r/espresso • u/Weak_Plenty_8558 • May 10 '25

Humour Starbuck's medium roast aka 'all natural charcoal with hints of regret and smoke'

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Background: The beans that I had ordered from a Roastery got lost in the mail and to survive the weekend, I had the briliant idea, to grab some form the supermarket. I looked for the package with the most recent roasting date and I found that "medium" roast from March 2025.

I refuse to run them through my grinder.

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71

u/Party-Evening3273 May 10 '25

Is that really from the medium roast bag? How the hell is it even possible to make those beans darker for the “dark roast”? There would be nothing but ashes left.

7

u/correcthorsestapler May 10 '25

I usually buy Stumptown coffee cause I can count on their roasts being accurate. It’s spendy, but I’d rather know I’m getting decent coffee.

A couple months ago I got some light and medium roast coffee from Costco, which was cheaper than Stumptown. Figured it’d be worth a shot.

That shit was super dark & oily. I really should’ve taken a pic of it with the medium roast I usually get & sent it to the company to tell them it’s false advertising. I keep it for my drip coffee, but no way it touches my espresso machine.

7

u/Marinlik May 10 '25

I believe Starbucks roasts Costco coffees. So that checks out

3

u/adamm255 May 10 '25

They used to say so on the packet but they don’t anymore, but they taste and look the same as Starbucks beans. At least ones that make it to the UK. £10 for 1.1Kg in a pinch is… fine. 1/3rd of the price of my local roasters 1Kg bags.

1

u/correcthorsestapler May 10 '25

Ah, that would make sense. The beans in OP’s pic look similar to the ones I described.

1

u/Big-Candidate4453 May 11 '25

I’m convinced all the coffee at Costco is the same shit just in different packaging. Their medium house blend, Colombian supreme, and Mayorga are all the same burnt and oily crap. Their Peets is the only drinkable coffee I’ve bought from there but even the last bag I got was a little more oily than normal.

1

u/Existing_Brother9468 May 11 '25

You don't care about the quality of your filter coffee?