Thinking in different boxes

AP reports on Panaderia Taza, a coffee shop in Phoenix targetting the Mexican (remember that all Hispanics are not the same market segment-wise, a point missed in the article) market, with Mexican pastries, a Mexican coffee brand, and cafe con leche, and mexclado con azucar (coffee with sugar)--and their plans for franchising.

I've been thinking about this kind of stuff since last year's Smithsonian Folklife Festival, which had as an exhibitor, a Haitian company that distributes coffee. I can't find the name of the company at the moment, but it made me think that certain kinds of specialty stores could add country-of-origin based coffee and tea operations to complement their store offerings. Similarly, my brother reports from Miami that there are many many Hispanic coffee shops, some being Cuban, others Dominican-oriented, etc. Panaderia Taza isn't the first...

Panaderia Taza photos by Matt York, Associated Press.


And the New York Times reports on Kaldi, a coffee shop in Ethiopia that copies the Starbucks model, but sells only Ethiopian coffees. See "Addis Ababa Journal: Along With That Caffeine Rush, a Taste of Seattle."

Finally, Ray's is a coffee shop in Philly's Chinatown that sells varietal coffee by the cup, using special brewers called siphons, and has dozens of exotic coffees, each priced separately and brewed to order. (Although I suppose you can do the same with French Press.)

Coffee siphons.