Starbucks hopes a $15,000 coffee maker will please high-end customers

 

It was only a matter of time before someone came up with a high-tech version of Mr. Coffee. It’s called Clover and it was once considered a “rich man’s coffee maker”. Imagine paying $15,000 for a coffee machine that brews one-cup of coffee. The good news is Starbucks is the one taking the risk.

Starbucks liked it so much it bought Coffee Equipment Company, which makes the Clover machines, and is rolling out some of them to select stores around the world. Out of Starbuck’s nearly 17,000 stores only 122 now have them. Two of them are in the Philadelphia region one at the Starbucks in Chestnut Hill at 8515 Germantown Avenue and the other is in Bala Cynwyd at 138 Montgomery Ave.

In Chestnut Hill today from 1030 a.m.- 1230 p.m. free samples of the Clover brewed coffee will be handed out.

Chestnut Hill Starbucks Store Manager Kathryn Henkenius says she’s been training her staff for the past two weeks on the Clover machine and she claims you can tell the difference.

Why the hoopla?

Starbucks is marketing this as if this is the best of cup you could ever have. I tried it and admit I could tell a difference between the auto drip version and the Clover brew. The Clover coffee tasted more like the beans smell. But it’s also the same effect I get when I ground my coffee into a fine powder and run it through my Mr. Coffee. You’ll definitely get more of the bean that way too.

As for price, a regular coffee is $1.50 and the Clover version is $1.95. So, it’s not as bad as the sticker shock I got in Tokyo with a $6 coffee.