Monday, September 8, 2014

Drank Bar Journal No. 22: Blue Bottle Coffee's Menus


Blue Bottle Coffee took gobs of investor money and is expanding nationally and creating shelf-stable coffee drinks like this chicory milk iced coffee.


They have a few locations in New York City which, thankfully, share none of the twee sluggishness of their Bay Area origins, where it can take you fifteen minutes to get a cappuccino when you're fourth in line.

At each location they do a nice job of making a big menu feel manageable by turning it into two menus.

The first menu lists standards and it's posted big, in permanent metal, on the wall.



The second is the daily or weekly specials and it's posted small, on paper, on a clipboard.



The classics seem permanent. The specials, printed on a laserjet, seem like they're just here for the moment. It keeps things clean and organized, which, if you've ever visited a Blue Bottle shop, seems totally in sync with their semi-OCD look and feel. All in all, I thought it was a good way to differentiate a shop and organize what's offered—and price different coffees differently. Zoom in and you can read the prices for the different drip cups and espressos.

The Dean Street location in my neighborhood also has a sweet upholstery espresso machine cozy.




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