First, this is not a thread about who likes and who doesn’t like Starbucks, so if you opened this only to say how much you hate Starbucks or any other equally useless bashing, just go away.
The Starbucks House Blend whole bean coffee in my supermarket is close to 10 bucks a pound, and I think more in the actual Starbucks store.
Is there a coffee that tastes the same as this that I can get cheaper, perhaps online? I don’t know how to describe the flavor, I’m bad at that, but I haven’t found anything close (not that I’ve looked very hard). I’m not even sure what gives it its distinctive taste, perhaps the roasting method.
Well, the Starbucks House blend is a blend of a variety of Latin American coffees, I believe. So I would try to focus on Latin American coffees and blends.
Well, I was going to make a joke about taking regular beans and running them through the Self Clean cycle of your oven, but you said you don’t want useless bashing.
In an attempt to be helpful, since you buy whole bean, you have an option that you don’t have with pre-ground. That is… buying a small amount, 1-2 servings of beans rather than a whole pound. Find a purveyor who sells beans loose, so you can get 1/8th of a pound or so, and buy 8 different types of coffee. Read the Starbucks label for things like “colombian” and so on to get an idea what variety they use for that blend, try to replicate it with your samples. Starbucks does tend to the darker roasts as well, so the “light morning blend” may not be a good choice.
Then, brew up your starbucks and one of the other brands, and really take your time to identify the similarities and differences. Take notes. Maybe you even find a brand there that you like better. On the downside, the loose coffee you buy may not be much cheaper than Starbucks, maybe $7-8 per lb instead of $10.
Starbucks blends and roasts their own coffee, so there is no chance of getting the exact blend somewhere else under a different name. Somebody may have an easier suggestion than mine, but it could be a fun project, and you get to drink coffee at the same time!
If you like Starbucks style roasting, and if you have a Costco near you, and if you don’t mind paying an annual membership fee…
Costco carries a house blend that is roasted for them by Starbucks. It’s a little less than $10 for 2 pounds. They also carry Starbucks French Roast, a 2 1/2 pound bag for a little less than $20. This is in the Boston area, so YMMV. I mix the two together: 2 parts house blend, one part French Roast.
I really like good coffee, and I completely understand folks’ complaints about Starbucks, but for some reason that bitterness is exactly what I need to get going in the morning (purism notwithstanding). By afternoon I really can’t handle it, and I look for something a little richer and milder. For example, I find that Starbucks as an after-dinner coffee overwhelms the dining experience. There are blends that are far more harmonious. Think of it as wine; Starbucks is my morning grappa, but I couldn’t handle it all day long.
Cheesesteak makes an excellent point; use this as an opportunity to experiment and broaden your palate.
