Maintaining standards

DoubleRistretto

Went to Mecca's new coffee cart in Sydney [ONe Alfred St?] near Circular Quay today.

Coffee wasn't up to high standards of original Mecca in King St - made me

askthecoffeeguy

It may be a generalisation on my part, but even some of melbourne's best coffee locations don't always deliver an exceptional product all of the time (just most of the time!) Sometimes there are mitigating circumstances that need to be taken into account, and an isolated visit does not necessarily do justice to the complexity of the issue I went to one of Melbourne's 'top three' establishments two weeks ago, and was served what i would classify as an ordinary coffee, especially by their usual extraordinary standards Did I complain?  No... but I probably should have,  I was in a hurry and I needed the caffeine so I just downed the coffee and left. BUT I did go back last week, and had two great coffees from the same establishment, and I was there the week before I received the average coffee, and the coffee then was great as well! I think its inevitable that all establishments, no matter how great they are, are going to let the occasional coffee slip below the radar. Sometimes, it can't be helped, especially when you're busy, and trying to adjust the grind at the same time. In an ideal world it shouldn't happen.  But I'm prepared to write the occasional misfire off to experience, as I know that the other 99 coffees from the same establishment will blow my mind Cheers, Pat

psaigh

I agree.  I think it's totally unfair to judge a cafe by just one coffee.  We all do our best to continually serve the very best coffee we can.  But we do so with such a strict time constraint that occasionally a few will go out that simply are not up to the normal standard. Don't get me wrong, a bad coffee should never go out, but one that's not as good as the cafe's usual standard is surely going to come out from time to time. I guess that's why the worlds truly great restuarants never franchise.  You simply can't keeps accurate tabs on it all.   Most places that do it well tend to have a few standards in place to ensure consistency but I think that too many standards in place simply go to create too much standard coffee.  And especially when dealing with large organisations (50+ barista's; 5+ stores) it becomes hard to keep track of it all but more importantly, even harder to update.  I've had huge arguments with countless industry no-it-alls that continually tell me off for making coffee in line with current industry standards (aasca) and not their company standards (which date back well into the 80's) At the end of the day it all comes down to your staff.  And with that in mind, when you factor in all of the potential variables between growing the cherries, picking them, processing and sorting them, packing and distributing them, roasting and re-packaging, transporting, gr;inding, dosing & tamping, the machine variables (temp, pressure etc), the weather, the barista's education, how s/he's feeling, the actual coffee ordered and so on and so on... It's a wonder we ever really see a good cup of coffee ever. I say let it go, come back later and if the coffee's still not up to YOUR standard, be gone with the place until someone else gives you a positive report or you feel brave enough to give them a second chance.

nzroaster

I can personally vouch for the countless issues stacked against you if you are trying to run 2 quality coffee locations. Every detail you take for granted working in 1 store has to be replicated time after time at a remote location. Its the biggest challange you face opening a 2nd location, albiet a cart. It makes no difference, its your name and customers expect a carbon copy coffee of your main store. I can appreciate the tough circumstances. We are trying to replicate coffees serves in 6oz ceramic cups in 1 store into 8/12 oz paper cups in another. The approach I have taken is to replicate flavour. (So we use triple baskets for 2 x 40ml shots, trying to keep that rich mouthfeel that people come back for at the main store.) It can come down to the smallest thing that throws your game off. We rotate baristas between the 2 locations but that creates other problems with consistency of each barista versus consistency of the store. Being that I run the wholesale side of our company too, it means I have very little time to monitor the coffees going out at each location. I have a trusted few customers who tell me when something was not up to scratch (they always come back knowing you make the occasional mistake) I know they only do it so that their next coffee is better, no alterior motives. It is a tough ask but as they say, good things take time. Its a tough job and keep in mind it may take weeks for them to get their game up to their cafe standards.