Starbucks & Maxwell House = same coffee beans?

[Welly Wu]

I ran out of Starbucks French Roast coffee so I switched over to Maxwell House French Roast and I can't tell too much of a difference in flavor except that the Starbucks one is a bit heavier and darker in character. Otherwise, both taste nearly identical except the Starbucks one is a couple of bucks more expensive. It got me to thinking about the days when I was trying out Dillanos Coffee Roasters stuff and how much smoother and more balanced their fine coffees are. I'm beginning to think that Starbucks gets the same beans as Maxwell House as they do from one gigantic coffee importer somewhere in the world. The only exception in my limited experience with fine coffees is Dillanos who I know gets their coffee cherries and beans from the region by carefully visiting and screening each potential coffee harvest site.

I'm going to order more Dillanos this Friday when I get paid and when finances permit. I'm done with Starbucks for good.

For those who don't believe me, then try it out yourself. Buy one cup of Starbucks French Roast and then brew another cup of Maxwell House French Roast. Tell me if you taste a major difference worth the extra couple of bucks in favor of Starbucks. It ain't all that big of a difference. Then, go order some Dillanos Coffee Roasters stuff and report back: http://www.dillanos.com . Thanks for reading.

 

[kramer5150]

psycho-acoustics... applied to coffee beans.

Garrett

 

[Welly Wu]

Oh...OK!

 

[acs236]

A couple of these I've found with coffee --

The darker you roast a bean, the less distinguishable it becomes. I can't say if this is a universally accepted observation, but I've found it to be correct.

As time passes after roasting, beans become less distinguishable.

Starbucks is fine for espresso drinks, but for drip coffee I go elsewhere.

 

[grawk]

I can't stand starbucks coffee. I'm a light to medium roast person.

 

[jpelg]

I think you guys are all correct. Starbucks coffee is "for s**t". It's basically over-roasted, burnt beans that make people think that they are getting good coffee, and a lot of caffeine. Funny thing is that most people don't realize that the darker the roast, the less caffeine there is left!

The only Starbucks coffee I'll drink is an Americano (expresso with extra water in a standard cup, so that you can drink it like a regular cup of coffee), and only in a pinch when nothing else is around.

 

[Teerawit]

Starbucks, aka. Charbucks, is typically darker...and I like dark

Maxwell House seems lighter in general.

I like the Starbucks whole beans, freshly ground before each drink.

This is coming from a guy who drinks straight espresso shots

 

[oneeyedhobbit]

Compared to Maxwell House, Starbucks probably uses inferior beans that have been roasted way too long to try to make them taste better.

 

[Welly Wu]

Have any of you guys tried Dillanos? I had a thread about it awhile ago. I am sure that once I get paid this Friday that I'll be ordering another 3 one pound bags of Dillanos fine coffees. Man, Maxwell House tastes the same than Starbucks, weird huh?

 

[grawk]

I tend to drink kona and guatemallan coffees ordered from the roasters...

 

[Stephonovich]

When you burn the beans, it doesn't matter what you started with. GIGO.

My personal favorite is still a well roasted Colombian. Classic, for good reason.

/Has had Jamaican Blue Mountain. Not a blend. Didn't think it was all that great.
//Has not had Kopi Luwak. Probably won't.

 

[archosman]

 

[clarke68]

Quote:

Originally Posted by acs236 The darker you roast a bean, the less distinguishable it becomes. I can't say if this is a universally accepted observation, but I've found it to be correct.

It's true that poor bean quality can be "covered up" to a degree with dark roasting, but that doesn't mean that all dark roasts are uniformly homogenous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu I'm beginning to think that Starbucks gets the same beans as Maxwell House as they do from one gigantic coffee importer somewhere in the world.

I don't know about Starbuck's bean buying practices. I would think they've got enough weight in the industry to pretty much get whatever quality beans they want, but perhaps they've gotten so big that there's not enough good arabicas to go around. Ultra-large scale coffee roasters (like Folgers, Maxwell House, etc.) typically use robusta beans: ultra cheap, they taste horrible, and are often harvested using slave labor.

Most of the time I find Starbucks beans to be of good quality. Only way I know to tell is brew it extremely strong and see if it gets sour. If you drink your coffee with cream and sugar (or drink lattes) there's no way you can tell, and you might as well buy the cheapest stuff you can find.

It's certainly possible that smaller-scale roasters (like Thanksgiving, Peet's, Santa Cruz, etc.) could get better quality beans than the big boys since they don't need as much volume and can afford to be more selective. However it all depends on the connections/relationships they have worldwide: you gotta know the right people in each port/growing region, and whoever is doing the actual buying needs to know their stuff.

 

[hugz]

http://www.illyusa.com/AB1666000/sho...jectGroup_ID=7

you know you wanna...

 

[tyrion]

I get my coffee at a local micro-roastery called The Roasted Bean . I think I have been buying my beans and coffee from them for as long as they are in business down here (about 12 years). I buy the coffe for my office from there as well. The beans are never more than a day since being roasted. They also roast to order. My favorite at the moment is French Roast Sumatra.

We now have about 3 Starbucks within 10 minutes of where I live and I may buy coffee there once a month. I just don't like there coffee. They over roast it and brew it too strong. Most people I see buying coffee in Starbucks end up pouring out coffee to add more cream and put in 5 sugars just so they can drink it.