Pete and Repeat were in a boat...
Now I'll be the first to admit that I ain't that smart. I'm just a good old boy, grew up in the middle of a mess of cornfields. I'm just working and having fun, trying to make sense of common occurrences. So help me out here, I think I'm onto something. (Something you've probably known for a really long time, and I'm just now trying to understand.)
I'm prone to the same mistakes in my head that economists commit when making predictions about markets. I assume that people will make logical decisions based on preferences and benefits that I think I relate to. For instance, we work really hard to make the best coffee we can (this is our main goal) and I assume that most people who come here do so to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Conversely, I'm puzzled and somewhat disappointed when I find out one of my regular customers drinks coffee from another place (that isn't as good), and I rack my brain trying to think of excuses why.
Some recent personal experience (that I think you'll appreciate) re-ignited thoughts about other possible explanations. While at the airport on the way to Portland we had a lengthy layover. At the beginning of this layover I went to the restroom. I walked in and observed a row of 15 sparkling-white urinals. I was alone. I chose urinal number three: not too close to the entry yet not too far of a walk. If you park too close, you might startle someone walking in who usually goes to the first one. If you go too far away, people might think you're paranoid. They were all the same really, I could've gone to any of them. But I went to number three.
Later during that same layover, I went to the restroom again. Must've been the Fat Tire I was drinking at Quizno's. I walked in to the same restroom. Same scenario- no one but me. Instinctively I went to urinal number three. And as I was peeing, I started the analysis I'm writing about now. Why did I go back to the same urinal? I could've had a slightly different experience at a different urinal. Maybe I would've noticed something while peeing in a different location. But I chose to repeat my safe experience at number three. It wasn't even that it was safe; to my knowledge all the urinals were safe, all identical. Why did I go to the same one?
There are unwritten rules about public men's rooms. If possible, you skip urinals- so oftentimes you'll walk in to a restroom and see men peeing in every-other urinal. If you walk in and there are several urinals but only one guy using one, you generally go as far from him as possible. Though there's probably some primal signal given based on how far away you pee.
Anyway, if I had walked in to that airport restroom and "my" urinal had been occupied, or if the urinal next to it had been occupied, I would've used a different one. Without hindrance I chose to use the same one over again.
I do the same thing with other seemingly-identical, insignificant choices. I usually go to the same gas station and use the same pump. When I pick out a spin bike from the lot of 15, even if I have to move one to get to it, I always try to use the same bike. I'm sure there are other things, but these are the ones that made me think.
So let's say you're a person who thinks there's no difference between one coffee shop and another. All coffee is the same. All coffee shops are basically the same. You go to that coffee shop over on 15th Street one day. No, not that coffee shop; the other one. Under this premise, it seems that there would have to be something barring you (even slightly) from going there again or else you would continue your same choice, if for no reason other than the fact that you'd been there before.
This could explain why people who habitually come to the DoubleShot might go to another coffee shop with dramatically inferior coffee. (That something hindered them from coming to the DoubleShot and another coffee shop was convenient and fit the bill.) I tend to think that most people would immediately recognize their mistake and choose not to do that again in the future. And some people do- they tell me about it. But a lot of people don't. I think. I'm not sure.
I can understand thinking of Starbucks like a urinal. But the DoubleShot?
Help me out here. Does anyone out there follow my logic? How do you decide which coffee shop to go to? It's not the coffee so much, is it? No, don't tell me that. Oh, go ahead- I need to know the truth.
Comments, please.
posted by Brian at 4:52 AM
11 Comments:
my criteria (in random order):
- what kind of drink do I want (latte, americano, drip)?
- how long am I going to be there?
- how close is it, or, is it on the way to my next destination?
- what environment to I want to be in while I drink it?
I weigh these criteria (or just forget it all and go with whatever sounds good at the moment) and make a decision.
I kind of -need- a cup of coffee in the morning; other times a cup just SOUNDS good. I almost always have DoubleShot beans at home. If I do, I'll make it myself; otherwise I'll get an Americano at one of the fourteen Starbuckses between me and work. Yes, I'll feel slightly guilty. Yes, I'll wince at the over-roasting. Yes, I'll grumble about the price. Once I run out at home I start planning to make the long haul to your store. But seriously, it kills an entire lunch hour to do it, and I have to align my work schedule with your roasting schedule.
Just last week I was "busted" in a Starbucks by a DoubleShot fan who saw the DS sticker on my travel mug. Since he was in there too, we agreed Never To Speak of This.
whoops.
I only go to the DoubleShot to see the cute boys that work behind the counter...the great coffee is just a yummy bonus...
Kidding aside, I used to go to Starbucks all the time because it's right by my work. After tasting DS I can't imagine why I used to think Starbucks was okay. A friend gave me a Starbucks giftcard a couple of months ago, so I went in for some free coffee recently. Driving away and drinking it I thought, "Why am I drinking this? Just because I didn't have to pay for it?" That makes no sense. I won't eat a free burger from McDonald's or free french fries from Sonic because I think that is poor food. I would rather stay hungry for a couple of hours and eat something healthy that tastes good even if I have to pay for it. Needless to say, when I got to work the americano in the Starbucks cup went in the trash and I thought, "Well, what am I going to do with this giftcard?" I could re-gift it but I wouldn't want to give it to someone I actually liked. So the giftcard followed the cup...
DoubleShot is shut
No other coffee will do
Drink a screwdriver
First and foremost it IS the coffee. Doubleshot is tops no matter if I want a latte, americano or drip, plus its always great seeing you guys. For me, the only variables that will change that are (1)Convenience-do I have time to stop, what part of town am I in (South Tulsa really only has one choice of coffee shop), how bad do I need it, and (2)Change for the sake of change, coffee certainly isn't all the same and all the local coffee shops bring their own character to each cup, whether its necessarily better or not, its nice sometimes to get a taste of what other places have to offer and helps you appreciate what they bring to coffee and helps you appreciate DS even more. I guess you gotta drink out of a urinal every once in a while to appreciate a natural spring.
because i work in the evenings, my mornings are usually free, so it would be possible for me to go to doubleshot every day. however, sometimes when i go in to doubleshot two+ days in a row, i start to feel dumb/lazy--like everyone in there will know that i have nothing else to do with my time other than sit in a coffeeshop and read--or that i choose to do nothing else. anyway, i don't actually go to coffeeshops every day, but i have gone to a different shop before, just to pretend like i haven't spent about 7 hrs in coffeeshops in a week. also, sometimes i go to shades of brown because i love their scones. <3 but doubleshot is always choice #1.
1. I go to Doubleshot to see the cute boys who work behind the counter (and unlike EB, I'm not kidding). :)
2. I go to other coffeehouses to see friends who are baristas, but I only order food from those other places (e.g., the AMAZING cookies and bread made by Meredith at that downtown coffeeshop - DS should sell her baked goods, btw). Ok, occasionally I'll have an americano with my scone at SOB, but it's usually too hot to taste anyway.
3. As much as people deny it, and as much as we don't like to hear it, I think most individuals truly prefer convenience (proximity, evening hours, made-to-order-SB drinks) to taste and quality. And that's why they'll visit DS but then regularly go to SB and/or drink Folgers at home.
:(
4. I think it's also important to take notice of all the baristas from other coffeehouses who regularly prefer DS coffee, and who will even come to DS to drink coffee right after finishing their shifts at those coffeehouses downtown.. or on 15th.. or on Peoria.. where they can get free coffee all day long.
The number one determinant for me: Are you open when I'm in your part of town? A couple of times a week I have an hour free after work while I wait for my son to finish his music lessons downtown. I enjoy DoubleShot coffee and the atmosphere in the shop, but DSCC is not open when I have time to get coffee, so it's not a option for me. Instead I go to another independent coffee house near downtown -- I like the coffee and the food, and it's a good place for chance meetings with friends. If DSCC were open when I'm available, I'm sure it would be in the rotation.
Four and a half years ago, I had tried DoubleShot but only started frequenting it when I was told it had the best coffee around. I started drinking black coffee and americanos because of DoubleShot, so I could really taste the coffee. Initially, I couldn't tell for myself who had the best coffee, but now that I've started paying attention to the tastes, it's so clearly DS. That's the biggest reason I come.
That said, I love the community at DoubleShot, and that brings me back, too, maybe just as much as the great coffee. The DS crew's honest attitude about coffee and the straightforward way you do business have created that environment for the way people interact socially at your shop, I think. That's really nice.
I occasionally go other places when friends want to get coffee at night. I almost always avoid the coffee. One time, I wasn't thinking and ordered coffee, and when I tasted it, I really wished it were DS coffee. When I go other places, it's about hanging out with my friends wherever they've decided to go when DS isn't open.
i'm a student. i'm studying for an exam that i have tomorrow. it's 4 am. i've just read your entire blog (led here from the trailer of the perfect cappuccino).
i'm also a barista (in sydney).
i have to say that you are a rare breed of guys that really get it, not just about coffee, but about life. you stand up for what's right, because it's what's right (which is why it felt wrong when you nearly settled, because it *was* wrong. betray yourself and there's just no point anymore). *and* you get good coffee, too, which is no small feat in the US of A.
mainly, the reason i'm writing this is to remind you of something you noticed when you first started roasting. your observation was about beans, but as analogies go, this one's pretty good. you said that when you started roasting, you saw the beans not as a bunch of coffee, but as individuals. i'm going to turn this on its head for a sec.
people are like coffee beans (stay with me...). they might all come from the same place, and be in the same place, but ultimately their flavour is going to depend on what the weather is doing, how coarse their grind is, how long the roast took, or even what the weather was doing *yesterday*. and even though most of them end up turning out pretty good if you treat them well, you'll always be picking out a few bad ones.
that's why some people will buy coffee elsewhere, even after tasting yours. that's why some of those people won't come back. usually, this is just because they're bad beans (the ones that don't come back, that is...), and you don't want them mixed in with the good ones anyway - they'll just make the rest go all bitter.
what do you think? i think it holds up pretty well.
if it doesn't make much sense, just write me off on this one... (did i mention that it's 4 am?)
After reading and re-reading all the comments on this post, I feel I should comment too. Thanks for all the info and opinions about where and why you go to a particular place for coffee. I'm always curious to know what people think. Or maybe HOW they think. Many times I honestly don't understand people. I feel like an alien when people do things I think are irrational. (On a related note, I don't understand the fashion of the cool 20-something crowd; It's like an ugly contest.)
I wish some of those cute boys comments were pointed at me.
Gabe... nice haiku. :)
Christian, I agree with your assertion that it's good to try other coffees. If you don't calibrate your taster, you'll forget what it's like.
Laurie, thanks for commenting all the way from Australia. I hope you aced the exam. I like your analogy. I guess I'm pretty good at weeding out the sours, empties, and other defect(or)s. Sorry my blog distracted you from studying, but this indicates that coffee is your "passion." I hope whatever you're studying jives with being in the coffee industry...
Anyway, I'm sure most people can think of several reasons not to visit the DoubleShot. So thank you for coming in and supporting what we do.
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