The Clover X is now landing in many more Starbucks locations. A reader in Canada just sent in his images via the Submit a Pic button on this site. This is a revolutionary new way to get your daily cup of coffee at Starbucks. It’s made fresh for you, per cup, within seconds. No more big batches of coffee just sitting around. It’s fresher. It’s delicious. It’s less waste because fewer coffee grounds are wasted. No more pots of coffee being poured down a sink.
This new “Clover X” does not replace the standard Clover for the Reserve coffee lineup. What is does do is offer a new way to get dark roast coffee, decaf, and an everyday brew (Pike Place Roast) at any time of day at your local Starbucks store.
The reader who submitted these two images said that he’s heard that about 50 Starbucks locations in Ontario, Canada are now using the Clover X. I’ve heard stories of it popping up in other cities as well.
Brew Revolution sleeves:
The stores that have it now get a special coffee sleeve!! I want one of these sleeves for my collection! If you have a “Brew Revolution” coffee sleeve to mail me, please do! (Or actually I collect old wall/ menu board signage too if you have that).
I would love to hear about your experiences with Clover X. I am excited for this national roll out. It looks like a move in the right direction: fresher coffee, and more coffee choices at any time of the day. Less coffee waste. We have to care about how we are sourcing coffee from farms. It’s amazing that there is even enough coffee to supply all the stores. Coffee is incredibly labor intensive from bean to cup, with lots of steps at the farm level. Coffee rust threatens crops. I’m grossly over-simplifying but nonetheless, I strongly believe we have to care about the “first 10 feet” as it is sometimes called.
^ If you have one of those sleeves, please mail me one! 🙂 StarbucksMelody.com 4616 – 25th Avenue NE #202, Seattle, WA 98105
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I would love to have a taste comparison with the batches we brew now, clover and French press and see if baristas and customers can taste the difference
@Cecille – That is a brilliant idea. I wish there was a way to do that. I think the French press though would always stand out as the most distinctive way to brew coffee.
As a Dark Roast customer, this excites me to no end. I get coffee after dropping my girls off at school, and if I stop at a store that doesn’t sell a great deal of brewed coffee, it’s hit or miss whether or not I’m going to get hot coffee out of the Bunn brewer (unfortunately, brew cadence seems to be more of a ‘suggestion’ than actual practice once the morning rush subsides). About 1/3 of the time I get a Dark Roast before noon, I need to force the store to either brew a fresh pot, or make me a pour over cup to replace my luke-warm offering.
I’m going to talk to one of my store manager friends to see if any upcoming remodels will be getting one of these, or if ‘2017 rollout’ means getting them very late in the (fiscal) year, meaning we won’t see them until Summer time or later.
We must have just got one in our store. I got the sleeve on Friday’s coffee. I can send you one this week.
Hope this isn’t like the coffee pods. They suck big time. The coffee runs through it , half the beans are not even wet and the coffee is weak as shit. I don’t waste my money on pods. If this is like the pods, I won’t be coming in again. I’ll go home brew my own coffee and buy a thermos.
@Amanda – This system does NOT use any coffee pods. It is built on Clover technology, which essentially means that it uses some kind of ultra high tech vacuum press.
Amanda,
I found the coffee to be stronger than it used to be. The dark roast was almost opaque in my cup. I’d say it was even stronger than pourover! I have definitely had my share of pod coffee (Keurig, Tassimo, the original Verismo, and even Nespresso), trust Melody when she says this is not a pod system. I agree with you totally on the poor quality of pod coffee, I think it would be an insult to its customers if Starbucks were to do like Subway and serve weak Keurig product (yuck)!
Cecille and Melody,
My homebrewing is almost exclusively French press and I will say that Clover X brews almost to the same strength that I do at home. I like my coffee to be opaque.
Chris,
You will definitely love dark roasts on the Clover X, please post a review once you get to try it!
For me, this is the most exciting Starbucks news in a very long time! Can’t wait for this to reach Chicago.
I have tried in a few times now in the Oakville Ontario area. I find that is tastes different than the classic Starbucks taste I have been drinking for 20 years. I find it has a more robust taste that is more earthy and more consistent . While I am disappointed, I do understand the idea behind it, the idea that you get a fresh ground coffee each and every time is a good idea, but it will take time for me to get used to it.
Would be great to see this come to the UK and Europe.
Tried this yesterday – the coffee color is not as clear as they are not using paper filters. It’s not silty like a french press but not like a traditional drip coffee
Looking forward to trying this. (And glad to know I am not the only one who has a sleeve collection!)
Had a venti brew revolution dark roast decaf in Milwaukee WI last week. It was great and no waiting for a pour over. Looking forward this option at more stores.
Melody,
Just an update on this. I hadn’t been to my local store in a couple weeks and when I visited today I was surprised to see the Clover X machine (photographed here!) was gone and the conventional brewer was back in its place. I asked what happened and the partners there said the Clover X would break down every couple of days, lots of problems. I wonder if this happened chain-wide or is unique to this store.
I hope Starbucks doesn’t give up on Clover X, I’ll really miss it. (I’d miss it less if my local store brought in Reserves and the other Clover machine!)
They are pulling Clovers out of Starbucks stores in the Northern Virginia area. Pissed off customer here.
Trixie – Starbucks is gradually splitting off into 2 distinct chains. Starbucks Reserve, for people who are serious about coffee. And Dairy Siren, for frapp-sucking high school girls and the drive-thru customers at Dunkin Donuts, McCafe, and Tim Horton’s. Sad really. Why not just make it official (with signage to distinguish them) rather than making it this wild goose chase to find the Reserve ones?