No more Clover at Groundwork Coffee downtown!

[azibo]

I hate to have to post this, but I have found out that the Clover has been removed from the downtown Groundwork Coffee location. What a disaster. The barista cited something about the fact that Starbucks has bought the Clover company or something to that effect. Check this out: http://www.cloverequipment.com/home/

Addendum: I guess there is another general thread that discusses this somewhat on CH: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/500770

[slacker]

Was at LA Mill this past weekend, and found out that they bought 11 more Clovers before the takeover, and have trained their own people to repair them. Yay! The Clover will continue to live in a real coffee house.

[SauceSupreme]

The Groundwork Hollywood location is doing single-cup brewing by hand. And places like La Mill give you options beyond the Clover for getting your coffee.

The clover only helped in providing optimum consistency, but it's not like the beans disappeared. I've decided to just buy the beans and start doing brewing at home (my weapon of choice: an Aeropress).

[liu]

I'm an avid believer in the AeroPress! It's such a simple gizmo with amazing results!

[SauceSupreme]

Agreed, especially at the price point.

But again, the coffee begins with the bean, and that's where going to a coffee shop and trying a cup makes it worthwhile. So even though DTLA Groundwork no longer has a clover, it's not like their coffee source in Rwanda noticed.

[liu]

SS -- Good point and well spoken!

[The Chowhound Team]

Folks, we ask everyone to keep this discussion local to the L.A. region, and suggest coffeeshops where a Clover machine is still used.

If you'd like to discuss Starbucks' buyout of Clover, please join the ongoing discussion on the Chains board here: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/500770

[liu]

Oh, I am distraught by this news!
Truly, my cups of coffee at this particular Groundwork shop were the best I have ever had...by far! No cup has even approached what they were able to achieve. Their beans were superior and their method flawless.

[CookieEater]

I just barely tried this place for the first time. I was looking for the Clover, but didn't bother to ask about it. No wonder!

Still I thought the latte I had there was pretty good.

[ristretto]

Sadly, this location has gone downhill in the past year IMO. It was once considered among the "third wave" cafes along with Intelli, Luxxe, La Mill, etc. Nowadays: no Clover, beans sold in those wooden bins with unknown roast date, frequent staff turnover, no latte art.

[aventinus]

I live in the same building as this Ground location but drive in the morning to Intelligentsia and LA Mill for coffee. I have yet to be impressed by anything about Groundwork. The coffee and espresso don't have any defined flavors imo.

[liu]

My memorable experiences were from 6 months to a year ago. Perhaps you tried their coffee more recently and our experiences are different.
"ristretto" above mentions their slow decline in quality.

[aventinus]

Maybe. I tried for the first time in the last two months.