Midón, Coffee, Tea

I got a coffee at Starbucks this morning. In order to get to work more quickly, I’m not going to the gym this morning but this afternoon (still going strong @ the gym - my squash game is definitely improving).I mention the gym only because I normally go right after dropping Maryruth off. If I were going to the gym, I wouldn’t get coffee first. Yes?

It’s -13 C or something like that with snow blowing around. Seemed like a good day for a coffee. This is my sixth of 2006 (I believe five of those, including this one, were/are from Starbucks). Well, maybe six and a quarter (the quarter being a free sample at Safeway [and no, I didn’t chase the sample lady down... well, not down multiple aisles anyway just across the entire bakery department]).

As I waited to order my drink, I saw a CD: Raul Midón, State of Mind. Not that this is by any means exhaustive but I explained to Ryan the other day as:

“obscure musician. blind guitar guy. Jazzy-funk-folk style. From New Mexico I believe.”

I heard & saw him on Bravo the other night (must have been last November or something). Really interesting. Having checked through his discography now, I don’t love all his stuff... but it’s different that’s for sure. I do like “State of Mind.” The song, that is - haven’t listened to the complete Starbucks disc.

The thought that struck me was: “now everyone will know him.” That is, lot’s of people will now know who he is and more people will hear his music. That’s a good thing, I know. But putting aside the fact that he has a couple albums (2 or 3, don’t recall) and was on Bravo - this to say that obviously he has some measure of following already; I had “discovered” him. No one introduced him to me, I didn’t hear him on Pandora (though Pandora has introduced me to some new music recently that I really like). I just stumbled upon him and like some of his stuff.

I remember reading something about Tazo tea (probably around 2003 that I read this). Tazo is, of course, the brand that Starbucks serves (and owns). It is also available in Safeway, and probably other grocery stores as well. But it didn’t start that way apparently. It was a small little brand, not owned by Starbucks, not served in Starbucks, though the owners likely had been to Starbucks at some point... maybe.... Anyways, part of its “charm”, went the article, was that you were one of the few people who knew about Tazo; enjoyed Tazo. With Tazo, since it is tea, it seems even more appropriate that you had to “discover” it (tea historically being hard to get: long treks to the “Orient” and whatnot).

I think the article was talking more about the marketing angle. If you have a product that people are used to “discovering” (marketing lingo: small distribution) and it is suddenly available everywhere, that changes the nature of the interaction, it changes the experience. Therefore, the “product” (including the buying experience) is different.

All that aside, I was just thinking about me: I liked knowing Raul Midón and having not many people knowing him. Obviously it’s great for him as an artist and great for others to hear more work that stretches them musically. But in a very globalized, marketing-saturated world, it’s nice to “discover” different products. It’s kind of like having traveled to the Far East, acquired two-dozen pots’ worth of a new tea—the world’s greatest Oolong—and, upon arriving home in London sixteen months later, finding out that Captain John brought back a fleet full of it last month and every merchant in the square is selling it for less than the price of sugar. Kinda: except with less bartering and no financial impact to me.