The humble cup of coffee, a morning ritual for so many Americans, has become much less humble in the past decade with the explosion of espresso drinks, coffee house culture, and specialty brews
Now, Beacon Hill residents who have grown weary of the morning coffee offerings on the Hill have a unique opportunity to sample the latest innovation in java brewing.
The Starbucks at 1 Charles Street is one of on a handful of locations in the United States that is currently testing Starbucks newest method of brewing coffee: The Clover Press.
Not a new espresso drink, Starbuck’s “fresh pressed coffee” is a one-cup-at-a-time brew that is meant to bring out the flavors of Starbucks’ regular coffee beans, employing a method that is somewhere “between a French press and vacuum press,” according to one barista.
And because the new press brews coffee a cup at a time to order, customers can now choose from any type of bean that Starbucks keeps in house, not simply the two or three brewed daily for drip coffee.
“I drink about five cups a day,” said one barista who could not put his name on the record because of Starbucks’ strict media relations policy. “We’ve all been converted.”
The shift manager, who also would not comment on the record, did indicate that the new brewing method has proven extremely popular.
A cup sampled by this Times reporter revealed a potent and extremely bright tasting cup of coffee (brewed, as per my selection, with Kona beans) that, according to another unnamed barista, has about “five times the caffeine” of the regular drip coffee, making it an ideal morning pick-me-up. Despite its forward flavor, however, the coffee maintains its essential Starbucks’ character, with a heavily roasted flavor that some crave and that tastes burnt to others.
The brewing method itself makes for good entertainment: as the coffee brews, the grounds rise to the top of the press in a foamy layer, which is then scraped off to leave only the fresh brewed up of coffee behind.
The new brewing device is currently being tested in three Boston Starbucks locations, with Federal Street in the financial district and Harvard Square rounding out the testing location trio.
The Clover coffee is slightly more expensive than the regular drip coffee, with a tall selling for $2.25 a cup, which is still less than the going rate for most of the espresso based drinks.
Oh, and in case you were considering avoiding the Starbucks lines by picking up a Clover press of your own, know that the device, designed in 2005 by two Stanford University graduates, retails for about $11,000.

A move is underway to ban large events on Boston Common. Large scale events that draw tens of thousands of people are ruining the Common’s lawns and walkways, according to city officials and Henry Lee, president of Friends of the Boston Public Garden, an advocate for the Common.
Last year, more than 1000 events were held on the Common, whose fragile infrastructure is being torn asunder.
“Our goal is to make this the greatest park in America and to identify the challenges and opportunities of doing that,” Councilor Michael Ross said in opening the first public hearing on Boston Common that was held Wednesday night at Suffolk University Law School.
This hearing was more exploratory in nature as Ross, joined by Boston City Councilors Sal LaMattina and William Linehan heard from a variety of city officials as well as civic leaders about their ideas and concerns about the future for Boston Common.
The Common and Public Garden, which comprise more than 40 acres in total are Boston’s great prizes in the heart of the city.
The area receives a tremendous amount of foot traffic on a daily basis as three major MBTA stops, Park Street and Boylston Street Station and the new Silver Line bus stop have direct access in the area as well as commuters who use the Boston Common Garage. In addition to these users, there are also many college students from Suffolk University and Emerson College who regard the Common as their front yard. And there are also dog owners from Beacon Hill and Back Bay who consider the Common a wonderful place to walk their pets.
Officials from the Boston Parks Department outlined how the Common gets extensive use on a daily basis. This use has had an adverse effect in many areas like the Parade Grounds near Charles and Beacon Streets that have been closed off for repairs to the grass.
In some cases, pedestrians in cutting across corners from the paved paths have destroyed the grass and created dirt paths. The department plans to add more fences and then turf or brick areas in order to repair and to maintain the integrity of the park.
Boston Parks Commissioner Antonia Pollak told the Councilors about the planned changes involving a head house at Park Street for elevator access. She noted that the MBTA is under court order to bring the station into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Pollak also said that there is an opportunity to have the MBTA step up with an added commitment to help maintain the Common.
“Boston Common should no longer play host to large scale events,” she said.
Area 1 Police Captain Bernie O’Rourke told the councilors that crime in the Boston Common is down through the efforts of added policing from the safe street teams, but that crime in the general area including Downtown Crossing is up.
He acknowledged that as the police intensify their efforts in the Common, the crime moves to a different area. He also noted that in the last two weeks there were 21 arrests for people selling drugs. He said that most area assaults are drinking related. He also said reinstituting the 11:30 pm. to 6 a.m. curfew on the Common has also helped in reduction of direct crime in the Common.
Ironically, O’Rourke also noted that the Common is safer when there are events taking place.
Homelessness continues to be a problem in the Common, but due to the curfew this problem has moved more into the North End and Downtown Crossing area. Park rangers also are patrolling the area but their main objective is to be more visible than an active crime deterrent.
The number of mounted rangers has decreased from 25 in 2000 to about 12 this year. The area that they patrol goes as far as Copley Square.
James Green from the Mayor’s Office on Homelessness said that efforts are being made to find permanent housing for some of the homeless especially in this area. He noted that in the annual census that was conducted in December, the number of homeless in Boston went down from 306 in 2006 to 184 in 2007. He also noted that his agency is working closely with other agencies like the Pine Street Inn and Shattuck Hospital.
Henry Lee from the Friends of the Public Garden said, “the Common is all things to all people.” There were, he added, more than 1,000 events in the Common last year and that in the last 25 years the use has overwhelmed the maintenance.
Lee noted that the ground is harder than a concrete floor because it has been compacted by so much by foot traffic and that it is impossible for rainwater to seep through to the roots of the trees. He also said that everyone from developers to abutters should be doing more to help.
Tom Kershaw who owns the Hampshire House and helps run the Frog Pond told of how that part of Common is used both in winter as the skating rink and in summer as the wading pool might be a perfect place for a restaurant. He noted that without a liquor license a venture like Tavern on the Green that is located in Central Park in New York City would have a difficult time in being financially viable.
“This is our front door,” Peggy Ings from Emerson told the councilors about Emerson’s involvement in bringing resources to help the Common. She mentioned that the College runs and maintains a café on Tremont Street. However, the café runs at a $35,000 deficit, but she said that this is cost Emerson is willing to bear when you consider what was happening at this corner of Boylston and Tremont Streets before. Emerson is also planning to install a wrought iron period fence down Tremont Street that will cost more than $250,000.
“This is a wonderful start, and Suffolk understands that it has a responsibility to the Common,” John Nucci, said Suffolk University Vice president.
One resident mentioned that he hoped that the Common or surrounding streets would be more bicycle friendly. Another longtime resident echoed public officials when he noted that large events are damaging the Common.
Rev. Kathy McAdams from Ecclesia Ministries told the Councilors, “we need to look at all the needs of all Bostonians and that poverty and homelessness are not a crime but needs to be addressed by government.”
Colin Zick from the Beacon Hill Civic Association told of how he became involved in the Common with two boys playing baseball.
“When I saw the homeless problem and drug activity, I got involved.”
He mentioned that the Boston Common Management Plan that was written more than 10 years ago foresaw and addressed many of today’s issues.
“Enforcing the rules and regulations in place will go a long way in improving the Common,” he said.
The Councilors asked for input and found out that the Common is much more than a playground or park. For more than 400 years, the Common has been used for not only recreational uses but as a public space for all Bostonians.
The date for the next meeting has not been scheduled.

A sure sign of spring as men work on the irrigation system at the Boston Public Garden.

City transportation officials have a plan to install new traffic equipment at four Charles Street intersections, saying the intersections will be safer, the lights will be easier to repair and the change will bring the neighborhood into compliance with federal regulations.
But neighborhood leaders say the metal boxes that would control the equipment are too large, too ugly, and inappropriate for the oldest historic district in the commonwealth.
They also question the need for new signals, since they say they’ve never seen evidence that there is a safety or maintenance problem with the traffic lights along Charles Street.
“In the absence of data that show this is a safety issue or that the [current] lights are deficient, our committee will oppose this proposal,” said Steve Young of Chestnut Street, the chair of the traffic and parking committee for the Beacon Hill Civic Association, at last week’s hearing before the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission.
The city’s proposal involves replacing the traffic lights at the intersections of Chestnut, Mount Vernon, Pinckney and Revere streets with larger and brighter lenses run by computerized equipment that connects to city hall where transportation department officials can monitor traffic and control the timing of the lights, said John DeBenedictis, the Boston Transportation Department’s director of engineering.
The city would have to dig trenches across three streets at each intersection and another trench to the box at each intersection. The work would begin about a month after the city receives the go-ahead from the commission, if they are successful in obtaining that permission.
The new signals would replace outdated red and yellow combination walk signals with the new international standard that includes a countdown so pedestrians know how much time they have left in which to cross. At this point Boston has only 10 traffic signals remaining out of 800 that employ the red and yellow pedestrian signal, said Jim Gillooly, BTD’s deputy commissioner.
Charles Street’s traffic signals, which date from 1931 and 1952, according to city reports, are prone to breaking down, said DeBenedictis, and parts are increasingly hard to find. In addition, he said, the city must conform to federal standards that the old signals can’t meet.
Beacon Hill leaders don’t have problems with the larger traffic heads with bigger and brighter lenses nor with the concept of replacing the old electro-mechanical systems with newer computerized equipment.
It’s the system’s control boxes—42 inches tall, by 28 inches wide by 15 inches deep sitting on a 4-inch concrete base, according to DeBenedictis—that the civic association objects to, and the large boxes presented a problem for the commissioners as well at last week’s hearing.
“If you plant one of these on Charles Street, it’s going to come as a big surprise to everyone,” said Commissioner Ken Taylor. “These are crude artifacts.”
He also said something like this would never be allowed in a city like Paris, where leaders protected the city’s look as an important part of attracting tourists. “We can do better than this,” he said.
The chair of the Beacon Hill Architectural Commission was unimpressed with the city’s argument that maintaining the old traffic signal system in a way different from the rest of the city was a hardship. “The city accommodates the historic district in other ways,” said Joel Pierce of Garden Street. “For example, they maintain gas lights here that don’t exist in other neighborhoods.”
Steve Young disputed that the new traffic signals would contribute to safety. He said the new signals could have the opposite effect on Charles Street.
“Someone at city hall who wants to run a few more cars down Charles Street could make it less safe for pedestrians,” he said. “The potential for decreasing safety is significant. Retooling the electro-mechanical systems or replacing them with stop signs may well produce safer intersections.”
Moreover, he said, the large size of the boxes, which would be located on sidewalks, could create a hazard for the elderly or handicapped people.
Peter Thomson, who lives on Bellingham Place, said this proposal was no different from one that included large control boxes that was rejected by the architecture commission and the civic association in the late 1980s. Gillooly said there was a difference, in that this proposal has technology that wasn’t available 20 years ago.
Neighborhood leaders wondered why the boxes were so large. “In all other phases of modern society everything is growing smaller, but it traffic it seems that everything is getting bigger,” said Young.
“There is an awful lot of cable in there,” Gillooly explained. “Reducing the box in size isn’t as easy as you might think.”
The matter has yet to be concluded. The commissioners asked BTD officials to create a cardboard mockup of the boxes that could be taken around to each proposed location at each intersection so they could see how much of an intrusion the boxes would actually make.
Even if the city can show that the current lights cause problems of safety or maintenance, neighborhood leaders urged the city to go back to the drawing board. “In a historic district, there are different criteria,” said Thomson. “This plan shouldn’t get off the ground.”

Noah Schlondorff getting a bird's eye view of the Boston Common from a tree. The second is Luc and Claire Jouve working on a snowman on the Boston Common as Dhruva Schlondorff collects snow in the background.

The signs at the circle

Charles Circle’s signs are baffling to pedestrians and drivers alike. Several should be redone.
Coming out of the station, a pedestrian will find sign pointing to Beacon Hill. But instead of the arrow pointing up, signifying that one should walk straight ahead, the arrow points up Cambridge Street.
The walk signs are out of sync. Cars coming from the east over the ramp from Storrow Drive get a green light and run into pedestrians who still have the white-man light as they cross from the median to the station itself on the CVS side of the circle.
A John Jeffries House sign is attached to a lamp post, but someone unfamiliar with the John Jeffries House would have a hard time figuring out where that building is actually located. There is already a sign closer to the building and mounted on a low fence that indicates better where the house is. The MBTA’s contractor should remove the sign on the lamp post.
The traffic signs are not only confusing too, but the stripes on the road seem to indicate something different from the signs.
No one we have spoken to has any good idea of how to fix the signs in the circle beyond pointing arrows a different way, but the MBTA needs to get started. Right now anyone who doesn’t know where they are going, won’t easily find their way.

The grime

The good news is that the witch hazel is blooming in the Public Garden. The bad news is that Boston’s streets and sidewalks are filled with trash. After last summer’s concentrated effort to tow cars so the mechanical street sweepers could sweep up the mess at the curb, we got spoiled and expected Boston to look cleaner all the time. But now, the city looks like its old grubby self – the dirtiest city in America. We can’t wait for April 1, when mechanical street cleaning begins. We urge city officials to continue their aggressive towing program that made Boston so much better to live in last summer.
But this should be the last winter that the street sweepers are pulled off duty. City officials have talked about continuing street sweeping through the winter.
Let’s now make it happen.

The kids

The Beacon Hill Civic Association is engaged in serious discussions with Suffolk University about the university’s footprint on Beacon Hill and the problems students bring to the neighborhood.
Some residents would like to ban students altogether.
That would be sad. As much as the writer of this editorial page likes all you old fogies, we wouldn’t want to live with only the quiet, elderly set.
We remember that one of the catalysts for establishing Beacon Hill Village was to keep aging residents out of places where only one age group prevailed. Civic association officials should remember that goal. Beacon Hill should be a place where people of all ages are welcome, including college students.
It’s not that we enjoy loud music at 2 a.m., cigarettes being thrown from rooftops, and beer cans littering the sidewalk after a raucous night.
But frankly, such behavior occurs very little, and when it does, it is as likely to be caused by “young professionals,” who have more cash than students and don’t have to face mid-terms in the morning, as much as it is caused by students.
Moreover, a good portion of us came to this neighborhood as college students, or shortly thereafter. It’s a bit hypocritical to claim that today’s students are any worse than we were.
We don’t know what the right mix is, and we don’t believe anyone else really does either. But we do know that a mix of age groups is important in a healthy neighborhood and that college students should be a part of that mix.