George Howell Article

Janelle Nanos wrote:Nearly two decades after selling his iconic Coffee Connection chain to Starbucks, George Howell is about to attempt a comeback. Can the café visionary retake the coffee world, or has his time passed?

George's visions for the future are alive and well IMHO.

I actually talked to the reporter who wrote this article at the Counter Culture open house in Boston a little while back. It sounds like a really interesting piece (I can't see it right now, looks like boston magazine's server isn't doing well).

Janelle spoke with me also, George had one of his Open House events in the morning that Janelle attended. CCC had the opening of their new education center that afternoon.
I missed connecting with you. Maybe next time we will have our H-B pin to help find each other.

Thanks! Good read.

Great article! Thanks for sharing Ed.

Exceptional article. Well researched. The generous word count does the subject justice.

I'm surprised that this article didn't generate more discussion here with George's talk of espresso snobbery and latte art and his calling of drip/pourover coffee as the purest form.

I drink drip more than I drink espresso (though I love both!) but I have seen it often derided here and some here seem to consider it a lesser form of coffee.

brad

I took the addition of the Brewing forum and the change in the tagline to sometimes display "Your guide to exceptional coffee" as a good sign that things are changing. I've also see a lot less emphasis on latte art, a bit sad now that I'm starting to pour beginners hearts, but I think it's a good sign of acceptance of all forms of excellent coffee.

I find the art mostly distracting at this point. I'd prefer to avoid the "judging/comment of the art" of a barista in my tasting experience. Just steam and apply the milk to the shot with purpose and leave it at that. I actually now request no art on my drink when at a cafe.

It's funny. Reading between the lines of the article, one gets the impression that Howell has it in him to be a ferocious competitor -- he opened 20 odd Coffee Connections and invented frappucinos in anticipation of the Starbucks onslaught -- but then decides to be a coffee purist instead. It even seems this attitude has hurt his Terroir sales as well, since he wasn't played along with the whole 3rd wave, haute espresso thing. But now it looks like the competitive George is back. I wonder if he looked at the expansion of Intelly or Counterculture and thought it should have been him instead.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.