Coffee In the City: Commentary

The five posts I looked at:

Charismatic Coffee,

Wet Your Whistles,

CHAIN VS. PLAIN,

America May Run on Dunkin but NY Runs on Coffee,

and

Starbucks v. The Sensuous Bean

all used video to give viewers a taste (no pun intended!) of the coffee scene in New York City, specifically that around the Macaulay building. Each video had their pros and cons, things they did well and things that could have been improved, that inform how I would create and present a video on any topic.

Charismatic Coffee

This video had a lot of good footage of the interior of a few different coffee shops in the area, and it was a great length. While there were a few captions, and some speaking throughout the footage, the video could have used some more narration/voice over information or captioning so the viewer really understood how they came to the conclusion mentioned in the summary of their video.

Wet Your Whistles

This was one of my favorite projects on the whole site. The video was short and entertaining, there was a lot of great Q&A, and the viewer gets a great insight into Starbucks. The one thing this video could’ve used was a more engaging topic – everyone knows about Starbucks, so if they had examined some change or conflict revolving around this store or chain, there would’ve been more incentive for someone to view the video in the first place.

CHAIN VS. PLAIN

Like the first project i mentioned, this video had a lot of great footage, and not enough commentary. The video was however, much longer. On the one hand, this is great because it gives the viewer a more comprehensive look at the subject matter. On the other hand, the length could be a deterrent in terms of viewership – there isn’t really enough to keep the viewer interested for 8 minutes. To improve this, more engaging commentary could be added or the video could be further edited.

America May Run on Dunkin but NY Runs on Coffee

This, like Wet your Whistles, had a lot of great Q&A, was short and sweet and to the point, and unlike Wet your Whistles, examined the differences between coffee shops in the area. The best video of the bunch!

Starbucks v. The Sensuous Bean

Like some of the previously mentioned videos, this had a lot of interesting Q&A. It examined the difference between Starbucks and a mom-and-pop coffee shop, though it seemed to being with a clear bias toward the latter. Since the video was not presented as unbiased, this was fine (though perhaps a more impartial examination of this conflict would have been more informative). The people-watching section at the beginning of the video really pulled me in, though I believe the interview with Joe could’ve been edited further to keep the viewer more engaged. Overall, a great video.

-Kaitlyn O’Hagan, Hunter College

Starbucks v. The Sensuous Bean

Iona Hall – Brooklyn

Meredith Guss – Brooklyn

Ilana Dadras – Lehman

Rav Bhatia – Lehman

Aime Salazar – Hunter

Starbucks: Hardly Sensuous

We chose to take a closer look at the differences between a coffee chain product and a family business. In an area as historic as the Upper West Side, it is important to us to appreciate the small business offered by people like Joe, who try their best and love what they do. We would argue that their contributions are what make this area unique.

CHAIN VS. PLAIN

By: Katherine Brigandi, Patricia Cannizzaro, Michael Dibenedetto, Tanvir Jahan, John Troino, Susan Wu

1. What did you do?

Our group compared the Starbucks on West 67^th Street and Broadway and The Sensuous Bean located at 66 West 70^th Street. We videotaped both places and compared the coffee, food products, prices, décor, and the atmosphere of each café. Also, each member of our group sampled the product in each location.

2. Why did you choose it?

We choose this topic because each member of our group really enjoys coffee. We spend many dollars a year buying coffee at Starbucks. Starbucks has really good coffee but we wanted to explore alternatives. We were looking to find a place that sells coffee with a compatible taste at more reasonable prices. We also wanted to see if it offers the same scenery and atmosphere.

3.What did you learn?

We learned that Starbucks is a well-known chain coffee shop all over the country. Each Starbucks has a beautiful exterior and interior, fully equipped with flat screen televisions, comfortable couches, wireless Internet connection, and different blends and tasty treats. However, Starbucks is quite expensive. For example, a caramel frappachino costs $5.17, a hot chocolate costs $3.25, and iced mocha costs $3.87. We found that The Sensuous Bean has coffee that is just as good as Starbucks. They have six flavors of coffee with which they can make about thirty different combination specialties. They also have chocolate milk and hot chocolate. These drinks, plus snacks, chocolates and biscuits all are sold at more reasonable prices. Two iced coffees at The Sensuous Bean cost only $6. However, the Sensuous Bean has no wireless Internet connection and no seating. Overall, we learned that both Starbucks and The Sensuous Bean have pros and cons.