So they’ve devised a way to use a mass spectrometer to anticipate the sensory profile of an espresso shot. At first I was intrigued, learning that each individual flavor tone present in the bouquet of espresso was due to the presence and relative proportion of certain chemical compounds found in the coffee. And with the spectrometer, the measurement of these chem’s was compared with the consensus of a panel of extreme coffee snobs (probably from italy), and a striking correlation was discovered.
This is all from an article I read back in February, and I was excited and interested, until just now, when i realized the possible outcomes if Starbucks got their hands on this technology. Currently, aside from political concerns, the main factor keeping local coffeeshops alive is the fact that, although Starbucks is on every corner and college campus, literally everyplace YOU are, they serve shit for coffee. In a pinch, i will sometimes be brave enough to get some drip coffee, but that sucks, too. If they were to integrate the machine that measures the quality of coffee into their current mechanized, automatic espresso “dispensers,” then our competitive edge will be eliminated! At least we can still undercut their prices and still have the reputation of being the hot cultural nexus of town. I just hope that’s enough to keep food on the table!
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