I hardly need to do an experimental blinded study to decide Starbucks is not to my taste. I was initially optimistic, years ago, when they brought their products out. And they were good, initially. Not great, but good. But to me their unflavored coffee products (black coffee, espresso) have deteriorated in what I perceive to be quality traits over the decades. Same for the beans I’ve purchased from them. Not bad, back in the day. Lousy now. I even started optimistic in this latest round, after smelling the espresso beans. I really thought that they could make a palatable brew. They did not.
You like Starbucks products? By all means, drink it. Don’t tell me I need to do a double blinded study. I surely don’t. Any more than you need to, for embracing Starbucks products.
But you may want to try some espresso made at home, from the Starbucks beans that they sell labelled as espresso. If you don’t find the resulting brew to be incredibly bitter, then our taste buds differ wildly in that aspect.
Does bitter coffee mean bad coffee? It’s a subjective issue, certainly. But the overwhelming consensus from the majority of drinkers is that ‘bitter’ is undesirable, and that strong coffee need not be bitter.
Their drinks are popular…but I wonder what percentage of Starbucks’ customers drink their coffee undisguised(black)? How many of their customers prefer their coffee?
I’m just saying maybe basing your “final” judgment on taste is a bit off. Why do non-taste-related judgments have any bearing at all? If a civet can poop out great-tasting coffee, poop away… But if that coffee TASTES like crap (instead of just BEING crap), I sure don’t want any.
I don’t especially adore Starbucks beans, but when confronted with limited choices, I have found them to be perfectly adequate and, more to the point, not bitter to my palate. I consume my espresso either straight or with milk (steamed or cold), no sweetener or flavorings. At home, I use a cheap stovetop espresso pot, though I do not particularly like the result.
I want to elaborate on that. Starbucks is no longer in the business of selling coffee. They have aimed their product line at fast-food Americans with plenty of added sugar and fat.
600-700 calories, 12 grams of fat, 56 grams of sugar, etc.
Having bounced around the world a fair bit, a Starbucks is a welcome sight when you need a coffee. As an Expresso or American drinker, they are a reliable and not terribly bad form of coffee, the horrors inflicted on the taste buds by Asian hotel coffee or by baristas who have no idea how to operate the machine cannot be described on a family friendly website like this.
At home I use the lighter roast for espresso, I agree the starbucks espresso roast can produce a bitter coffee, it does smeel good when opening the packet though. Maybe its an issue of expansion , in order to maintain the consistent product they have had to start to incorporate more substandard beans to account for the volume.
Maybe the over roasting is because people put a lot of value in the smell you get when opening a bag of coffee and link that to good coffee, so when Starbucks are taste testing by consumers, the results get skewed by people associating the stronger smelling roasted beans with better coffee.
Malcolm Gladwell said in on of the TED talk podcast" people tell you they like strong powerful robust coffee, what they actually like and buy is weak milky coffee."