Triple Berry Muffins Don't Taste the Same

Both Au Bon Pain and Caribou are coffee chains that sell something called the Triple Berry Muffin. Both advertise that their muffins are low-fat.

But does either one of these muffins taste good? In my experience, the answer is "yes." Au Bon Pain's Triple Berry Muffin is quite tasty. But the version of this muffin sold at Caribou is terrible. Last week, I tasted Caribou's version for the first time, and it was pretty inedible.

Java in the Big Apple

In most areas of the country, the coffee-drinking scene is punctuated by the chains -- Starbucks, Caribou Coffee, Peet's and a few others. There are a few independent coffee shops here in Washington, D.C., but not many.

By contrast, New Yorkers can choose from a large number of independent coffeehouses or coffee-centered cafes. According to the New York Times:

Over the last two years, more than 40 new cafes and coffee bars have joined a small, dedicated group of establishments where coffee making is treated like an art, or at least a high form of craft.

At places like Bluebird Coffee Shop in the East Village, the espresso is so plush and bright that it tastes sweet on its own.

... Meanwhile, some established cafes around the city have made moves toward roasting their own beans. Cafe Grumpy is already doing it, and Abraco will by the summer.

Now, there's an appropriate name for a coffeehouse in NYC: Cafe Grumpy.

Starbucks: Do You Love It or Hate It?

In this post at MSN, Justin Rohrlich explores the intense emotions that many people express -- positive or negative -- about Starbucks:

Hate Starbucks? Have you asked yourself why?

Maybe it's because you find the coffee stores bland and generic. Perhaps you don't like that they seem to be everywhere you look.

Or it could be that you simply prefer your local, independent mom-and-pop coffee shop, and show your loyalty by hating Starbucks.

But guess what. Mom-and-pop coffee shops don't hate Starbucks at all. In fact, most of them love it when a Starbucks opens a location nearby.

... It may sound like something you've read in The Onion, but it's absolutely true.

I'm somewhere in the middle. I like independent coffeehouses, but I also appreciate that when I order a latte at a Starbucks, I know exactly what I'm going to get.

That Ain't No Starbucks

Mention the country of Rwanda, and most anyone who hears it will immediately think of the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people were killed.

As the Rwandan people have restored peace and civility in their land, they are banking on coffee to bring in much-needed revenue and a stable prosperity. Most coffee in the East African nation is grown and harvested by families or small cooperatives.

Today's Washington Post reports on Bourbon, a newly opened coffee shop in downtown D.C. -- the first U.S. outlet of a Rwandan coffee chain.

"If done right, it could be the platform to re-brand the country," says (Bourbon owner Arthur) Karuletwa, former chief executive and now a shareholder in the company. Coffee can "create awareness that there's recovery, there's trade, there's investment opportunities, there's tourism. There's life after death."

After opening three stores in Kigali, Rwanda, over the past three years, Bourbon expanded operations to Washington in July, taking over a converted Starbucks at 21st and L streets NW. The cafe is furnished with dark wood tables and red-leather-upholstered chairs; the walls are painted gold, moss green and burnt orange; woven baskets and traditional African motifs decorate the shelves and walls.

... Plans call for Bourbon to open a cafe in Boston at the end of the year, and later a New York location. Unlike the D.C. shop, those stores will offer on-site roasting and daily cuppings.

... "Rwanda is a very wanted origin," says Susie Spindler, executive director of the Alliance for Coffee Excellence, which runs the Cup of Excellence competition. She says coffee traders and roasters visiting Rwanda are discovering unusual flavor profiles they never knew existed.

"It mixes a lot of regular characteristics that you usually only find in one area," agrees Stacey Manley, Bourbon's barista. "Latin American coffees tend to be lighter-bodied and kind of nutty with cocoa. But you almost never find an earthy, really heavy-bodied Latin American coffee. Those are typically Indonesian characteristics. And in Indonesia, coffee is very rarely bright. So the weird thing about Rwandan coffee is it'll have all these different characteristics in one coffee."

Instant Coffee at Starbucks?

You heard correctly. Starbucks is launching a new instant coffee, hoping to appeal to recession-scarred Americans and Canadians who are counting their pennies. According to the Wall St. Journal:

The Seattle-based coffee giant on Tuesday is planning to roll out Via to Starbucks stores across the U.S. and Canada after having tested it in Seattle, Chicago and London for several months.

. . . Via will be available in stores such as sporting-goods retailer REI and Office Depot Inc. On Tuesday, all customers on domestic United Airlines flights longer than two hours will get free packets of Via . . .

"We recognize there's a very large opportunity in the grocery aisle," Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz said during a conference call with reporters.

In traditional supermarkets, Starbucks will go up against industry giant Nestlé SA, maker of Nescafe Taster's Choice, which already is running ads attacking Via.

The Toronto Star reports:

Priced around $1 a cup, Schultz said he thinks consumers will see Starbucks "Via" as good value. But the proof will be in the drinking, marketing expert David Dunne said.

"It's got to taste significantly better than existing instant coffees and pretty close to a ground coffee from Starbucks," said Dunne, a professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. "I think it's a risky move if you don't have a clearly better product."

I agree with Dunne. Besides, introducing an instant coffee will compete with Starbucks' existing house brew. If I were Schultz, I'd be concerned that such a move might cause many consumers to buy-down -- i.e., to shift from buying Starbucks house coffee to buying Via. This shift would cut into the coffee chain's profits.

A marketing expert might question Starbucks' decision from a different standpoint: does a brand that has built its image around premium coffee cheapen that brand by sinking into a Sanka world?

I guess that question will be answered over the next year or two.