In today's Washington Post: A tale of coffee snobbery (not that there's anything wrong with that), customer service (or lack thereof) and the power of blogging.
The drink request Sunday, said Simmermon, who was visiting from Brooklyn, was denied by a barista who told him that Murky doesn't do espresso over ice. Irked, Simmermon said he asked for a triple espresso and a cup of ice, which he said the barista provided, grudgingly.
Service. No smile.
Then -- and this is Simmermon's account -- the barista scolded him, saying that what he was doing to his espresso was "not okay" and that the store's policy was to preserve the integrity of the drink. The employee said that allowing customers to dilute espresso was not in keeping with said policy.
Coffee-rage moment in 3, 2, 1 . . .
I read this too and e-mailed the story to st4rbux yesterday. The jist of it: 2 huge egos (Simmermon and Cho) on a power trip. Bottom line for me: who cares? Don't we have more important things to worry about?!?!? Oh yeah--according to commenters, apparently Murky Coffee is now in Arlington after moving from Capitol Hill because Cho never paid the DC city government FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS in sales taxes that he collected and never paid. And he's worried about whether his espresso goes over ice or not? Give me a break.
ReplyDeleteoooh, I hadn't heard the tax-evasion angle before. the plot thickens.
ReplyDeleteI had heard of murky before -- I found their web site and read a bunch of the owner's posts on coffee-blogs when I was researching a business idea a while back. very serious about their coffee, including 'foam-art' which is, well, just what it sounds like.
did you know there is a world barista champion? does that make it a sport?
NO SOUP, or coffee FOR YOU!... and NO BREAD!
ReplyDelete