藍瓶咖啡，最好的咖啡（下）

一心一意泡咖啡

????從農貿市場起家，弗里曼的生意模式很快拓展為半永久性的手推車和售貨亭。2008年，他接受了Kohlberg Ventures的一筆投資，這家總部位于硅谷的風投公司此前已投資過多家高端食品公司，包括后來被好時（Hershey）收購的Scharffen Berger巧克力。弗里曼不愿公開太多信息，只透露他“接受的投資不到500萬美元”，而且他本人仍是藍瓶的大股東，股權遠遠超過投資方。

????在這筆投資的幫助下，弗里曼在奧克蘭建設了一個規模更大的咖啡烘焙場和商用烘焙坊。（糕點甜品方面由弗里曼的妻子凱特琳?威廉姆斯?弗里曼負責，兩人是在伯克利農貿市場上相識的。）除了鑄幣廣場之外，弗里曼目前在舊金山的渡輪大廈也有一家規模毫不遜色的咖啡館，在舊金山現代藝術博物館（the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art）也運營著一家咖啡店，不過稍小一些。與周圍的藝術氣息相呼應，那兒的甜點用黃油和糖復制了館內的許多永久性藏品。

????弗里曼的零售業務沒有什么固定模式，但它們確實都表現出一以貫之的干凈、樸素的美感。墻上沒有什么藝術品，店里也不提供付費音樂下載，柜臺后也不供應PBMs（這是弗里曼式的縮寫，意味著perfunctory bran muffins——質量馬虎的麩皮松餅）。藍瓶并不出售咖啡杯或T恤，盡管一旦開賣，銷量可能很可觀?！拔抑皇窍氩磺宄{瓶T恤到底該怎么設計才好，”弗里曼稱，“我自己從不穿印著商標的T恤，為什么還要賣這種東西呢？”

????顧客倒是可以買一頂藍瓶棉帽，它們與咖啡烘焙場和面包房里工作的藍瓶員工所戴的工作帽一樣。還可以花150美元——很夸張吧——買一件睡衣，其面料產自意大利，飾有藍白兩色細小花紋，藍瓶商標裝飾著一個口袋，隱藏于品藍色鑲邊的領子之下。與任何弗里曼投注心血的東西一樣，這款睡衣相當精致。他們很暢銷嗎？恐怕談不上，不過弗里曼很喜歡這些睡衣，正如他喜歡上文提到的畫圖本，它們反映了他的個人美學趣味，某種程度上說，一如蘋果款式寥寥但效果完美的產品反映著史蒂夫?喬布斯的美學趣味。

????既然舊金山灣區已經為他的咖啡癲狂，弗里曼開始尋找下一個值得進軍的市場。該市場必須滿足以下幾點要求：弗里曼本人愿意每隔一周造訪一次，能夠說服忠誠的員工欣然前往，而且當地人對優質咖啡的需求很大。紐約這個城市正是這樣的地方。

????過去兩年來，藍瓶咖啡已經在布魯克林的Williamsburg區域開張了一家烘焙場和咖啡店。由于弗里曼要求所有產品都必須盡可能新鮮，他的運營方式有點兒像古羅馬軍團：首先設立一個供應基地（烘焙場），然后以此為基礎拓展出去征服新的領地。這個夏季，他在紐約高架鐵路公園（High Line）——除中央公園（Central Park）外，紐約最令人欣羨的景觀——開設了一個咖啡亭。與舊金山出現的盛況一樣，附近的咖啡愛好者們也紛紛排起隊來。弗里曼透露，今年藍瓶咖啡旗下零售和批發總額將介于1,500萬-2,000萬美元，這還比不上星巴克——根本還不是同一個數量級。但就目前而言，弗里曼對于每年70%左右的增長速度頗為滿意?！拔覠o意成為下一個星巴克，”他說，“星巴克只有一個，但還有其他許多增長方式，既有趣又能保持質量?！?/p>

????高架鐵路公園咖啡廳的顧客主要是游客，因此并不能證明藍瓶咖啡已經贏得紐約居民的芳心。同樣，藍瓶在Williamsburg的成功也不能說明弗里曼的咖啡策略在更廣闊的市場仍然具有吸引力：不管是布魯克林還是奧克蘭，其實人們在絡腮胡子、固定齒輪腳踏車和咖啡方面口味方面的偏好都是一回事。無論如何，弗里曼的下一步動作將是個真正的考驗。今年秋季，他將在洛克菲勒中心（Rockefeller Center）的廣場上開一家咖啡店，那里原本是包裹巨頭UPS的門店。沒錯，就是那個洛克菲勒中心，那個有圣誕樹、溜冰場、成群游客和成千上萬往返于上班地點的紐約客的洛克菲勒中心。

????就像以意大利濃咖啡和cortado咖啡著稱的Continental一樣，弗里曼希望將洛克菲勒中心店建成高級咖啡勝地，完全以胡桃木和大理石裝修?！拔蚁Ｍ屗哔F端莊，”他說，“如果某個咖啡店允許你點一大杯南瓜咖啡（星巴克的一款咖啡——譯注），那還有什么高貴感可言呢?！?/p>

????不管尊貴與否，總有些顧客沒有那么多閑情逸致，不愿為一杯手沖滴濾咖啡等上太長時間。弗里曼明白這一點，他正在設計一套系統，使時間緊張的顧客可以單獨排隊，與愿意等待虹吸咖啡或手沖咖啡的顧客分開?！叭藗冇锌赡軙虼伺鹬袩?，痛恨我們的做法，那將是一個可怕的失敗，”弗里曼說，“不過迄今為止我們還沒犯過這樣嚴重的錯誤?！?/p>

????或許他真會嘗到失敗滋味。盡管他品味脫俗，秉持高質量標準，但弗里曼或許不是領導藍瓶咖啡實現下一階段發展的最佳人選。弗里曼承認這兩種情況都可能，但他同時也頗為自信。曾經有一幫大牌律師來到芝加哥渡輪大廈的藍瓶咖啡店里，急不可耐地四處轉悠，可之后又發生了什么呢？

????弗里曼稱，盡管他們已開始有些抗拒。誰有這么多閑工夫等一杯咖啡？但最終他們還是嘗到了藍瓶咖啡。事態發展與藍瓶進入任何市場后的情況一樣。不是說這些法律界的精英連等待一杯虹吸咖啡的時間都沒有嗎？結果他們還不是像其他人一樣開始乖乖排隊。

????譯者：小宇

No mugs, muffins, or t-shirts

????From his farmer's market roots, Freeman quickly expanded to semi-permanent carts and kiosks. In 2008 he took an investment from Kohlberg Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based VC firm that has backed several high-end food companies including Scharffen Berger chocolate, later sold to Hershey (HSY). Freeman will say only that he took "less than $5 million" and is still majority owner of Blue Bottle by a substantial margin.

????With the investment, Freeman built a larger coffee roastery and commercial baking kitchen in Oakland. (The pastry program is run by Freeman's wife, Caitlin Williams Freeman, whom he met at the Berkeley farmers' market.) In addition to Mint Plaza, Freeman now operates a full-fledged café in San Francisco's Ferry Building and a smaller café in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Cueing off the art that surrounds them, the pastries replicate, in butter and sugar, works from the museum's permanent collection.

????There isn't a formula to Freeman's retail operations, but they do display a consistently clean, unadorned aesthetic. There's no art on the walls, no music for sale, no "PBMs" (perfunctory bran muffins, in the Freeman lexicon) behind the counter. Blue Bottle doesn't sell coffee mugs or T-shirts, even though it could move a boatload. "I just can't figure out how to do a Blue Bottle T-shirt," Freeman says. "I don't wear T-shirts with logos. Why would I sell them?"

????Blue Bottle places enormous stress on coffee provenance, identifying factors such as soil composition and the species of shade tree under which the coffee beans are grown.

????You can buy a Blue Bottle cotton cap, as worn by employees in the roastery and bakery. You can also buy -- get this -- $150 pajamas made from blue-and-white micro-striped cotton Italian shirting. The Blue Bottle logo adorns a pocket beneath a collar finished with royal-blue piping. Like everything Freeman turns his mind to, the pajamas are exquisite. Are they a hot seller? Hardly, but Freeman loves the pajamas just as he loves the coloring book. They reflect his personal aesthetic, in the same way that Apple's (AAPL) limited, beautifully executed product line reflects that of Steve Jobs.

????With the Bay Area officially gaga over his coffee, Freeman went looking for the next territory to invade. It had to be a location that Freeman himself would want to visit every other week, and where he could persuade loyal staffers to move. It also had to be a place sorely in need of some good coffee. That place is New York City.

????In the past two years Blue Bottle has opened a roastery and café in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Because of his requirement that all products be utterly fresh, Freeman operates a bit like the ancient Roman army: Set up a supply base (the roastery), then spread out and conquer. Over the summer he opened a kiosk on the High Line, New York's greatest landscaping triumph since Central Park. And just like San Francisco, the coffee hipsters are lining up. Sales this year from all the Blue Bottle stores and wholesale accounts combined are in the $15 million to $20 million range, Freeman says. It's not Starbucks -- not even in the same universe. But for now, Freeman is content to grow at 70% or so a year. "I have no desire to be the next Starbucks," he says. "Starbucks is already Starbucks, but there are ways to grow that are interesting and keep things tight."

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????Operating a kiosk frequented mainly by tourists doesn't prove that Blue Bottle will catch on among New York residents. And Blue Bottle's success in Williamsburg doesn't demonstrate the wider appeal of Freeman's approach to coffee: Brooklyn or Oakland, the neck beards, fixed-gear bikes, and taste in coffee are all the same. However, Freeman's next act will be a true test. In the fall he's opening a café in a former UPS store (UPS) in the concourse level of Rockefeller Center. Yes, that Rockefeller Center, with the Christmas tree, ice rink, tourist hordes, and thousands of harried New Yorkers shuttling back and forth to their offices.

????A serving of iced coffee is $4.25 for 12 ounces, available at Blue Bottle in Brooklyn and San Francisco

????Like Continental bars where customers go for a café cortado or an espresso, Freeman is aiming for a grownup coffee place, all walnut and marble. "I want it to be dignified," he says. "You can't go to a place where you can order a giant pumpkin latte and expect it to be dignified."

????There's dignified, however, and then there are angry patrons who don't want to wait for a hand-poured cup of filter coffee. Freeman knows this and is working out a system to keep time-strapped customers in a line separate from coffee drinkers who can wait for that pot of siphon coffee or the hand-pour. "There's a chance that people are going to be enraged by us and hate us, and it's going to be a horrible failure," Freeman says. "But we haven't had any belly flops yet."

????Maybe he's due for a failure. Despite his exquisite taste and uncompromising quality standards, Freeman may not be the best guy to lead Blue Bottle through its next growth phase. Both are possible, he says. But he also knows what happened when a bunch of high-powered lawyers from the neighborhood started nosing around the Blue Bottle café in San Francisco's Ferry Building.

????Initially there was resistance, Freeman says. Who has the time? Eventually they tried the coffee. What happened next has been the same every place Blue Bottle has gone. All those masters of the legal universe, with no time to spare for a siphon pot? They got in line like everyone else.