Starbucks lets customers pour their own coffee

The Clover single-cup coffee
brewer uses a vacuum-press
filter process to produce
results in 40 seconds.

In one of many efforts Starbucks is testing to create a better customer experience, Starbucks is letting customers pour their own drip coffee in some stores. Customers pay before or after serving themselves from the brewer placed near the condiment station. This decision was made in part to curb the decline in sales.

I have mixed feelings about this effort. On one hand, I'd be a content barista to have less questions to ask each time a customer orders coffee. Questions like "Would you like mild, bold, flavored or decaf roast?" and "Would you like room for milk or cream?" would be omitted if customers could just serve themselves. No more handing customers their coffee only to be asked to fill it up a little more or pour out some.

On the other hand, it would be a hassle to keep refilling and changing out the brewer(s) with ground beans when located on the opposite side of the store. And self-serve stations tend to get messy with spills no matter how often they are wiped down.

As a customer, I'd be happy to fill my cup with just the right amount of coffee to go with cream. While no one likes waiting in line, how about possibly waiting in 2 lines? Provided you get your cup 'o' joe at the busiest business hours, you would have to wait in one line to pay for coffee. OK. Then, you would have to wait in another line to pour your own cup, and from a coffee pot everyone has put their hands on (shutters at the thought).

Unless Starbucks are using what Cinda Chavich calls the "$11,000 hot java love machine": the Clover, a commercial-grade, single-cup coffee brewer. Starbucks tested the machine out for the first time in February, selling a fresh-pressed, 12-oz. coffee for $2.50. For my own personalized cup of coffee at the press of a button, it would be worth the wait and expense.