Reviews for Starbucks Coffee

Earthy, bittersweet. Fresh-cut oak, cocoa powder, fresh leather, sweet pea, lily in aroma and cup. Bittersweet structure with barely perceptible acidity; very full, creamy mouthfeel. Wood-framed finish with hints of dark chocolate and fresh leather.

Brisk, dry, sweetly vegetal. Green bean, carob, charred balsa, faded gardenia, raw almond in aroma and cup. Flatly bittersweet structure with inert acidity; dry, rather thin mouthfeel. Wood-framed, sweetly vegetal finish.

Roast-dominant, smoky-sweet. Dark chocolate, burned mesquite, lily, prune, fresh earth in aroma and cup. Bittersweet structure with barely perceptible acidity; heavy, smooth mouthfeel. Persistent dark chocolate notes lift a rather bitter, earthy finish.

Evaluated at proportions of 5 grams of instant coffee powder mixed with 8.5 ounces (250 ml) of hot water. Caramelly, cocoa-toned. Fresh fir, cocoa, salted caramel, roasted hazelnut, a hint of lily-like flowers in aroma and cup. Structure is sweet yet brisk, with a salty edge. Lean but smooth in mouthfeel. Flowers and cocoa in the short finish, fading to salty wood in the long.

Evaluated at proportions of 5 grams of instant coffee powder mixed with 8.5 ounces (250 ml) of hot water. Cloyingly sweet and definitively burned. Salted caramel, burned building, some cinnamon and floral top notes in aroma and cup. The structure is salty and bitter; the mouthfeel lean and watery. Hints of flavor fade in a finish that simply tastes burned.

(As brewed in a Keurig B70 Platinum single-serve brewing device using a Keurig-compatible capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving): Crisp, rather deep, quietly complex. Roasted cacao nib, walnut, orangy fruit, a hint of flowers in aroma and cup. Roast-muted acidity; smooth mouthfeel. Sweet, chocolate-toned, though rather drying finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B70 Platinum single-serve brewing device using a Keurig-compatible capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving): Roundly bittersweet. Carob (or a woody chocolate), caraway seed, a hint of fresh earth in aroma and cup. Round, roast-muted acidity; heavyish mouthfeel. Some flavor survives in a drying finish.

Sweet-toned, balanced but rather monotoned. Pineapple, orange, cedary dark chocolate in aroma and cup, dampened throughout by a woody flatness. Muted acidity; slightly lean mouthfeel. Clean, round but simple finish.

Pleasing aroma: sweet-toned and deep; orange, fresh-cut fir, a rounding hint of caramel. The acidity is quiet, perhaps muted; the body is light though the mouthfeel hints at silkiness. Aromatics simplify in the cup, dampened by a slight woodiness. Fades very quickly to a mild astringency in the finish.

Pleasant enough ultra-dark-roast character in the aroma: roundly charred cedar, anise, a hint of citrus. All carry into the cup, though they lose considerable intensity on the way. Lean mouthfeel. The charred cedar turns to charred board in a terminally empty, astringent finish.

Impressive aroma: dark chocolate, a hint of pungent, grapefruity citrus. Both fade in the cup and disappear entirely in a heavily astringent, roast-flattened finish. Lean, watery mouthfeel.

A paradoxical coffee, thin and subdued, but with considerable suggestions of richness and complexity. In the aroma muted suggestions of night flowers, butter, black cherries. In the cup lean but silky mouthfeel and delicate hints of spicy nut, cocoa, more flowers and cherry, perhaps of a rather dullish aromatic wood. The flavor persists nicely into an otherwise short, fast-fading finish.

Toast and banana-like fruit notes dominate in the aroma, hinting at a roasty chocolate. In the small cup medium-bodied but leanish and a bit astringent in mouthfeel, sharp in structure with dominating cedar notes and continued hints of a banana-like fruit and chocolate. Rich and rather sweet in the short finish, heavily astringent in the long. Simple but solid presence in milk with the muted fruit modestly blooming as semi-sweet chocolate.

A very interesting profile, shallow in depth of sensation but intensely complex within that narrow range. Crisply roasty but lively aroma with sweet apple and floral-toned chocolate notes. Continued roasty in the cup with distinct, sweetly lemony fruit and continued hints of flowers and chocolate.

Attractive aroma: sweet, gently scorched cedar with a distinct hint of semi-sweet chocolate. Very roasty in the cup, but with patience the sweet burned notes round toward a vague, caramelly chocolate. Simple and sweet in the short finish, mildly astringent in the long.

Hints of banana-toned fruit, chocolate, fresh-baked bread in the complex but rather listless aroma. Thin though silky mouthfeel. Pungent, gently burned cedar character in the cup, with floral and caramelly chocolate suggestions. Nicely malty finish, but a hint of burned building rubber.

Very sweet-toned, quietly complex aroma: smoke, semi-sweet chocolate and tart berryish fruit notes. Little of the aromatic complexity survives in the lean-bodied cup, only wisps of nut and crisp, smoky chocolate that fade quickly in the finish, leaving behind faint sweetness and a muted astringency.

A classic but quiet, rather lazy cup. Caramelly, richly roasty aroma with ripe tomato, cedar and sweet orange complications. Similarly quiet in the cup, with a hint of chocolate joining the tomato, orange and cedar notes. Simple but rich finish.

The roast dominates here, deeply pungent and cedary in the aroma, with floral and Mediterranean herb top notes. Roundly and sweetly roasty in the cup, lightish in body but deep in dimension, with floral top notes and a cedary, herb-toned chocolate. Clean, rich and chocolaty in the short finish, though a burned astringency surfaces in the long, particularly as the cup cools.

Delicately fruity aroma, sweet cherry with a hint of chocolate. In the cup sweet, rich, surprisingly full-bodied, with a dry, wine-toned black currant fruit and a slight burned undercurrent. Sweetly rich short finish, but a hint of burned astringency shadows the long. This was the highest rated of three Starbucks coffees nominated and reviewed for this article.