My review of the Starbucks Clover

So apparently my local Starbucks (601 S. Grady Way in Renton) is one of the first 15 or so locations around the country to have a Clover coffee machine, which famously makes the most of coffee beans' distinctiveness. I had read about the Clover in a recent issue of Wired, so decided to pay about $2.50 for a tall drip of the "Burundi" small-batch coffee and see what the buzz was about.

It was different, very different, from a normal cup of drip. I didn't add any sugar or cream (as usual, but you wouldn't know that unless I told you). The taste had "berry" and was "tea-like" as described in the little printed menu. The uniqueness is due to these beans coming straight from the same farm, then ground upon order, and precisely brewed for that taste in the computer-controlled Clover.

Overall, I felt I was getting something very cultivated and high-end for under $3. It was also a nice change from my same-old, same-old orders.