What brought this to my attention is I was at a Starbucks yesterday getting a caffeine fix, and they have it being advertised all over the place.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Posted Tue Jan 3, 2012, 11:33am Subject: Re: Starbucks Newest Big To Do
Saw that - my in-laws seem to have taken the fact that I roast my own coffee as translated to I like Starbucks. So, I have some *$s gift cards, stopped by this weekend and saw the blonde roast advertised.
Goes on sale January 10, so, I'll have to at least try it. as an aside, I am partially addicted to their breakfast sandwiches....
My guess is they'll use some blend of Aftrica (Ethiopia, Uganda, or Tanzania) coffee, and/or a Central American (think Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador...). The coffees that lose varietal flavor with dark roast, that type of thing.
------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------- Le café doit être noir comme le diable, chaud comme l'enfer, pur comme un ange, et doux comme l'amour.
"There is no right answer with coffee. There is only the elixir in your cup at the moment you partake."
"...I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind;..." - Lord Kelvin RECIPES thread => http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/coffee/machines/585708
Posted Tue Jan 3, 2012, 4:13pm Subject: Re: Starbucks Newest Big To Do
Leave it to *$'s to consider 2nd crack a light roast... The name "blonde" properly reflects their espressos ;) At least it's a (minute) step in the right direction.
~Nick
There's a big difference between drinking coffee to wake up and waking up to drink coffee.
Posted Tue Jan 3, 2012, 8:05pm Subject: Re: Starbucks Newest Big To Do
The 2nd crack being "blonde" was amusing, but I laughed out loud at the "pinnacle of the specialty coffee industry". No one is doing what they do. Thank God.
My wife plans to sign me up for the first season of Coffee Gadget Hoarders.
Ha! Actually some habits die hard. About 10 years ago, before I started my coffee business, I used to visit Starbucks about twice a day. I made some long lasting friends from the place (other customers, actually). Every now and then I'll drop in to see whats new, usually get a Pikes Place for a quick caffeine fix. My favorite used to be their House blend, but they do not offer it "on tap" any longer..
I'm not a Starbucks hater. Too much of that going around. I appreciate how they raised the awareness of better coffee. I can honesty say that if it were not for them I probably would not have explored roasting my own, which then became a little hobby, then of course I supplied friends, who then they wanted to roast their own so I made roasters for them, etc.
I have found the "second crack" and it being a "Blonde Roast" a bit disingenuous, however.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
Posted Wed Jan 4, 2012, 7:21am Subject: Re: Starbucks Newest Big To Do
I don't get the impression they actually think this is a light roast as much as a light intensity; for one thing, Blonde as a descriptor of coffee would describe beans that haven't even reached first crack yet (read: undrinkable). Second, the language implies that they were aiming for light flavors/intensity as their primary goal (some coffees, even when roasted darker, still don't have a ton of what you might call "bold" flavor - I don't mean charr, I mean flavor). In other words, they want your grandma to drink Starbucks.
jwoodyu Senior Member Joined: 31 Dec 2010 Posts: 704 Location: Michigan Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Allex Duetto II Grinder: Mazzer Major Roaster: Poppery
Posted Wed Jan 4, 2012, 7:40am Subject: Re: Starbucks Newest Big To Do
The goal of every chain operations be they franchised or be they not is consistency in the product regardless of location. It's pretty clear Starbucks is no exception with judging by their equipment, training etc. IMO the darker your roast the harder it is to pick out differences in batches or beans for that matter. If you burn the crap out your beans they more likely to taste the same coast to coast, month to month or growing year to growing year. To me anyway its not intense its just burnt.
So burn the crap out of the coffee, junk it up a million ways, serve it in big gulp cups, build a culture around your crappy burnt ass product and store and you have a receipt for a social phenomena.
You know those people that want to tell you how to raise your kids but have none of their own? That is how i feel when someone with a kitchen appliance tells me how the merits or dis-merits of my machine or how to use it.
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