PODcast #33 : Espresso Pods News

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Coffee News

Starbucks Closures

I'm sure you've heard about the upcoming closure of 600 Starbucks stores nationwide. Starbucks has been dancing the expansion jig for many years and now it's time to pay the piper.

Starbucks... The very mention of the name can be very polarizing — pitting fans against detractors. Coffee snobs (including me) tend to look down on "Charbucks' " for their poor tasting coffee. A lot of that has to do with Starbucks' focus on expansion and lack of focus on quality that happened during the last 10 years or so. It is that trend that Starbucks management is now trying to reverse. I can attest that before I started PodMerchant, while I was at my previous job we visited Starbucks daily and the machines were always in need of cleaning. You drink straight espresso there at your peril.

Starbucks holds an interesting place in the coffee pantheon. More than any other company, they are responsible for the popularization of Specialty Coffee in America. So as a Specialty Coffee businessman, I've got to give some credit to them. In many ways they made my business.

I became an espresso fan around 2001 and through friends I was introduced to espresso pods. Where to get them? Well, Starbucks had boxes of pods for sale in their stores. That's what I started on. But I found their supply of pods to be spotty. The store managers couldn't be bothered with reliably keeping them in stock. So I turned to the Internet for my supply and found not even one store doing a decent job of selling this precious commodity. Sales were either through the company's own site (e.g., illy) or through unprofessional sellers operating presumably out of their bedroom — and selling coffee who knows how out-of-date. There was just one eCommerce site dedicated to espresso pods but they only took PayPal and had very limited offerings. The espresso pod market was clearly under-served and so I took up the challenge. Oddly, the field has not changed much since then — with the exception PodMerchant, of course.

Well. I think I fairly danced around the point here. Love it or hate it — Starbucks is important. When they close 600 stores, it is news. Will your favorite Starbucks be closing? Find out in the official list of Starbucks Closures.

Uncommon Grounds

Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World by Mark Pendergrast

While on the subject of the coffee business, I think I'll point out this excellent book on the history of coffee and how it has affected the world. Wars, slavery, advertising, sexism, business — it's all in here. Certainly a "must read" for anyone in the coffee business, and very entertaining and educational.

Funny Coffee News

The Brouhaha over a brew
Don't ask for a triple espresso over ice at Murky Coffee in Arlington, VA. And people call ME a coffee snob...
Story: Blogger stirs up bitter coffee feud.
Here's the original blog posting that escalated the tensions, but be advised there is some bad language. Only if you care to — proceed forewarned: And I Am Not Lying

PodMerchant News

HandPressos. Where are they? HandPresso has chosen an official U.S. distributor and will no longer sell directly to retailers now. My distributor will have first stock arriving in late August. So no HandPressos until then. The good news is that the price will be significantly lower. We also expect to carry the thermos and cups when they become available some time later.

We expect to have our coffee shipment from Italy in within the next two weeks. Look for Compagnia dell'Arabica back on the shelves soon — and fresh to boot. Our previous supply became unreliable but now we're back in the game.

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That's all for this issue of the PODcast.


Kevin Garrett, The PodMerchant.