IMO, it is a lot like wine, there may be some tastes-bad-to-almost-everyone options, but there are not universal tastes-good-to-everyone options. Making coffee

IMO, it is a lot like wine, there may be some tastes-bad-to-almost-everyone options, but there are not universal tastes-good-to-everyone options. Making coffee is really basic chemistry. The beans themselves, the degree of roast, the water chemistry, the water temperature, the filter, and the brew time all affect the outcome. A combination that tastes great to you may not taste great to me. I have found it best to read a bit, and experiment. One benefit of coffee chain stores is that you should be able to know what you are going to get when you order a "Foo", whereas independent shops will likely all make a Foo slightly differently. If you read the history of the Clover machine and the initial concept it was pretty cool. You as the user would have a token that held data on how you liked your coffee brewed. You could go to a non-chain coffee store with a Clover machine, scan your token, and get a cup that was made with your specific preferences, allowing you to get something more consistent to your ideal cup at a greater variety of places. Then Starbucks bought out the company, and now you can get a Clover brewed coffee at select stores, and it's good, but it's not the initial vision.