Ithaca DWI Lawyer: Ithaca Starbucks Grows Up, We are a Reserve Store and Have a Clover

Try the Clover, It is Amazing!!

In all my years practicing law in Ithaca our one local downtown Starbucks has remained a regular Starbucks but homey. In recent months the downtown Starbucks has gone through a metamorphosis. First, my disappointment going to the the Collegetown Starbucks store this summer. I always walk up the hill as a meditation of sorts but never went into the store there. To my surprise they don't serve much regular (drip) coffee. NO bold coffee for us older folk at this Starbucks. They serve mostly drinks I'm told so pour over I go when there. No drip coffee so NO milk/creamer bar either, what?


Then our downtown Hilton Starbucks got remodeled, soft comfy chairs and lounge tables are now gone. In their place are now perfectly lined up and cold chairs and coffee bars with more space for more people but we did lose something in the process. The feel of cozy is gone but it is a big grown up Starbucks now. It has also graduated to a Reserve store with a Clover. Ah the Clover, magical machine that it is. If you don't know the Clover then you haven't had a crazy good cup of coffee.

The Ithaca Hilton Starbucks is a Reserve Store with a Clover

How big a deal is a Clover machine? Well if you haven't had coffee made in a Clover you are seriously missing out. The coffee comes out PERFECT. Temperature, brewing time, and pressure are all highly regulated and it's the art of coffee watching a barista use one. The same coffee in a traditional aka drip coffee maker comes out quite different in a Clover. All the notes, like in a long forgotten melody are hit. The hints of different flavors enriched by the process.

The Barrel of the Clover

La Machina is the Clover, the Most Amazing Coffee Brewer in the Free World

The Clover has a Vacuum-Press Process where two things take place: a combination of French Press and Vacuum. The top of "La Machina" is a piston. Coffee is loaded into it (like a gun barrel), and then perfectly temped water from a fixed tap pours over it. The barista stirs the mixture while the piston pushes up, with a 70-micron mesh drawing the grounds up back up to the top of the machine. Then a vacuum sucks the coffee into a container.  All the while the barista is slowly swirling the mixture of coffee and water, it is as beautiful to watch as it is to drink. Clover coffee allows for all the delicate complexities of the coffee to emerge from the beverage. 

Clovers (the machines) are not cheap ($8 to $10K), and neither are Clover brewed Coffees. They cost extra (a couple a bucks), and are in my opinion worth it. Try it at our downtown Ithaca Starbucks, and you will not be disappointed.

If you can imagine I am as passionate about criminal defense as I am the coffee I drink daily. Unfortunately, I save the Clover for special occasions as it is like a fine wine to me.