No, there is no rabbit in my blood.

There is however lots of coffee.

At any given moment if I were cut I would bleed many shades of black:  Shade grown, Arabica, Washed, Peaberry…

and this latest move by one of my previous fortresses has cut me deep

It’s a little known fact that I used to work at Starbucks, it’s an even less known fact that I was a member of the elitist “Black Apron” group of employees. Which basically means I took several weeks worth of extra training on top of regular barista training.  I learned almost everything one could learn about coffee without taking a trip to South America or the mountains of Jamaica.  I could even tell you what you had just brewed in one sip!

(A sip from my cup, not yours)

They trained me, indoctrinated me and doped me up on enough caffeine that I could open and operate a business at 4:45 in the morning… And I loved them for it. Don’t get me wrong there were hard times, amazingly aloof customers and sticky-sweet piles of frappuccino refuse that my dog wouldn’t even get near, much less pick up.

But they gave me coffee, the nectar of the gods and I wasn’t about to bite the hand that fed me.

There was an art to it all, a perfect cup, a mouth feel, a hint of berry or perhaps the lingering of a chocolate note… A new, almost zen like aspect of the formally diminished cup of joe started to take root. I became a elitist, only certain brewing techniques and exotic other worldly coffees could fill my cup.  I considering spending hundreds in special water filters and machines that would supply the crema to my life. Starbucks made me want coffee and made me want to spend far than normal amounts of money obtaining it… So why this?

Why instant?

No matter how it tastes it will be instant.  Gone is the procedure, the finesse, the deliberate measures that made coffee what it was.  It is now a simple, lifeless powder that simply provides an alternative to red bull?

You are no longer the purveyor of high quality coffee experience, you are just a business, and you’re now competing with Maxwell House

And to be honest Maxwell House is Maxwell House no matter how you package it.

We have our McDonalds and our Dunkin’ Doughnuts but I fear our days when Starbucks was a coffeehouse might be numbered.