travesty watch
February 2, 2008 – 6:32 pmwhat solis jake saw at the corning museum of glass:
what solis jake then drank at the corning museum of glass (hint: his e-mail subject line said “WME”):
“worst mocha evar!” pondering, then, this $12,000 architectural tragedy (roughly), this blog ends up fascinated all over again at the levels of indignity people will endure when it’s connected to an attractive aesthetic.
put differently, how much bad quality can a single good quality foist on a consumer? presumably, latte art sells more coffee. but how much more? and what if the coffee itself tastes especially bad?
we’ve asked these questions before. which makes this blog a hack rehashing navel gazer.
2 Responses to “travesty watch”
Things for which I scratch my head:
imptotent, introverted leadership;
business-minded, trend-driven entrepreneurs;
commendable investments operated by condemnable ignoramuses;
and a culture that supports, appreciates, and encouarges such ludicrousness!
Oh, if only every third wave home barista would camp outside these putrid places and line lips with Edenic nectar. Then their palates would realize they’ve only known the dregs of commercialized, capitalistic sewage.
It really is tragic! The aesthetic ambience is often present in cafes which compliments the coffee experience, but that is often the only redeeming quality to take note of. Robyn was just commenting last night, as she was sipping her capp, how much she would cherish the experience of sitting down with me and enjoying her traditional drink (not a big gulp!) in the context of a cafe, yet there are none on offer who combine the aesthetic with the skill; with the exclusion of the virtuous few — locally, Intelli (skill more so than aesthetic) and Metropolis (skill and aesthetic!) give me a run for my money.
So, we are left to experience bean quality on the farm — which, btw, is sometimes a form of ascetics . . . not to be confused with aesthetics.
By nate the finger on Feb 2, 2008
is that anger or zeal i hear? good stuff.
there’s a difference between snobbism that leaves people out and a devotion to quality that draws people in. we’ve talked about that before. question is, when you come upon someone who’s doing, say, two things great and and, say, four things badly in the delivery of “good” coffee, what should the reaction be?
that’s hard for me. i can frequently over-impute “goodness” to people just because, hey, they use good beans! or something. yet, when is it time to expect more? to insist on quality in every sense? all the while knowing that i haven’t attained perfection myself?
fundamentally, a consumer culture seems prone to judging too soon. i do it all the time, based on inadequate input. the extreme of this is someone buying coffee at corning glass because it came from a mirage. and yet … at some point, it’s time to judge, you know? and a lot of people simply never get to that point, or have already made a judgement based on preconceived notions (that mirage looks cool!). and so they go back for more.
is this line of thought smacking of over-unction to you? yeah. me too.
By bz on Feb 3, 2008