By Richard Morgan
September 25, 2012
As far back as the race between the Chrysler Building and the
Empire State Building, New York has been a city built on one-upmanship. Now
that mentality has crept into the cozy demimonde of neighborhood coffee shops.
Jack's Stir Brew Coffee opens a new location on Sixth Avenue at
Downing Street next month, reviving bragging rights over a plaque that hangs in
its original West 10th Street location: a patent by owner Jack Mazzola Jr.
Unable to find a machine to produce coffee precisely the way he wanted, he
created one that is true to his shop's name—it stirs coffee as it is brewing,
which Mr. Mazzola says distributes flavor more evenly and robustly.
And when Fair Folks Cafe opens Thursday on West Houston Street, it
will offer a new kind of bragging rights: For a monthly fee of $25, patrons can
become members of the coffee shop, getting free drinks daily, as well as
discounts on art and design products and invitations to private parties.
"We are limiting the number of founding members to maintain a comfortable,
creative environment," the owners state on their website.
Specialty coffee shops, most java aficionados agree, debuted in
New York in 2001 with Ken Nye's Ninth Street Espresso in Alphabet City. Since
then, a boom in artisanal coffee culture triggered a kind of arms race in which
various trendy descriptors overwhelm the humble coffee beans: organic,
fair-trade, shade-grown, locally roasted, etc.
And indeed, the Fair Folks coffee itself is a variety from
scattered regions of the world that end up at a Brooklyn roaster. But Fair
Folks' focus is also on art, design and camaraderie, with its website promising
a "comfortable, inspiring setting" for members. (Principals of Fair
Folks declined to comment for this article.)
Veteran purveyor Mr. Nye is not convinced by special cups, local
artwork, WiFi, smoothies and cupcakes—basically anything other than great
coffee. "I've seen it all, all that rat-race stuff, the arms-race
stuff," said Mr. Nye. "None of it matters: If you're a coffee shop
and your main selling point is anything other than coffee, then you're not
selling coffee. You're selling gimmicks."
Mr. Mazzola, for his part, says his brainstorm to add a stirrer to
a brewer was inspired by his grandmother, who would always stir whatever she
was cooking on the stove.
He took his idea to Ronald Ricciardi, a family friend and
president at Acrison, which tailor-makes items like pills and cereals to their
creators' detailed specifications. The goal was a machine that could brew 100
12-ounce cups in an hour. Their guinea pig was Dunkin' Donuts' grounds.
"It sounds simple," said Mr. Ricciardi. "All you
have to do is stir it, right? But, no, it took a long time to figure out how
long to stir, how fast to stir."
They discovered, for example, that because the stirring affected
the heat distribution, the optimal brewing temperature was 98 degrees
Fahrenheit, while the optimal cooling temperature was 75.
After four months of tinkering on about $400 worth of equipment,
they had a prototype that cost them $7,000 to produce on a commercial scale.
The patent itself, granted in 2006, cost considerably more. Through attorneys
at Fish & Richardson, intellectual property technology specialists, Mr.
Mazzola said he spent around $75,000 securing and protecting his patent.
Similarly, corporate behemoths such as Starbucks have patented
everything from the paper sleeves that surround their cups to the shape and
composition of their chocolates.
The effect for Mr. Mazzola has been measurable—endorsements by
Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP lifestyle blog—surprising the self-described "hobo
gypsy guy" who "barely made it through high school."
Mr. Mazzola's clientele is now so entangled with his business that
one of them, John Pollack, a former White House speechwriter, dedicated his
most recent book to "the 10th Street Gang."
Mr. Pollack has been buying coffee from Jack's since before it
opened, when he popped his head in prior to opening day and bought a cup.
"I know Jack loves his machine and the magic of what it does
when you stir while you brew," Mr. Pollack said. "But that place
doesn't just stir the coffee; it stirs the people together too."
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A version of this article appeared September 25, 2012, on page
A21 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: From
Patents to Memberships, Coffee Shops Offer New Perks.