Ah Coffee...

I thought I knew a lot about coffee. I fooled myself thinking if I can make myself a shot of Espresso, I know a lot.

Not the case as my travels in the coffee websites have shown.

Well, where is the strategy canvas that I promised?

I'm running a bit behind on my schedule having gone through Thanksgiving and using it as an excuse for my laziness. I want to be true to the book on the strategy canvas but I'm not convinced that I'm an expert yet. So the status is pending more reading and thinking.

However, I might want to fit another problem into the Blue Ocean strategy model.

Now I remember it talks about redrawing the market boundaries and focusing on Value Innovation. Creating value and decreasing costs at the same time.

So I got to thinking as I was driving in my car, wouldn't it be nice to have good coffee made in my car? Now after some brief research, I did find coffee makers with a 12V adapter.

So if we can cut the 'middle man', like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and so on and get coffee in the car/truck/etc., wouldn't this be a new way of looking at the retail coffee industry.

Now my friend Kris, would be disappointed if Starbucks went away. Where would he find the good looking girls now? But that's not the point of this exercise. The point being creating Blue Oceans of creating Uncontested market place and making the competition irrelevant.

You say, wait, isn't there coffee machines at home? Why wouldn't you bother just making a hot cup of coffee at home? I do make my own coffee at home. However, there are variables in the brewing process that we can't control precisely, like brew temperature, ratio of coffee bean to water (does this matter?), etc. This results in inconsistent coffee brews everyday. Sometimes not drinkable.

So began my adventures in finding out more about coffee brewing.

The latest in the coffee brewing methods is the coffee pod. Now you might have seen the coffee pods in Target, Walmart, etc. It's a pre-measured quantity of coffee in a 'pod' or a bag, which reduces the complexity of cleaning up after the brew. The process is so simple. Just add water, insert the coffee pod, coffee brews, remove the pod. No messy coffee grinds to dispose, no measuring how much coffee to get done, no waiting for a long time to get your coffee. It's done in 20 seconds. Keurig, Senseo and a bunch of others makes coffee pods. It's supposedly sweeping the beverage industry and is supposed to be the next best thing since bottled water.

The coffee pod is in it's infancy or 'Ferment' stage in the industry Life Cycle's S curve. There are no standard coffee pods. There are DIY coffee pod instructions. No clear leader emerging yet. Lots of potential growth. This phenomenon needs to be watched more closely. I might even invest in a few companies if I had the money.

There's also the cold-brewing technique which is interesting where they replace heat with time (takes 12 hours to brew using cold-brew), but results in less acidity as fatty oils and acids are left behind in the regular brewing process. Interesting idea. Javo and Toddy use this method although they have different patented methods.

And for a list of traditional brewing methods, I turn to a really good website I Need Coffee which has a host of interesting articles for coffee aficionados.

Having researched all the brewing techniques (although I haven't pulled patents on the cold-brew methods), it looks like there is some opportunity to create a new one. Something that combines the cold brew and the hot brew. I need coffee site tells me that the coffee liquer needs to be extracted between 195° and 205°F. And the cold brew method which takes forever is done at room temperature(?).

I personally like less acidic coffee and flavors that are full and don't prefer dark roasts. Key point is less acidic. Which pulls me toward the cold brew process. This is such a complicated set of steps that has simplification written all over it.

Now Javo gives you liquid coffee concentrates and is targeted toward food service operators. This would be the easiest thing to do, however, transportation and costs would be an issue.

So, back to our 'design' problem of how to marry the two different temperature processes and get our flavorful coffee. Another post. Can't think right now. Too saturated. Need a cup of coffee.