# Resolved: Starbucks Coffee is Bad **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** coffee\ **Created:** [January 5, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357 "2017-01-05T00:51:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/121 "2017-01-10T15:32:29Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > But the quality HAS gotten worse. In the early 90s in college, as I stated above, you could tell a difference between the various coffees they sell. Now they are all generic espresso roasted and their focus is on drinks instead of coffee. I 100% disagree. If you can’t tell the difference between, let’s keep it simple, the Veranda blonde, their medium roast Pike Place, and their dark roasted Sumatra, then I don’t know what to tell you. My view is their coffee has actually gotten better (at least vs 20 years ago–I wouldn’t necessarily be surprised if 70s and 80s Starbucks was better than now) now that they have a blonde roast and their default house coffee has gone down a roasting level. A decade ago, I would drink their only out of convenience, if there’s no other coffee options available. Now, I’ll drink there out of choice. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/122 "2017-01-10T15:34:28Z")
Starbucks drip coffee tastes burned and nasty IMHO. Their espresso and cappuccinos are pretty good. I don’t have any interest in any of their milkshake type drinks such as frappucinos etc. The calories in those things are outrageous. I typically make coffee at home or drink what we have at the restaurant I operate. If I get coffee when I’m out and about I will go to a local independent here in Chicago like Metropolis or Intelligentsia or a chain like Julius Meinl before bothering with Starbucks. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/123 "2017-01-10T15:39:15Z")
And I just wanted to check to make sure I’m not going crazy, and I found [this thread of me commenting on Starbucks coffee in 2008](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=463458): > [@me](#): > > Former independent coffeeshop barista checking in (not like that gives me a lot of clout or anything), but I think DD’s coffee actually is pretty okay. I prefer it to 7-11s (which is some of the worst coffee I’ve ever had), and I definitely prefer it to the burnt dreck Starbuck’s serves. Starbuck’s is fine if I brew it myself, and their Americanos are okay, but their regular coffee all tastes way over-roasted to me, for people who associate “strong taste” with “good flavor.” So, for me at least, it certainly has gotten better. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/124 "2017-01-10T20:07:22Z")
> [@Uniqueorn](#): > > Was there ever any doubt about Starbucks coffee being undrinkable? The millions of customers they serve find it drinkable enough. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/125 "2017-01-10T22:10:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m certainly not denying their influence. They are the force that made pretty much everyone step up their coffee game and now I can get a reasonable cup of coffee nearly anywhere in the US. My first encounter with them, though, was c. 1994/1995 and in the context of an area that already had “coffee culture,” so they were seen, at least by us cafe denizens, as soulless corporate coffee threatening to take out all the great ma & pop coffeeshops. Which is why I’m kind of amused at myself, two decades nigh, defending the place. 🙂 Makes sense… first time I saw them it was in the context of being an occasional coffee drinker, and not being particularly choosy about what I got. So the whole novelty of having a bunch of types of coffee drinks like cappucino, latte, espresso, etc… was pretty neat, and their standard burnt-tasting roast was a step up from the no-name crap at work, or the Maxwell House I had at home. I don’t think that Starbucks necessarily uses poor quality beans or anything like that; I just think they have their “signature” flavor, and it’s one that isn’t up my alley. Once I realized that quality beans are typically roasted LESS and not more, Starbucks’ standard roast quit seeming like as good of an option as it once did. I recall there being a stretch in the late 1990s/early 2000s when grocery store coffee offered italian and french roast coffee as their “special” roasts, and I wonder if maybe sometime in this stretch, Starbucks hit upon their burned-tasting roast as their signature roast, because that’s what people associated with out-of-the-ordinary coffee? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/126 "2017-01-10T22:39:09Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I recall there being a stretch in the late 1990s/early 2000s when grocery store coffee offered italian and french roast coffee as their “special” roasts, and I wonder if maybe sometime in this stretch, Starbucks hit upon their burned-tasting roast as their signature roast, because that’s what people associated with out-of-the-ordinary coffee? No idea, but before Starbucks moved down the street, we always had two roasts of coffee available at the local cafe I worked at: rotating coffee of the day that was usually a lighter to medium roast, and a “French Roast” which was quite dark – at least as dark as Starbucks dark roast, with a very oily sheen to it. I didn’t much like that one, but there were always a percentage of customers that favored the more bitter tasting, smoky roast. Some people just thought it was a “good, strong coffee” even though the darker roasts generally have less caffeine than the lighter roasts. Our medium roasts probably outsold the French roast 6 to 1, maybe even 8 to 1. I personally don’t think these roasts make for good American-style drip coffee, but they are essential for a good espresso. Our espresso blend was a mix of the very dark roast and some medium roasted beans in it. I can’t remember the exact beans used – I think they just had a generic name like “French-Italian Espresso” when they came from the coffee roaster. My very favorite blend for drip coffee was Mocha Java, which I think at this roaster was a 50-50 blend of their Ethiopian and Sumatra. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357/127 "2017-01-12T03:11:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I didn’t much like that one, but there were always a percentage of customers that favored the more bitter tasting, smoky roast. Some people just thought it was a “good, strong coffee” even though the darker roasts generally have less caffeine than the lighter roasts. I don’t know… we actually have a medium and a dark roast at work, and I feel a lot like Sisyphus asking for the blonde instead of the dark roast, because apparently people _like_ the dark roast (Starbucks Cafe Verona) versus the Pike Place medium roast. I have to think that it’s due to the same flavor conflation that leads people to believe that dark beers are stronger, even though some, like draft Guinness is notoriously low in alcohol relative to lighter, blander beers like Budweiser. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-starbucks-coffee-is-bad/776357.md?page=6)