Espresso: The Romance Factor

Written by Bill Soukoreff
Published March 21, 2007

While no one was looking and under the cover of darkness, the magnificent Italian hand-built La Marzocca machines were replaced, one by one, with fully automatic computerized press-a-button versions. This took place in thousands of Starbucks across the land. This is the day when the romance and theater of Starbucks died.

This disturbing trend is taking place on many levels of society. Many argue that removing the human (error) factor makes for a more consistent product and increased customer satisfaction. Really though, truth be told, it is because of training costs, speed of service, and efficiency. These are not bad things in themselves from an overly worked barista’s point of view. The solution for a busy store is to have two to four machines and double the staff, like they do in Buenos Aires. Really, they do. However, they are ignoring the romantic factor. Where is the romance and theater of pushing a button? Where is the skill and passion of the barista?

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