Starbucks Whole Bean Coffee Dark Roast Coffee Espresso Roast 100 Arabica 1 bag 18 oz

I started using this coffee and was enjoying it, but I felt like I could pay less and get an equivalent coffee. Maybe one can, but I was unable to. Here are some of the differences I noticed between Starbucks Espresso Roast Whole Bean coffee and some other coffees I tried. The first thing I notice in a coffee bean is its aroma upon opening the package. Starbucks Espresso Roast always smells wonderful, smooth, and enticing. Other beans I tried smelled less appetizing. Simply smelling kind of unpleasant is common. Some coffees smell harsh with an acute bitterness about them. Some smelled musty or dusty. I’m not a connoisseur, so probably cannot adequately describe flavors and aromas, but then again, flavor and aroma notes always seem pretentious and fall short of my flavor experience. The next thing I notice is the bean itself. Starbucks beans are uniform in color and oiliness (sheen), while other coffees I tried had great variances in bean color and sheen. I don’t know for sure, but this seems to be a quality issue such as inconsistent roasting parameters or just simply allowing a greater range of bean to pass QC standards. Whatever it is, it’s a turn off. Starbucks beans look better. Another aspect of this is the whole bean to broken bean ratio, where Starbucks coffee has a greater percentage of whole beans per package than the cheaper products I bought. I don’t know if this affects bean taste or freshness or any other aspect of the bean, but it doesn’t look nice. Next thing noticed is how it grinds. Starbucks coffee seems uniform in color where others were varied, specifically regarding what I took to be the husks or skins of the beans, like chaff. Finally, the most important factor: taste. Starbucks tastes good. Smooth with a bit of an acidic bite. Cheap coffees I tried tasted much like they smelled, with bitter coming to mind most often, along with what I can only describe as “dusty”. Starbucks is good coffee. There surely may be better coffees, but they will be more expensive and that’s not where I’m headed. Enjoy! Read more

I love this coffee but can’t find a decent price anymore. Excellent with a hint of chocolate in its natural flavor. Great for Espresso Breville auto machine. Read more

I’ve had em all and yet Starbucks is the best all around for flavor. Read more

Somethings are consistently exceptional. I mean they are almost irreplaceable: the fit of your favorite Levi jeans; the sound of a big block Hemi during a warm summer night's cruise; the borrowed (wink wink) robes from that resort; Starbucks Caffeè Verona coffee. Hey, it's my list! I usually buy this at my local grocery store. They've been hit or miss lately and frankly I'm not about that self-checkout life unless it's really important and urgent. I'll give Amazon my cash until the cows come home or a human returns to the checkout lane on the regular. But I deviate. Starbucks Caffeè Verona is great dark roast coffee. It's flavorful and robust. It's consistent. I'm on my fourth bag and almost every first sip of every cup I say to myself, "mmmm this is good coffee!" That's high praise considering one bag was pre-ground! Starbucks got this one right. The chocolate and caramel notes peek through. It's smooth, never acidic or rough. They may have gotten many things right but I only like this one Starbucks product. Is that weird? When I couldn't find this I tried other dark roasts and even dated a different coffee maker (I'm sorry Mr. Coffee. I'm back for good. It wasn't you. It was the coffee). In the end. I learned that for me it's almost all about the coffee. Get a coffee you really like, make it in a variety of ways until you strike gold, then sit back and enjoy. My method I pre wet my coffee filter with hot tap water. It makes a difference in the how the coffee taste. Research it. 50g freshly ground coffee beans (Caffeè Verona anyone?) Medium grind 20 oz of room temp water to my Mr. Coffee drip coffee maker. Brew Pour Rest about a couple of minutes Serve My new gold plate problem now is what to do with all the extra coffee and coffee makers and kettles I have. One last thing: prepare for the worst while enjoying the very best. I'm going to try another "corporate" dark roast from the West Coast. I mean just in case Bucky's goes under I gotta have a plan B. My coffee game can't stop cause their game did! Read more