The guy we met at the Mountain Thunder plantation said the same thing about the french press. When I told my mother about the coffee there, she said it must have been a french press.
I have a bunch of french presses, but never use them any more. I liked the flavor, but I didn’t like the mess. Getting the coffee out of the grooves in the wire filter, dumping the grinds. The silt in the bottom of the cup never bothered me, but a lot of my customers didn’t like it.
I switched to chemex for individual cups when I wasn’t using my large titan brewers. I closed my shop before I found out about the amazing aoropress.
My guess is the Starbucks guy is terrified of the little press. Starbucks bought Clover ($10,000 plus vacuum machine) to get it off the market, but then this little $25 brewer emerges a year or two ago and bam! You have clover quality coffee anywhere! A lot of independent shops are starting to use them.