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Can specialty grade coffee be produced at a mass level?
Chick-fil-a has put an effort the tell people that their
coffee is direct trade and specialty grade. Though I don’t buy that their
direct trade actually helps the communities as much as they claim, I do like
that they are working to cut out the middle man. That’s just good business
sense. I don’t think we need to always make good business decisions pretty with
pious make up. Now the real issue is the coffee. Is it as good as “specialty
grade” makes me think it will be? I am going to say the answer is both yes and
no.
Yes, because they did a fantastic job marketing and many
consumers will apply a higher value to that coffee than it probably doesn’t
merit. I have had the coffee and it is pretty good. Now “pretty good” means, I’m walking into a shop with a large
children’s playground about to buy fried chicken on a biscuit, expecting to be
served dirty water.
Here is the rub for me. Growing and processing is a major
part of Specialty Coffee. The other part is masterful roasting and brewing.
Their brewers are probably on par with shops like Starbucks, but I don’t think
they can roast that coffee well enough to play in the specialty game. They
cannot roast small batch coffee (small enough to maintain control) and produce
the quantity they need to supply for that many stores.
I think they have up’ed the game by buying better beans in a
more sustainable way, but I don’t they can should claim to be playing the
specialty coffee game. It will only diminish the consumer’s perception of
specialty coffee.
Second Opinion
I certainly agree with some of these thoughts, but disagree
with others.
Firstly, I agree that few will expect a premium cup of
coffee from any retailer selling fried chicken bits in industrial biscuits,
even though the marketing is masterful. A very large portion of the population
does not spend much time or energy thinking about coffee, and this move should
please most of this group.
I also have questions about “specialty grade” coffee claims.
Their website says that they only buy coffees that score 80 or higher, but that
is not enough to be specialty. The SCAA also specifies that specialty coffee
should have “a distinctive character in the cup”. Chick Fil-A is likely looking
for a stable blend that can be repeated year after year with little variation.
“Distinctive character” can get in the way of a stable blend, so is likely not
a sourcing criteria, or even option.
One area where I disagree, however, is on the roasting.
Chick Fil-A has used Royal Cup Coffee for some time, and is likely still using
them to roast the Thrive Coffee. Royal Cup Coffee also roasts for meh coffee
retailers such as Waffle House and Cracker Barrel, but roast well respected
coffee for The Ritz-Carlton and Peabody Hotels, so I would say their expertise
is high enough to pull off a fine roast.
With that said, I doubt any roaster for Chick Fil-A
would try to coax the most subtle and interesting flavors out of even the
finest coffee. Chick Fil-A’s customers are most likely to dump a load of
milk-like substances and sweeteners galore into the brew. Perfectly roasted
specialty coffee can actually fail miserably under those conditions.
Instead, I think Chick Fil-A is trying to win a portion of
Starbuck’s current pre-biscuit business, and a chunk from other fast food
patrons. Decent green coffee roasted between a McDonalds roast and a Starbucks
char is where they want to be, and will probably find a lot of success.
As others have said, when I find myself in a coffee desert,
I may resort to Chick Fil-A coffee to keep my heart pumping instead of
resorting to McDonalds. That, of course, will only happen after my travel
AeroPress explodes in a catastrophic coffee desert incident.
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