may be even more controls, but I'm not aware of them.

In the first hour, we tried the Sidamo at 3 different brew temps and times, resulting in strikingly different cups. There were recognizable as the same coffee, but the profile was shifted in all three cases. The possibilities there are infinite with a good supply of single origins. The Clover really is worth all the hype and gossip on the big coffee sites. It will change the face of brewed coffee, at least in the third wave shops of North America. Zander and his team of engineers at CoEqCo have put out a serious product.

However, Alistair semi-jokingkly mentioned that the waste reduction theory will not come true. The idea behind this theory is that with drip coffee, a lot of coffee is (often) wasted if you run out of time on a pot, having not sold it all. All of you coffee people out there know this issue. It sucks, and it costs money. So, spend money on a Clover, and you never have to brew drip. You can do away with your American Metalware, your Fetco or your Bunn. But the problem is this: you have the Clover. You are going to be playing with brew parameters 24 hours of the day (no sleep for you either, since you'll be drinking copious amounts of it too). So yeah, it might sink your business...

Anyways. I'm sure I'll have more on the Clover soon. I'm just too coffeed to come up with more. Big thanks to Alistair and the crew for putting up with me!

1 Comments:

Blogger Shaun said...

Lucky bastard. If things work out I will try and slide in on our way back to Calgary. More importantly I am going back up to 2%Jazz in an hour to sample a batch of espresso that should be just perfect today. Saw your comment on my blog, you would find the Synesso really easy to work with.

10:13  

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