Most people can't taste the difference between the two, that's the difference. Third wave independent coffee shops harp on the idea it takes months of palette

Most people can't taste the difference between the two, that's the difference. Third wave independent coffee shops harp on the idea it takes months of palette training for their baristas to calibrate tasting minute differences and somehow every other person comes in here to opine about how burnt or nasty tasting their cup of bean juice is. Starbucks optimizes for different things than other shops. They over roast as a signature, to create bolder flavor. Over the past decade they have great control over their supply chain and beans yet they still over roast beyond the flavor signature because when most of their products are milk-based drinks the extra flavor of the espresso comes through. It's meant to be that way, not because of some conspiracy to deliver mediocrity, but because it's their culture. And ignorance paired with pretentiousness in coffee culture is on whole other level cargo cult-iness. Besides, when one really wants to talk about bad coffee and they're not mentioning Philz then they have no clue.