5 ms·

They may be increasing the quality of the bean they source. But their beans are stale by the time they get to the store (once you roast the bean, the clock sta

They may be increasing the quality of the bean they source. But their beans are stale by the time they get to the store (once you roast the bean, the clock starts). And they notoriously over-roast their beans, giving it that distinctive burnt taste. I'll continue going to my shop that roasts their beans daily... and doesn't think that a flat white can come in three sizes.

amyjess 11y ago
> And they notoriously over-roast their beans, giving it that distinctive burnt taste. They've offered multiple kinds of roasts for years now. If you don't like their dark roast, you have lighter ones to choose from.
- hueving 11y ago
  The OP you're replying to doesn't even go to Starbucks because they offer size choices. Your facts won't change his/her mind.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - warfangle 11y ago
    I go there when there's no other options, and probably twice a year to see if they've gotten better. If I'm spending $4+ on an espresso drink, I'd rather it not taste bad :)
- GavinMcG 11y ago
  Every time I've tried to get a blonde roast in the past year and a half I've been told they don't have it. This is across the country, with an attempt every couple months or so.
  - fintler 11y ago
    All stores have blonde roast (almost) all the time. However, you have to ask for a pour over, they only tend to have it on drip early in the morning. Since doing a pour over is kind of a pain, most people who work there will just say "we don't have any left", instead of offering the pour over.
- jderick 11y ago
  I've never seen blonde roast decaf available.
- warfangle 11y ago
  They don't grind the other roasts for espresso. I like dark roasts. But theirs is crap :)
ihaveajob 11y ago
This. I don't buy the hype that this or that trendy SF coffee roaster has significantly more skills than the next one (although Ritual Roasters and Sightglass are consistently good :-), but in my experience the principal factor driving taste in home brewed coffee is how recently the beans were roasted. With local roasters, you can usually buy something roasted within a couple of days. Anything industrial and it's in the order of weeks, which saps the aromas tremendously, even in the best storage conditions. Unless Starbucks starts roasting locally, they can't compete with that.
dpark 11y ago
>... and doesn't think that a flat white can come in three sizes. That is some impressive pretension. You could just order the size you think a flat white should be, but no, the mere option of multiple sizes makes Starbucks unacceptable to your refined tastes.
- nsxwolf 11y ago
  I'm assuming he believes the "correct" size for a flat white is 165ml, and Starbucks doesn't offer that size... AFAIK.
  - dpark 11y ago
    Fair enough, but you can always ask for that size. The relevant phrase at Starbucks would be something like "extra short" or "short with a little room". They're generally pretty accommodating, not just at Starbucks, but at any decent cafe. I generally drink an extra-short Americano (apparently sometimes called an Italiano), at about 5 oz total, and no one has this on the menu, but everyone is willing to make it for me. It's not as convenient as having it on on the menu, but it works just fine.
  - warfangle 11y ago
    "they". I am not a he.
- maldusiecle 11y ago
  I'm not so sure. At all the coffee shops around where I live, whenever you order a macchiato, they have to quiz you to make sure you want an actual macchiato, and not the sugar-filled concoction Starbucks labels a "macchiato." I could see the same thing happening with flat whites, which have certain dimensions as part of their definition. It's annoying when a large chain redefines an established, useful term.
  - dpark 11y ago
    To be fair, Starbucks calls their thing a "caramel macchiato". I'm not sure they are fully to blame for people inexplicably deciding that "macchiato" on its own somehow means "cup of caramel sauce". For the flat white, I understand the concern about sizing, but I can't see it making any kind of sense economically to keep specially-sized cups on hand for this, nor can I see serving it "with room" in an 8oz cup, since they'd constantly get people asking why it's not full. Realistically, pretty much no one is ordering an 8oz cup of anything in Starbucks, anyway. Everyone thinks they need 16 ounces of milk with their coffee. Hard to justify a lot of concern about serving the perfect 5.5oz size when the most common word before "flat white" is probably "grande". And that's not just at Starbucks, but at pretty much any cafe in the US.

amyjess 11y ago

> And they notoriously over-roast their beans, giving it that distinctive burnt taste. They've offered multiple kinds of roasts for years now. If you don't like their dark roast, you have lighter ones to choose from.

hueving 11y ago
The OP you're replying to doesn't even go to Starbucks because they offer size choices. Your facts won't change his/her mind.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- warfangle 11y ago
  I go there when there's no other options, and probably twice a year to see if they've gotten better. If I'm spending $4+ on an espresso drink, I'd rather it not taste bad :)
GavinMcG 11y ago
Every time I've tried to get a blonde roast in the past year and a half I've been told they don't have it. This is across the country, with an attempt every couple months or so.
- fintler 11y ago
  All stores have blonde roast (almost) all the time. However, you have to ask for a pour over, they only tend to have it on drip early in the morning. Since doing a pour over is kind of a pain, most people who work there will just say "we don't have any left", instead of offering the pour over.
jderick 11y ago
I've never seen blonde roast decaf available.
warfangle 11y ago
They don't grind the other roasts for espresso. I like dark roasts. But theirs is crap :)

ihaveajob 11y ago

This. I don't buy the hype that this or that trendy SF coffee roaster has significantly more skills than the next one (although Ritual Roasters and Sightglass are consistently good :-), but in my experience the principal factor driving taste in home brewed coffee is how recently the beans were roasted. With local roasters, you can usually buy something roasted within a couple of days. Anything industrial and it's in the order of weeks, which saps the aromas tremendously, even in the best storage conditions. Unless Starbucks starts roasting locally, they can't compete with that.

dpark 11y ago

>... and doesn't think that a flat white can come in three sizes. That is some impressive pretension. You could just order the size you think a flat white should be, but no, the mere option of multiple sizes makes Starbucks unacceptable to your refined tastes.

nsxwolf 11y ago
I'm assuming he believes the "correct" size for a flat white is 165ml, and Starbucks doesn't offer that size... AFAIK.
- dpark 11y ago
  Fair enough, but you can always ask for that size. The relevant phrase at Starbucks would be something like "extra short" or "short with a little room". They're generally pretty accommodating, not just at Starbucks, but at any decent cafe. I generally drink an extra-short Americano (apparently sometimes called an Italiano), at about 5 oz total, and no one has this on the menu, but everyone is willing to make it for me. It's not as convenient as having it on on the menu, but it works just fine.
- warfangle 11y ago
  "they". I am not a he.
maldusiecle 11y ago
I'm not so sure. At all the coffee shops around where I live, whenever you order a macchiato, they have to quiz you to make sure you want an actual macchiato, and not the sugar-filled concoction Starbucks labels a "macchiato." I could see the same thing happening with flat whites, which have certain dimensions as part of their definition. It's annoying when a large chain redefines an established, useful term.
- dpark 11y ago
  To be fair, Starbucks calls their thing a "caramel macchiato". I'm not sure they are fully to blame for people inexplicably deciding that "macchiato" on its own somehow means "cup of caramel sauce". For the flat white, I understand the concern about sizing, but I can't see it making any kind of sense economically to keep specially-sized cups on hand for this, nor can I see serving it "with room" in an 8oz cup, since they'd constantly get people asking why it's not full. Realistically, pretty much no one is ordering an 8oz cup of anything in Starbucks, anyway. Everyone thinks they need 16 ounces of milk with their coffee. Hard to justify a lot of concern about serving the perfect 5.5oz size when the most common word before "flat white" is probably "grande". And that's not just at Starbucks, but at pretty much any cafe in the US.