{"id":3919,"date":"2013-01-14T18:06:27","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T22:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/?p=3919"},"modified":"2013-01-14T18:06:27","modified_gmt":"2013-01-14T22:06:27","slug":"starbucks-the-automated-barista","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2013\/01\/14\/starbucks-the-automated-barista\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2605 Starbucks&#8217; The Automated Barista"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:10193,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/decayonnet.blogspot.com\\\/2007\\\/07\\\/starbucks-uses-super-automatic-espresso.html&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20231121234749\\\/https:\\\/\\\/decayonnet.blogspot.com\\\/2007\\\/07\\\/starbucks-uses-super-automatic-espresso.html&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-11-05 10:46:34&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2025-12-31 06:59:16&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-29 12:18:43&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-01-29 12:18:43&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>I haven&#8217;t ordered an espresso based drink at Starbucks in a long-time. I happen to be a fan of Clover Brewed Starbucks&#8217; Reserve coffee. Actually, the $20,000 USD Clover machines and Reserve Coffees are two newish initiatives at Starbucks that have kept me as a customer. Without them, I would have ditched the mega-coffee chain a very long time ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In an effort the provide a consistent coffee creation to every customer, Starbucks has done what any corporate capitalist shareholder owned company would do. They streamlined and automated. They may value their employees (Partners) and offer great pay + healthcare even to part timers but they are still a money-making operation. Let&#8217;s review how Starbucks has automated their Barista:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Clover: An Internet connected Vacuum Press machine that knows exactly the right temp, water levels and pressure for every Starbucks coffee bean. The barista turns a nob and presses a button. Presto! Coffee!<\/li>\n<li>Drip coffee at Starbucks with timers and temp controls. Baristas dump a pre-weighed bag of coffee into a machine and out comes coffee!<\/li>\n<li>Semi-Automated, push-button espresso machines. Load up 5 pounds of coffee beans in the top, press a button for espresso. Luckily, the frothing process is STILL done by hand.<\/li>\n<li>Frozen baked goods and breakfast sandwiches delivered in plastic and defrosted each morning<\/li>\n<li>Breakfast cooker toasters that flash toast sandwiches are also pre-programmed assumingly the same as Clover with an Ethernet cable connected to the machine to receive pre-sets for every sandwich that comes out.<\/li>\n<li>Timed blenders to make blended frozen drinks<\/li>\n<li>Finally, pre-made syrups, powders and flavorings direct from Starbucks corporate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Drinks are &#8220;created&#8221; in-store but everything about those drinks is pre-packaged, pre-made and, for almost every thing, push-button. The only custom thing about Starbucks is the writing on your cup indicating what you ordered.<\/p>\n<p>I was thinking the other day about the future of Starbucks. Why have baristas at all? Wouldn&#8217;t it be simpler to have million dollar automated installations where all of the same ingredients are behind a wall stocked by one person and you order what you want and out pops a cup? It really is the only thing separating Starbucks from coffee vending machines at hospitals. A person taking your order and writing your name on a cup is the only thing different from vending machines. Now, Starbucks is always creating new fun drinks ideas, the reserve series of beans is putting out coffees nearly comparable to those from smaller roasters and all stores have Pour-over and some have clover machines which are automated but provide a far superior cup of coffee than the drip systems Starbucks uses.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>On one hand, Starbucks is delivering \u00a0enough to keep people coming back. They are also making strides each year to make baristas useless. I found <a href=\"http:\/\/decayonnet.blogspot.com\/2007\/07\/starbucks-uses-super-automatic-espresso.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">this blog post in 2007<\/a> worth a read:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Suddenly I felt so cheated. Now ANYBODY can be a barista. Just press one button and you get instant coffee. No more grinding or pressing. I can be a barista too, just give me 30 minutes training and I&#8217;ll be brewing perfect coffee for everyone.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>How long before Starbucks is just a wall of LED panels and auto-coffee creations? They&#8217;re not too far from this.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I haven&#8217;t ordered an espresso based drink at Starbucks in a long-time. I happen to be a fan&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_custom_appearance":"","csco_disable_excerpt_posts_layout":false,"csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3919","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-culinary","7":"cs-entry","8":"cs-video-wrap"},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb3IC4-11d","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1795,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/03\/04\/starbucks-is-using-robots-this-is-a-good-thing\/","url_meta":{"origin":3919,"position":0},"title":"\u2605 Starbucks is Using Robots &#8211; This is a good thing!","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"March 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I have raved about Starbucks' Clover Brewed machine in the past. The history is that Starbucks' corp acquired Clover a few years back and took Clovers' $12,000 vacuum machine that brews exceptional coffee completely off the market. Only a few independent coffee houses remain that have Clover machines and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culinary&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culinary","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/culinary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4035,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2014\/03\/17\/starbucks-dont-get-snappy-with-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":3919,"position":1},"title":"Starbucks, don&#8217;t get snappy with me","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"March 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Starbucks Pour-Over The pour-over method is a technique normally employed by much higher-end coffee shops, and it yields you a custom cup of coffee that isn\u2019t scalded from hours of overbrewing. It takes longer (approximately five minutes), but the result is a remarkably good cup of coffee from Starbucks. As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Coffee&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Coffee","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/coffee\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3757,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2012\/06\/04\/the-starbucks-concept-store-in-amsterdam-is-amazing\/","url_meta":{"origin":3919,"position":2},"title":"\u2605 The Starbucks Concept Store in Amsterdam is Amazing","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"June 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year, a blog that I follow about coffee posted some press images of the new Starbucks Store in Amsterdam. It's a concept store to show the very best of Starbucks. From Dear Coffee I Love You: To double-down on yesterday\u2019s post about Starbuck\u2019s deep pockets and their ability\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culinary&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culinary","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/culinary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Starbucks Amsterdam-4","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8019\/7293178964_36cbf792b9_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8019\/7293178964_36cbf792b9_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm9.staticflickr.com\/8019\/7293178964_36cbf792b9_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1071,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2010\/10\/26\/hey-starbucks-i-really-get-2-hours-of-free-wi-fi\/","url_meta":{"origin":3919,"position":3},"title":"\u2605 Hey Starbucks, I Really Get 2 Hours of Free Wi-Fi?","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"October 26, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I write about Starbucks a lot. I do appreciate what they've done for coffee and somehow managed to remain not too evil in my list of evil corporations. They employee a lot of people and take care of their workers. Starbucks has been good in my eyes but this rocky\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culinary&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culinary","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/culinary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/10\/182679742-300x224.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":731,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2009\/12\/22\/the-starbucks-gold-level-rewards-card-a-review\/","url_meta":{"origin":3919,"position":4},"title":"\u2605 The Starbucks Gold Level Rewards Card [A Review]","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"December 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"While stopping by my most often visited Starbucks store last week in San Francisco, the barista recognized me as \"The gold card guy\" and \"the guy who is in the Christmas Blend fan club\" and asked if I'll have the usual (Grande Christmas Blend). She then checked to see if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culinary&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culinary","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/culinary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Starbucks Gold Level Rewards","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2746\/4205368653_862924236e.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1338,"url":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/2011\/01\/05\/starbucks-goes-minimalist-i-approve\/","url_meta":{"origin":3919,"position":5},"title":"\u2605 Starbucks Goes Minimalist. I approve.","author":"Adam Chandler","date":"January 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Seen above is the transformation of Starbucks' Logo over the past 40 years (via Associated Press). Wall Street Journal reports: Starbucks Corp. unveiled a new logo Wednesday as it prepared to celebrate its 40th anniversary and focus on becoming more of a consumer packaged-goods company. During a webcast meeting with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Culinary&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Culinary","link":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/category\/culinary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/OB-LQ256_0105st_F_20110105135427.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/OB-LQ256_0105st_F_20110105135427.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/adam-jackson.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/OB-LQ256_0105st_F_20110105135427.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adamchandler.me\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}