Being from NY, the concept did not make sense to me.  Why would I use instant coffee, there is a coffee place (most likely Starbucks) open right across the street!  Then I read the back of the package…”It took more than 35 years, but we’ve created a way to bring you the bold taste of Starbucks coffee in any cup.”  Ohhh!!!!!!  I get it!  They’re just trying to make sure I never drink any coffee besides Starbucks ever again!  Case Closed.

Ok, Ok, back to the review.  The package comes with three individual servings of instant coffee.  So if you’re away from home, you can bring them with you to have coffee on demand (provided there is hot water, milk and sugar around).  I did notice a big difference between traditional instant coffee (top) and the starbucks (bottom).  The granules themselves are MUCH smaller, a factor Starbucks claims comes from their top-secret process for making the instant coffee taste better.

If you watch the videos Starbucks has online (especially the London one), people keep saying the coffee is smooth. I suppose they’re right.  I would say this cup of coffee reminds me of one of those Keurig or Flavia machines.  The coffee is better Folgers and almost satifsying.  It just isn’t strong enough for a serious coffee drinker.

My biggest peeve is that the directions tell you to add 8 fl oz of hot water to the packet.  The smallest coffee at Starbucks is 12 fl oz and I constantly see people ordering the larger sizes.  Therefore, one would need at least two of these instants in the morning to fill their normal brew size.  Since the packets aren’t strong enough to replace the traditional cup, you might as well throw in the last packet that comes in the $2.95 package.  Wow.  My hat is off to you Starbucks, you’ve figured out how to get people to spend even more money on coffee…Genius.

Listing everything I ate during my trip would pretty much be impossible, so here are some of the highlights.

Lunch on Friday included a drive to Ezell’s Fried Chicken.  It’s apparently famous in Seattle and has Oprah’s seal of approval.  There is a signed picture of her in the restaurant (which has no seating by the way), if it’s good enough for O then clearly this has got to be some quality chicken.  $10 later and enough fried food to keep my arteries pumping hard for the next year, I would have to say, good call Oprah.

Then we stopped by the Red Hook brewery, where $1 gets you a tour, a small glass and 2 pints of beer.  Excellent.  I was surprised that I enjoyed the Porter since I usually don’t drink dark beer.  Although I’m still trying to decide if the best part of the tour was the beer or the person who had a t-shirt that read, “I pound beers for Jesus.”

Ok. Dinner.  Pasta Fresco was recommended by a classmate of mine for the novelty.  There is no menu.  There are no prices.  Hell, I’m surprised there was even food (just kidding).  The owner comes out and asks if there is anything you don’t eat/allergic to and once that formality is cleared up, you start getting food.  And more food.  We started off with zucchini, tomato sauce and melted cheese.  It was delicious, although pepper is generally better when ground.  We then got salads, they were different from each other, but fairly standard.  Next came the chicken with mushrooms.  Good, but a bit heavy.  Then the fish (I got halibut and Sara was served salmon), which was nothing too exciting.  After the fish came the pasta, which was my favorite dish.  It was perfectly cooked and served with a light cream sauce.  I generally don’t favor cream sauces, but it was extremely light and flavorful.  Finally dessert, which wasn’t anything to write home about, so I won’t go into detail.  The meal was fun because we really had no idea what to expect, as an added bonus, we liked most of the food we received.  I recommend in a group setting, but I could see how this gets old.

No trip to Seattle would be complete without a trip to Pike’s Place Market either.  I love markets (like a whole lot) and this was no exception.  There were endless amounts of flowers, fish and other tasty treats.  The fish were HUGE too, benefits of living in the Pacific Northwest (I’m a bit jealous).  Look at these lobster tails, I could have knocked someone out with one of those things.

Finally, no trip to Pike’s Place would be complete without stopping by the original Starbucks across the street.  As a self-professed fan of coffee (and does Seattle have a lot of coffee places, swoon!!!!), I had to stop in and order myself a cup.  Not surprisingly it was mobbed and I had to wait in line for my beverage.  I was also a complete tourist (I’m allowed!) and bought myself a mug.

We also went to Fremont and took a tour of Theo’s Chocolate factory.  The tour actually taught us a great deal of about the history of chocolate, cacao beans, processing and eating (that was my favorite part).  And did we eat.  I think we sampled half their inventory and then some.  If you’re in the Seattle area, this is definitely a great way to spend an hour and a half.  If you don’t believe me, read this letter they received, I think it sums up the tour nicely nicely.

The last day I was there, Sara and I participated in “Cupcake Happy Hour” at Cupcake Royale in Ballard.  Yes, we got 6 cupcakes for the price of 3.  No, we did not eat them all, I don’t think it would have been physically possible.  We did sample all 6 the varieties though.  They were, starting from the top left and moving clockwise; Red Velvet, Salted Caramel, Honey Peanut Brittle, Dance Party, Lemon Drop and Lavender.  The best was one of their original flavors, “Dance Party.”  Although seriously, with a name like that it has to be good.

To sum it up; Seattle = awesome.  I’ll be back sometime over the summer for a weekend if anyone has some  suggestions on where to eat!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Clover, it is essentially the $11,000 version of your office Flavia coffee machines.  The extra $10,800 is a bit pricey, but the coffee isn’t from a packet either.  In addition to using freshly ground beans (measured out precisely to the tenth of a gram), the machine boasts customizable temperature and brew time settings.  Starbucks also offers an additional coffee selection specifically used with the Clover.  Swoon.

As you can probably tell, I’m a coffee fan.  My entire family has it pulsating through their veins.  Now I’ll be honest though, I’m not a huge fan of Starbucks’ drip coffee.  I find it bitter and unappealing.  I much prefer their lattes and teas.  This is why the Clover piqued my interest; coffee, made freshly for me, in front of me and with really cool technology!

And yesterday was the big day (which was celebrated with balloons outside the shop).  I sauntered in on my way home and checked out the offerings.  After a few seconds of debate, I selected the El Savador Pacamara, a coffee from Latin America with hints of lemon and dark chocolate (cool, huh?).  I should note all of the “Small Batch Coffee” offerings had a fruit influence, a bit more variety would have been appreciated.  The barista measured and ground the beans in front of me as we made small chat about the new item.

About a minute later, I had a fresh cup of coffee in my hand.  Stop. Sniff. Sip. Burn Tongue. Oops, I got a little too excited and forgot that coffee is served hot.  A few minutes later I repeated the exercise.  Freshness, not bitter, not unappealing, and not $4 like the Wired article said (it was ~$2.50 for the tall).  In fact, I rather liked it.  I was able to taste the distinct flavors and I did not need sugar to mask bitterness.

Did Starbucks make the right choice in purchasing the entire Clover operation?  That is still a question to be answered.  The coffee was superior to the usual drip that had been sitting around, but I question the Clover’s versatility.  This Starbucks was located in the outer part of Kendall Square in Cambridge, it’s never ridiculously crowded and the baristas are genuinely friendly.  I feel this particular one corresponds to Starbuck’s vision of returning to their roots and focusing on the customer.  Here, the Clover fits.

I question its usability in metropolitan places like Manhattan and Chicago.  A place where there is a Starbucks on every corner and people have finished their coffee before they’ve paid.  A place where I always have had to wait in line to get coffee…imagine what the extra minute per person would do to those lines?! Disaster.

Although at $11,000 each, I’m sure they would not be set up in all those locations just yet.  For now, I’m still excited to have the Clover in my neighborhood so I can try out the other coffee flavors and see if they also live up to the hype.

*Yes, I realize this line has probably been used to death