Tuesday, September 29, 2009.
I was in a rush, headed to the college where I teach and in need of a coffee fix before my late afternoon classes. So it was supposed to be a quick run in, grab a coffee, and back on-the-road-again trip to Starbucks, conveniently located a stone’s throw from campus. But when I arrived, I was intrigued by a rather large display for a new coffee product. The barista informed me that the display was for VIA Ready Brew. VIA, it turns out, is the company’s new instant coffee—which has been reported to be the result of nearly two decades of serious research in order to essentially re-invent instant coffee.
There were several advertisements about the coffee shop which announced a “Taste Challenge,” which I would later learn was part of a national campaign. In fact, the test would be taking place in just a few days. The whole idea of a coffee-taste-challenge interested me. It reminded me, in a way, of the Pepsi Challenge of years back. That’s when I got the idea to cover the event --- thinking it may be fun to try and capture a slice of what people might be thinking when they took the Starbucks “challenge.”
Sometimes things just happen fast. One thing led to another and within a couple of days, I was armed with all the necessary permissions and jpegs I’d need to write an article on this event. All I had to do was show up.
Friday, October 2, 2009, 7:30 a.m.
Seated at a table opposite the Taste Challenge display, notepad on my lap, I watched as the baristas meticulously prepared orders for both indoor customers and those waiting at the drive-through. Their movement was almost graceful as they juggled lists of details that would boggle most of us, particularly at this hour. I shot them a mental salute—in admiration as well as thanks.
Outside, the day brightened. Sunlight gleaned through the large windows, shining the premises. Customers streamed in nonstop. They checked out the Challenge display, did a quick scan of the room, and took their place in line. Some glanced at the list of coffees. Most, however, seemed to already know exactly what they wanted.
Amidst the gentle hum of machines, a few customers unexpectedly bumped into people they knew as they waited for their orders to be prepared. Conversations erupted around the cozy room—lots of good to see yous and take cares.
Two people discussed the new instant coffee at the condiment bar, “Could you tell the difference?” one asked. “Not at all,” the other replied.
More people entered the coffee shop. “Would you like to try the challenge?” the young woman working the taste test asked.
Several agreed to give it a whirl. She handed one interested customer two small cups. He sipped from the first (swirling the liquid around a little as though testing wine of exquisite vintage), then the second. He seemed to momentarily shut out all else but the flavor of the coffees. Then the response: “This one,” he said. “This is the brewed coffee.”
The barista broke into a soft smile. Her facial expression said it all quite congenially. He smiled too, already knowing the verdict. “No,” she said. And she explained that the coffee he had picked out was actually the instant.
Some patrons who at first seemed uninterested in the display returned while waiting for their orders. And upon second thought, gave it a try.
“I’m not sure [which is which],” one man said. Interestingly, he got back into line and kept repeating the test.
“Try the challenge?”
“Sure,” another customer said. And this guy got it right.
Another waiting to take the challenge kidded, “how do YOU know which is which?”
The barista laughed, “I already know,” she said.
Another customer concluded with conviction, “This is it, the non-instant.”
The barista’s eyes widened and again she softly smiled, “No.”
The customer smiled back, pleasantly surprised.
A woman shrugged her shoulders, apparently thinking she didn't know, but then she got it right. “I mean I like it though,” she commented.
Outside, I had the opportunity to chat with some of the taste testers. I asked one of the patrons who didn’t get it right, “Would you buy it?”
“I did,” he said, “the Italian Roast.”
One of the last people I talked to was a gentleman, about forty-ish, dressed in khaki pants and a tweed jacket. “What were you thinking when you did the challenge?” I asked. Like many of the others, he explained that he was thinking that there was no way he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference—but then, when it came right down to it, he couldn’t. And then he added something else, “But it was good—I mean it really was good,” he emphasized.
So I asked him the big question, “Would you use it?”
His reply came quickly: “In a pinch,” he said, “it’s more than just good enough. So, I would.”
I enjoyed this comment a lot. After all, I thought, isn’t that the purpose behind the notion of “instant.”
Back at my office, I went over my notes, realizing that I'd gotten more than I was looking for—which was merely a brief glimpse of what people might be thinking during a coffee taste test. Although we all know that to really get to the nitty-gritty of what is driving one’s attention during such moments may be a lot trickier.
Life, however, works in many mysterious ways.
What I did get from my observations was a great lesson in attentional living. My lesson was wrapped and ribboned in this last gentleman’s de-emphasis of any nuances in taste between the two drinks. Instead of super-gluing his focus to being able to differentiate, he simply let go. He then lasered in on what he could do with this new information he had acquired. His answer became evident in the phrase, “more than good enough.” That is, he saw the new coffee product as a way to help problem-solve “in a pinch.” He was thinking outside “The Challenge” de jours and considering the possibilities of the new coffee’s use in future situations somewhere else in his life.
Good advice anywhere, I thought. The paradigm: Put your attention on how incoming data can affect your life for the better in both immediate and peripheral zones. This is a good lesson in all areas of living.
It’s different from seeing the glass as half empty or half full. It’s seeing what you can do with it.
Sometimes too tight a focus can be as bad as no focus at all. I suspect I will use this lesson many times in the coming days.
From the look of things, Starbucks may have indeed reinvented instant coffee for many of its customers.
The last comment made by the gentleman who would use the product in a pinch is worth mentioning: “It’s perfect for traveling.”
For me, I am traveling to Syracuse, New York later on today. And for the record, I purchased a three pack of instant for the trip.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to all at Starbucks who helped me in the acquiring of permissions and images necessary to support this story. My newest book is Can I Have Your Attention?: How to Think Fast, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Concentration and you can check it out for a more in-depth discussion of attention building techniques for any age.
