<i>> The rapidly expanding niche accounts for 15 to 20 percent of coffee consumed in the United States, according to the Specialty Coffee Association.</i><p>One in every five or six cups of coffee is Blue Bottle or "third-wave specialty" coffee? This simply can't be true considering the scale of Starbucks, McDonald's, and Dunkin' Donuts, let alone brewing at home and coffee consumed at diners and non-specialty restaurants.<p>I'm surprised the <i>Times</i> would cite the SCAA so uncritically.
While many of us do recall soundbites of the former Chairman and CEO of Nestlé about water, it should probably be noted that he is no longer in either role and is not a member of their Board of Directors. The new CEO (Mark Schneider) was brought in as an 'outsider' and while he also remains under some activist investor pressure is making some effort to clean shop and modernize their business. I'm interested to see what comes of this, and particularly whether Blue Bottle can actually benefit from Nestlé's technical expertise in coffee, which so many of the 'third-wave brands' struggle with.
The Wikipedia article about the 40 year boycott of Nestle has some more details: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott</a>
Nestlé has been one company I've consciously put effort into "not" buying products from, due to their track record concerning their formula in Africa (and other similar issues). That said, they are a beast and I probably buy a lot of Nestlé products without even knowing it. I still buy Nestlé Holloween candy for kids during the holiday, and I definitely eat my fair share of Butterfingers and Kit Kat's.<p>That said, I'll most likely pass up Blue Bottle now even though their affogatos are amazing.
There's a great episode of the Startup podcast (which is generally quite good, particularly the early seasons) about one of the artisanal coffee producers that sells to Blue Bottle:<p><a href="https://gimletmedia.com/episode/building-perfect-cup-coffee/" rel="nofollow">https://gimletmedia.com/episode/building-perfect-cup-coffee/</a>
Sort of defeats the point of visiting your friendly neighborhood non corporate cafe. I was even willing to drink coffee that came out of a rodents butt to show my willingness to be non corporate & local. Forget that! It's Dunkin coffee for me from now on.
All the people in this thread arguing about the "right" of water should sign a waiver of liability, then abstain from water for a few days to show how it's not a right, but just "a nice thing someone should have."
As this thread will ultimately will end up discussing the corporate evil that Nestlé apparently is, I want to, for the sake of the discussion, point out the reasonableness of the CEOs statement regarding water as a human right:<p>He argues water should have a market value so that it is treated more like a resource that should be well managed. Of course a state can also do this and in my opinion should, but of course as a company they want to fill this role. If water is treated as a market asset then more investment will happen (which can also happen through a state entity) - a good thing. In a later video, after the 2005 video was a total PR disaster, he tries to clarify his argument by saying that water should be a human right to humans who need it for living, but not for gardening or washing a car. To me that seems like a valid case.
That's a major bummer. Nestle is one of the most evil companies there is--their CEO once said water isn't a human right. Nestle uses cocoa from slave labor and bottle water in drought stricken communities and national forests on expired permits, and do shady stuff like hiring the regulator who gave them their water license. Very few companies are as vile and amoral as Nestle.<p>Unfortunately, this will taint Blue Bottle's 'premium' experience for me. I guess I'll go to Philz instead.
Well, and how many are conscious of the fact Nestle owns Nespresso? You're basically drinking mediocre folgers in a pod and paying the premium. No amount of branding will divert from the fact that local, organic alternatives can be had for less.