Mark Prince takes a hard look at the coffee scene in mass media - and wonders why coffee isn't getting the same level of exposure as fine wines or other culinary styles and favourites.
terryz Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 578 Location: Olympia, WA. Expertise: Professional
Posted Sun Feb 6, 2005, 6:13pm Subject: Re: So what the heck is wrong... by Mark Prince
Mark,
Check out Freshcup.com and a link to Inside Coffee. I think this is a start to what your talking about. I believe it is set to debut at the SCAA in Seattle.
Posted Sun Feb 6, 2005, 8:44pm Subject: Re: So what the heck is wrong... by Mark Prince
I am not encouraged by Inside Coffee's offer of "a coffee-table-quality annual (woohoo!) to consult and collect." Here's a sample from their pitch:
... It is also a sure-fire profit center item for specialty coffeehouses, chains, micro-roasters and other coffee- and cuisine-related retailers... Priced at $11.95, insidecoffee offers a secure 100-percent profit for retailers as well as an acceptable price point for specialty coffee consumers. (emphasis added)
Mark's article has kindled a certain cynical feeling in me this evening, compounded by the sounds of marketeers sharpening their shears for the fresh flock of inductees, as indicated in the message above. The SCAA conference cMembership track seems less interesting than last year. At least the locale is indisputably attractive.
-- Dan ("...must not rant... must not rant... must-t-t not rant...")
Posted Sun Feb 6, 2005, 10:15pm Subject: Re: So what the heck is wrong... by Mark Prince
This really struck right on, as someone who sells wine for a living, a waiter, I have 375ish wines on my wine list.I have one coffee, lousy.Of the 50 odd coffee shops in town, not one offers more than 1 espresso blend. Wine merchants are in the resteraunt every week with tasters and literature. I probably go to 12-15 free tastings both formal and casual (formal means sit down with notes)a year sampling 1000- 1500 wines.I don't recall ever going to a coffee seminar. This year was the first sign of change,yeah, at the cornicopia wine festival here in whistler there was a coffee booth, and they had 3 blends,amazing. There were 65 wineries and 20 odd wine merchants, 1 coffee. Maybe next year we can get lots more. Here's a tip, if coffee is in the festival baristas can get a pass to the trade fair , $10.
RistrettoBabe Senior Member Joined: 21 Dec 2004 Posts: 282 Location: So Calif Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia Grinder: Anfim (doserless) Vac Pot: 3 French Presses Drip: Never
Posted Sun Feb 6, 2005, 11:00pm Subject: Re: So what the heck is wrong... by Mark Prince
The article/feature struck me as a little unsettling:
"It is also a sure-fire profit center item for...retailers. Divided into editorial and advertising sections...and easily referenced industry resources. ...insidecoffee opens a whole new pathway for consumer education—and advertiser advantage. ...and informs about the latest trends in the trade...and gives readers the tools to prepare and serve their own"
Which leaves one to wonder how objective the content will be in regard to editorial (Ok, so editorials aren't by nature objective, but what gets chosen to be included may be the bought and paid for), referenced resources, latest trends, and recommended tools. Will they be able to separate the "consumer education" from the "advertiser advantage," and will the trends and tools be authentic, or invented to create new markets for retailers? I'm not feeling overly excited, based on the promo info so far.
alanfrew Senior Member Joined: 19 Dec 2001 Posts: 437 Location: Melbourne Expertise: Professional
Posted Mon Feb 7, 2005, 1:00am Subject: Re: So what the heck is wrong... by Mark Prince
I want my "The Coffee Connoisseur" magazine
Down here in the very deep south that'd be "Crema" or "Bean Scene" or "Cafe Culture".
The wine world, along with the foodie world has a growing number of "names" (as in superstars) that even the average middle income consumer recognizes. Heck, they even have their own TV shows now (my fave: Simply Wine, with Andrea Immer).
Paul Bassett, "Living Coffee", 9.30 p.m. Tuesday on Lifestyle.
Their industry has a wide variety of trade shows geared towards consumers as well as professionals.
"Celebrate the Bean", "The Rocks Coffee Festival".
I suspect it's a matter of market maturity more than anything else, but I've often wondered why similar sorts of things haven't yet happened in the USA.
Posted Mon Feb 7, 2005, 8:02am Subject: Re: So what the heck is wrong... by Mark Prince
One difference is that the US is more in thrall to capitalism than other countries. As long as the big 4 (or Starbucks) don't emphasize quality or consumer education, the media will tend not to notice. Unless you have boatloads of money, you really don't rate here.
frelkins Senior Member Joined: 22 Dec 2001 Posts: 118 Location: nyc Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: rancilio silvia; expobar... Grinder: mazzer mini Vac Pot: bodum santos Drip: bodum chambord french press
Posted Mon Feb 7, 2005, 9:24am Subject: Re: So what the heck is wrong... by Mark Prince
hear, hear, mark!
yes it's very hard to work for the SCAA pro members to help specialty coffee and the association when half of them don't think consumers have any business talking about coffee with them and another quarter openly tell you you're an idiot: "because you're not in the coffee business -- how could you possibly know anything about coffee?"
if you all only had any idea how often i hear this not only personally, but also about consumers generally as well as SCAA consumer members. which really cheeses my biscuit because we all know that there are people here, on alt.coffee, and in the consumer membership who know more about coffee than most so-called "retailers" and even quite a few "roasters."
jim schulman and andy schecter are a formidable pair, they are.
i got this attitude full-blast just this morning from one of the most "respected" coffee pros in the industry.
sometimes i just want to scream "hey, dude! if you help me hold events where i can introduce people to specialty coffee and teach them even 3 little things about it in an hour, then consumers will begin to know something about coffee. your coffee. and then they'd buy your coffee instead of starbucks!"
i still don't get this situation. so many pro members complain that people know nothing about coffee, and that the SCAA does no marketing to consumers, but will they help educate them? help with events? help create press releases or web postings? no. why not?
"because consumers know nothing about coffee." our ignorance is apparently an unchangeable feature of our existence as coffee drinkers!
fortunately however, we have that final quarter, the visionary 25%, who understands that consumers are where it's at and are eager to help in any way possible. the small events and such that i've been able to do here in new york has always relied upon this segment of the pro membership.
there are people on the SCAA board who believe in the power of consumers, who believe the program should be funded, and who understand how to take steps in that direction. this is what keeps me positive and hopeful.
as for dan k's remark about the seattle program, let me just say that the seattle conference space doesn't have enough room for the same kind of workshops we did last year. also, those workshops were expensive; and the feeling apparently is that the vast majority of the consumers they want to attract in seattle would be intimidated by the information level in those.
so they are scaling back and trying to offer simpler, more basic 1-2-3 introductory type info. to be fair to the association, i wrote up a number of proposals for the conference, but the consumer committee chair and conference committee liasion kimberly easson worked with the program to shape it in a way they felt would be more successful.
bxntrk Senior Member Joined: 5 Mar 2004 Posts: 492 Location: Central Kansas, USA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: S'Bucks Barista Grinder: Rocky DL, Bunn G1, Solis M+ Drip: Presto Scandinavian Roaster: Hot Top, RK Drum on the way
Posted Mon Feb 7, 2005, 12:02pm Subject: Re: So what the heck is wrong... by Mark Prince
jliedeka Said:
One difference is that the US is more in thrall to capitalism than other countries. As long as the big 4 (or Starbucks) don't emphasize quality or consumer education, the media will tend not to notice. Unless you have boatloads of money, you really don't rate here.
I really don't think it's capitalism that's the culprit. If consumers demanded better, the capitalists would provide it. Even the wine world has it's MD 20/20 and Thunderbird. Consumers need a better education and Mark's idea of a consumer-focused magazine would serve that end. Maybe it's not a consumer-focus, but an enthusiast-focus that's needed.
But I'm not sure how far we can take the wine analogy. Most people (N. Americans anyway) drink coffee, but I'd hate to think lump you average Folgers drinker in the same category as the bums who buy Thunderbird wine! (That would make the drinkers of instant coffe analogous to the bums who can only afford sterno.) The Starbucks-type market consists of many who have coffee entusiast pretensions, and some of us actually graduate from that.
(Obviously, I'm not a wine-enthusiast) OK, getting serious again . . .
I think the 2 products and their markets are more different than similar:
roasted coffee is perishable; wine is not
coffee preparation requires a certain skill level; wine does not
coffee preparation requires a certain minimum mechanical application; wine does not
coffee is prepared just prior to consumption; wine is prepared in advance. This makes vending coffee by the cup a labor-intensive enterprise.
(I'm sure there are others.)
So maybe it's not just the taste we need to educate people on, but the enthusiam for proper preparation.
Or perhaps a better analogy would be microbrewing of beer, something that's prepared locally instead of mass marketed.
Question: If people pay about $3 - $4 retail for a latte, how much does it really cost a good vendor to prepare and offer it? I've never does such a price/cost analysis, but I'm sure someone in the business has.
Just some random thoughts.
I, for one, would be interested in a coffee enthusiast magazine, for the same reason I frequent this site.
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