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Strange Brew
August 21, 2006
Press conferences are funny things. Take the one on Aug. 18 in a Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Starbucks, announcing a partnership between the giant coffee chain and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The two have arranged to feature poster-size reprints of masterworks from the museum’s collection in 10 of 50 units in Greater Cleveland.
The exposure is good for the popular museum given that it's closed for several years while undergoing a $258 million renovation. The posters also burnish Starbucks’ image among its upscale customers. It’s no surprise the 10 units are in affluent communities.
But I digress. “We begin every meeting at Starbucks with a coffee tasting,” announces a Starbuck employee who passes through the room bearing a tray of tiny cups. She instructs the group to begin by smelling the coffee, noticing aromas of berries, nuts, chocolate and cinnamon. Meanwhile, another worker encourages us to sniff from an “aroma lab”: another tray laden with ramekins of chocolate, almonds, ground cinnamon and berry jam.
I could only wonder during this slightly bizarre ritual what a pre-shift “tasting” might be like at, say, Burger King. Anyone know the equivalent aromas of flame broiling?Posted by David Farkas on August 21, 2006 | Comments (0)