Wednesday, August 26, 2009

CoffeerightInfringment

After reading a few of my posts, it may surprise folks to learn that for the most part, I am a fella who avoids confrontation (in the real world) like the plague.


But recently, I went counter to my natural inclinations and sought-out some controversy.


I found myself headed to a coffee shop that had become quite a central figure in a good old-fashioned dust-up here in our burgeoning ‘burg.


I headed to the epicenter of gentrified hipsterdom in Seattle, 15th Ave on Capitol Hill. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a fun strip – such staples of (high-priced) Seattle-only greatness like Café Victrola and The Coastal Kitchen anchor this mostly chain/franchise-free neighborhood.


Decent food, good beer, high prices and snooty attitudes are all served here as the clientele is all-to-happy to pay the price to be seen.


If you sense a wee lil bit of distain, good. You should.


But back to the controversy. I headed to the area to visit a coffee shop- 15th Ave Coffee & Tea. The faux independent coffee shop was nice enough, offering 15 kinds of whole bean coffee, numerous kinds of loose leaf tea and they even served beer!


So, you may ask- What’s the big-deal about this coffee shop? And what the hell do you mean by Faux independent?


Well this coffee shop wasn’t what it appeared to be. It was actually owned by none other than Starbuck’s. Yes, that Starbuck’s.


Per the Starbuck’s brass, this was Starbuck’s attempt to ‘blend into the neighborhood’ as opposed to simply running the local independent coffee guys out of town.


The fact that this shop was a Starbuck’s-in-disguise is what has the neighbors all riled-up.


Which brings me to my point: Since when did Seattle become populated by such exclusive unoriginal lameasses?


I headed to the coffee shop looking for a fight. This hipster idea of independent-or-die, just seems dumb to me.


*Disclosure: I am one of the seemingly few native Seattleites who unapologetically enjoys Starbuck’s. I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the idea of hating the big company simply because they are successful.


The Seattle I grew-up in while a bit stand-offish, was mostly all-inclusive. Especially when compared to the separation (by race, economic class) that I had seen in cities back East- NYC, St. Louis & Chicago.


At some point, Starbuck’s was a Café Vivace or a Stumptown. It still blows my mind to see the lil independent guy so revered, yet the local company who made good, so reviled.


Granted, this most recent attempt to ‘fit-in’ by Starbuck’s could have been handled with a bit more tact. Starbuck’s, a long-time staunch defender of corporate trademarks, pretty much ripped-off the design/décor of 15th Ave Coffee & Tea from Smith, the bar next door. So creating a carbon-copy of the neighbor, all the way down to asking where Smith bought their awnings, was a pretty hypocritical move by a company known for suing TM-infringers.


All that being said, Starbuck’s as usual, did a fine job.


I used to be a coffee elitist, simply because everyone else was. In Bellingham, it was Tony’s Coffee, in Seattle it was Vivace and in Portland it’s Stumptown (though from what I hear, even the beloved Stumptown is beginning to get too big to be liked anymore). But after going to independent coffee house after independent coffee house, I realized something- The coffee at all of these joints was consistently horrible.


I began to ask myself: Why pay for an inferior product?


In my ‘independent coffee shop days’ was used to giving the glare as the soulless drones paid their toll to the Starbuck’s Siren.


Where it got a lil odd, was when I became one of the drones.


Trust me, I’ve noticed the glares, even got some nasty posts on my Facebook page when I noted that I was at Starbuck’s. The glares were even worse as I visited 15th Ave Coffee & Tea on Capitol Hill. I purposefully sat outside on the street to see what kind of reception I’d receive. And the blind corporation-hating hipsters didn’t let me down. I got a lot of glares, a couple head-shakes and a few sighs…Just as I’d expected.


I wasn’t making any political statements. I just wanted a decent cup of coffee. I guess that’s the lesson to be learned-


Turns-out it wasn’t just the coffee that was bitter…and a bit of the Seattle I used to know and love seems to have disappeared just as the coffee in my cup had.