choosing my morning coffee

08 Dec, 2009 • posts i've written • 4 comments

this post isn’t just about coffee, only mostly

I caught myself jotting this radar chart in a meeting yesterday. I suppose it’s because I’ve been conflicted over my morning iced mocha.

On one hand, I really respect the indie coffee shops near my work – Gimme! and La Colombe. I like what they stand for, the product they serve, and I wouldn’t mind terribly associating myself with their credibility.

But on the other hand, context is everything.

In the afternoon, my choice of coffee company is based on its own set of data (a few of these characteristics in reverse and a few novel ones). But in the morning, I’m usually late out of the door, never have cash on me, starving because I skipped breakfast, and due to less than optimal sleep – I can get pretty irate if my coffee is inconsistent.

I’m sharing this little exercise in being ridiculously anal because these radar charts are helpful in sussing out why we make the decisions we do. When you conduct interviews, it’s as simple as isolating the context (here, morning vs afternoon), asking for the contributing factors, and having the participant rank competitors (found in the context) against each other for the stated factors.

After the exercise of making the plot, it’s clear why I so often duck into Starbucks before work even when I’m riddled with guilt. Starbucks has perfected the factory model of delivering coffee. Even a long line moves relatively quickly and the product, while nowhere near as high-quality as my indie-shops, is always consistent. Moreover, they always can take credit, so I don’t have to waste time at the ATM that morning. As a bonus, Starbucks offers the venti size drink (that’s a large in regular human speak) that keeps me full longer, which is helpful when I’m booked up with meetings all morning.

This radar chart also puts into clear terms the behaviors I would have to change in order to adapt my morning consumption. I could choose to leave the house earlier, carry cash more often, eat a small breakfast, sleep more, or learn yoga to practice my zen state. But I highly doubt I’ll change any of those behaviors.

The chart is also helpful for the businesses mentioned – although, obviously, the indie shops have made a clear choice in trade-offs: they’re slower because they care about quality, and they can’t take credit cards (La Colombe’s machine is regularly broken) because it wouldn’t make financial sense at their current volume. Gimme! should get recognition for having such high consistency for an indie shop with rotating baristas – La Colombe, on the other hand, has ridiculously inconsistent and down-right wrong practices among their staff.

Alright, let the nerd mocking commence…