Clover at Tinderbox (Glasgow)

by **Steve** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:03 pm

I agree the Clover is priced very high, but take that part out the equation (in the perfect world I know) boy can it present coffee is amazing way. Its marketing in the US has been very well done, but there are the coffee suppliers out there to take full advantage of it and have the pockets to buy them.

Alex I'm interested in what machines employ this technology, if there is no competition. A serious question.

by **Hugo** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:57 pm

I saw it in action for the first time at Hotel Olympia. Nothing like I expected but I loved the coffee and would buy a coffee made in one every time if I thought the barista behind the inevitably close by espresso machine wasn't a good one.
Why on earth for that money can't it weigh, grind, stir and extract then clean itself up too.... the window squeegie, whisk and cleaning rag were an almost comical accessory set.

by **Steve** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:02 pm

I guess thats for the theater elements of the drink making. Button pushing and walking away wouldn't go down so well with the community.

I love filter and I think as a tool for the roaster to develop roast profiles and also to present coffees in a very user friendly way too. (please read as send me one for free please Mathew Algie

)

by **AlexV** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:22 pm

Single cup coffee brewers are used in office coffee machines. Companies like Filterfresh in the US have been selling them for about 20 years, and even Bravilor now have their own version. About 7 years ago machines with built in grinders came onto the market, and now there are versions with up to 3 different types of beans. While the temperature of the brew water on these machines probably isn’t as controllable as the Clover, but they do have brew cycle programming.

The King Brewer, which I think was the first mechanism to work in this way was patented in 1964

by **Steve** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:35 pm

I've never seen one of those before, so is it like a vending kind of thing? Have you used one tasted from one ? Has anyone else any experience?

by **AlexV** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 7:45 am

Hi Steve, I have spent quite a bit of time with these, I was a service agent in Canada for a year working on them (in a previous life). The company I worked for had sold more than 15,000 of them to offices. They work very well in my opinion. Most machines use a roll of filter paper, which is automatically pulled through the brewer after each cup, with the spent grounds attached to it. But there are now paperless brewers with a built in squeegee that cleans the top of the metal brewer mesh.
They where very popular in the US and Canada where companies were selling the idea of freshly brewed coffee one cup at a time, instead of pour over filter machines where coffee just sits and stews. With our love of instant coffee in the UK, they didn’t really take off, and now that espresso based drinks are so popular I guess very few are sold.
It seems ironic really, that 10 years ago I tried to sell these machines in the UK market, and failed.
I reckon you could make a simple one cup brewing machine for about £1000, and if Bravilor cut out all the unwanted parts (canister, casing, doser) from their FreshOne machine, you have the basic Clover.
The FreshOne has a RRP of £1260

by **AlexV** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:06 am

Forgot to add this
http://www.vkitech.com/about/history.jsp

by **Steve** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:22 am

Thanks Alex that really interesting, as I say I've never seen it before.

What did it taste like in the cup, have you tired the clover, is it compariable? My lack of commercial experience is showing through on this one I didn't know this kind of thing existed.

Why do you think the Clover has done so well in the US with this kind of competition against it?

by **AlexV** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 8:46 am

I tried the Clover in Bern at the WBC a few years ago. The coffee was great, but that might have been something to do with the COE SO they were running through it. I would love to try it against a press pot to taste the difference.

The reason it is selling quite well is down to the application. As you have already said, if it was just a push button machine customers wouldn’t pay the money. It is very similar to the Coffeenation setup where people are happy to pay £2.00 for a coffee out of large bean to cup machine by placing their cup and choosing a drink, but if you replaced that with a traditional looking vending machine which made exactly the same quality of drink, no one would use it.

by **CakeBoy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:06 pm

Very interesting stuff about the technology. All sorts of ideas spinning around in my head now .........

by **Tristan** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:27 pm

I don't doubt the coffee is excellent or even potentially perfect (for the blend), i've not had a proper go on one though. As a tool for a roaster, brilliant i'd imagine. But in a busy bar? MA will have to send me one so I can let them know...

by **Steve** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:52 pm

Hey Tristan I asked first join the queue

I think there is a lot of R and D gone into getting this machine to market. I also heard from a reliable source the stainless steel filter costs $1000 on its own.

I guess until you get under the bonnet of ones it tough to see why, all I know I really like the coffee from it.

by **lukas** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:51 am

Me too. (I had to say this, sorry

)

by **Tristan** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 8:55 am

I'm sure they'll let us all have one

by **Steve** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 1:26 pm

Final warning Tristan back off

Clover at Tinderbox (Glasgow)

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