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“Medium” roast from St*rbucks
In Espresso

“Medium” roast from St*rbucks


I ran out of coffee and my blood caffeine level was dropping dangerously low. I had no choice but to buy some beans from a supermarket. But seriuosly: what are the least bad options for widely avaible coffee beans when specialty is not an option for lack of money/time/accessibility?

by Matykalaty

47 Comments

  1. _skyu_

    Our supermarkets carry some local beans so luckily even worst case scenario theres still some good coffee. If you have a whole foods by you, there should be some fresh-ish local beans there too.

  2. Pure-Boot3383

    No idea where you are, but our Aldi often stocks decent beans that actually have some life in them.

  3. MyCatsNameIsBernie

    If there is a Whole Foods near you, try them. Many of their stores sell good quality beans that were recently roasted.

    Whatever you do, don’t get SB. That’s probably the worst choice you could have made.

  4. Klerikus

    ![gif](giphy|YOwtiqqwphePSpyNXi|downsized)

    Why censor STARBUCKS brother??

  5. HamletJSD

    Look for the more independent grocers (like the Piggly Wiggly if you’re in the south US), especially in nicer areas of town. The closest Pig to me has all of the local coffee roasters… more than I even knew about… and at least a few of those are willing to put roast dates on the bags

  6. Ok_Car2307

    It’s so oily, the US wants to invade that piece of paper

  9. dcnjbwiebe

    I see a slight shade of brown there. I think they substituted their blonde (light) roast. 🙂

  10. ChaosTurtle70

    Where you’re from helps a lot, but I’ve found that any of kicking horse’s medium roast’s works in a pinch for espresso. Not sure if the American/canadian brands are any different, but it’s in just about every major grocery store here in Canada. Good luck!

  11. LunarModule66

    You have to roast that dark if you’re mostly making milk drinks filled with as much flavored syrup as espresso, otherwise it wouldn’t taste like coffee.

  12. harrr53

    If you have to go with supermarket coffee beans, it could be that something like Lavazza Qualità Oro fits the bill.

  13. bayoubunny88

    Trader Joes has good beans. I like their Ethiopian Dark Roast and Quartet Medium roast. Im not that much of a coffee snob compared to some others in the sub (maybe?) but i’ll never buy starbucks because they’re basically the mcd’s of coffee.

  15. rocketboots7

    If your supermarket has them, I like Counter Culture’s coffee Big Trouble blend.

  16. CosmicWeenie

    I think I’d rather take a break than ever consider buying supermarket coffee beans (I live in Miami and Publix sucks ass)

  17. Quentin-Code

    ![gif](giphy|26DNiCCf34U7t4cFi|downsized)

  18. SureHusk

    Starbucks’ roast levels:
    lightly over-roasted
    medium over-roasted
    dark over-roasted AKA ashes

  19. peatoast

    Go to Whole Foods and buy local! They usually have deals for beans that were roasted more than 3 weeks ago!

  22. omarhani

    They call it Starbucks because it’s roasted on the actual Sun

  24. s3xydud3

    The real secret to maintaining a globally consistent flavour profile… Charcoal takes the same no matter it’s made from.

  25. Krish_1234

    Starbucks dark roast is used to lay the pavement on my streets.

  26. Blackbijou

    What’s the name of the roast?
    Starbucks has a coffee spectrum

  28. i_was_axiom

    If I need to buy beans at a grocery store, I have been pleased with things like Counter Culture and Peet’s, which I find are pretty widespread (have seen both as far as Denver and Florida, from Wisconsin). Roast date will be hard to find on some supermarket coffees.

  29. WantToTypeComments55

    “darker than a black steer’s tuchus on a moonless prairie night”

  30. Your_Worst_Enamine

    I was in the same boat about a month ago. But I opened the bag and almost vomited from the smell. Their beans didn’t even smell like coffee..

  32. nobody2008

    I just bought a bag of Ethiopian Medium Dark (i.e. dark) from Trader Joe’s and it’s not bad.

  33. virus_apparatus

    My local grocery store has a “medium “ roast like this. Just avoid

  36. Droodforfood

    Sad for you- my grocery store has like the top 5 local roasters on the shelf, fresh bags too

  37. crappyfacepic

    Honestly, as someone who works at Starbucks I’ve never seen any of our medium roasts look this dark

  38. Chromejob

    James Hoffman on YouTube has done some great videos on supermarket beans. Of course, WHERE YOU LIVE matters, so 🤷.

  39. TelephoneNo7436

    Do not buy beans from Starbucks so many good option out there

  41. Open_Raise_5547

    Peet’s is ok in a pinch, but overpriced (by a lot if you don’t get it on sale). I don’t find Caribou overly offensive, either.

    There’s a couple “store” brands that are ok in a pinch as well: Frederick’s (Meijer) and Good & Gather (Target).

    imo, damn near anything that comes in bean form will be better than Starbuck’s. They over-roast *everything* (I believe, to cover up using shit beans). It’s also ridiculously acidic.

  43. nxm999

    I’d never buy Starbucks if my head was exploding with caffeine withdrawal. Worst coffee and worst beans.

  44. WentzingInPain

    Boycotting Starbucks is the easiest thing in the world to do.