Espresso Yourself Correctly

I don’t consider myself a coffee snob.  Before I moved downtown, I used to go to Starbucks every day for a grande-decaf-quad-Americano-with-a-little-steamed-nonfat. And I still go once in awhile when I’m headed to a morning meeting (heck, oftentimes that meeting is at Starbucks).  Even now, with Starbucks-bashing eclipsing baseball as our national pastime, I don’t feel defensive about my patronage.

But Thursday, I had to run a morning errand in an upscale neighborhood and decided to try the Ink! Coffee Shop that just opened. Ink!, which started in Aspen, has a handful of shops in the Denver metro area, with plans to open at least one more next month.

The place was all stainless steel and glass – very euro-mod.  A selection of local fashion and shelter magazines were strategically placed on a bookshelf.  This wasn’t a comfy bohemian coffee house with a worn velour sofa, a rag rug and a pile of dog-eared alternative weeklies. And so I was automatically ill at ease.

I originally wanted a 16 oz. iced decaf mocha with nonfat milk.  The woman behind the counter told me curtly that the only size they offer in iced drinks is 24 oz.  Well, that’s too much of a good thing, so rather defeatedly I asked for the smaller hot version.  I forked over my $4.11- about 30 cents more than Starbucks. Harumph.  Things were not going well…until I got my coffee.

Now maybe the barista was some sort of genius and if I went again it wouldn’t be replicated, but I had a java epiphany.  Pretty much the best coffee drink I’ve ever had anywhere. A perfect marriage of a deep, rich coffee/chocolate combo and creaminess from skim milk I’ve never before experienced (and yes, I watched the barista pour from the nonfat milk carton – I’ve had slip-ups before).   

Down from my mocha high and back at my computer, I did what I usually do when I have a memorable experience with a product or service (good or bad): I checked out the website. 

Ink!’s homepage contains two taglines.  The main one at the top of the page proclaims “Coffee. Above all else.” The second , positioned vertically at the right side of the page, says, “Always Fresh. Never Bitter.”  There are a couple of more references to Ink!’s excellent coffee on this first page as well.  Traveling through the rest of the site, there’s more talk of coffee quality supremacy and a few nods to its good food (bagels, pastries, salads, sandwiches). There’s even a not-so-subtle swipe at the competition, proudly stating they’re “Not on every corner.”

No mentions of the baristas/employees, the service or the atmosphere of the shops themselves. No mention of wi-fi access, either.

In short, Ink!’s website is a perfect mirror image of my impression of it. It’s really all about the coffee.  It’s not about the experience and community of the place. Or about the people behind the espresso machines and the cash register - the woman who took my order certainly didn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy.   And their choices of locations thus far indicate they’re only going for the high-falutin’ sections of town where people are probably too rich and too busy to hang out for very long anyway. 

Time will tell if Ink’s superior coffee but coldish atmosphere and service will yield successful results on a larger scale.  I will check Ink! out again to see if the drink quality holds up. In the meantime, I’ll salute the company for having a website where customer perception totally meets reality.