I don't understand why coffee franchises make such bad coffee. Why does my $50 machine make better coffee than I've ever had at Starbucks or Gloria Jeans?
>spending $50 on a coffee machine and not buying another fedora
Vacuum packed Starbucks coffee is usually months old.
>$50 machine
>good coffee
kill yourself........ nothing personnel kid........
I don't understand why $50 coffee machines make such bad coffee. Why does my $2 french press make better coffee than I've ever had out of a keurig?
Do people actually buy regular coffee from Starbucks though? Every time I see somebody with shit from there it's some 1000 calorie slurry of syrup and cream, it's more like a dessert place innit
>>7062805
That's how I treat it. I go to Starbucks for frilly milkshakes with a hint of coffee flavor in them.
>>7060643
Standardization mainly.
Major chains want a standard product throughout their locations, so when you go to a McDonald's in Oklahoma, it should be pretty close to what you get from a McDonald's in New Hampshire. Within reason.
In SBs case, this means they need TONS of beans, which limits to some extent who they can buy from. They can't go buy just a few thousand pounds of coffee, they need it by the ton.
Likewise, they need equipment that's simple enough that anybody can operate it with minimal training, and get the same product every time at various locations, regardless of who is working there. Within reason.
Economy of scale is why chains in general usually have their standards a little lower. But hey, purchasing power means they can also keep prices fairly low, so pros and cons.
>>7062836
>Can't buy a few thousand pounds of beans
>Need a ton
Except by definition those are the exact same thing.
>>7062851
If you don't know what I mean by "by the ton" vs "a few thousand" well, maybe you're not a native english speaker.
Well for one, the pre-ground coffee they use is too finely ground and so old it's lost most of its flavor
Also it sits around in a pot for like an hour before you get it
I just make my own cold press and go to a chain if I'm desperate
>>7062851
this is unnecessary nitnpicking. Unless you are autistic, then you should well know what he meant
>>7062868
How do you make the cold press m8?
Always been curious. Is it only supposed to be drunk cold?
>>7061760
this
>>7060643
Because most starbucks employees either dont grind or brew the coffee in the right settings or ratios.
Former Starbucks employee here, the drip I used to make tasted better than my at home coffee (made according the corporate dictated ratio for the roast), but my at home coffee tastes better than almost any other starbucks I've been to. Hate that shit.
Almost every employee that worked there wouldn't check what setting the grinder was on before grinding it.
Also, when I wasn't working they'd let it sit for a long time without refreshing it. The coffee is supposed to be brewed every 30 minutes pretty much - though we ground it right before we made the batch.
A lot of coffee places use water that's too hot as well.
>>7062979
Around here they keep not making new drip after 10am. It just sits there for hours until it sells out. then they do pour overs on the old grounds. Don't even fucking grind fresh. fuckers.
So now I drink americanos if I must starbucks.
>>7062805
Yes, because everyone tries the regular coffee exactly once and realizes how shit it is.
>>7062979
So people who don't do their jobs right do a bad job? Who'd have thunk it?
True story now families
>know nothing about coffee
>girl asks me to meet her at starbucks
>act like I love coffee
>Order a caramel frappucino, thinking it is a type of hot coffee
>it arrives
>pretend like it is what I ordered
>she's drinking espresso while I scope up my frap
embarrassing tbhwy
This thread is good for me to ask: so I just got my own coffee machine. What's a good coffee grinds to water ratio? The coffee I bought has its sizes (it says 1 teaspoon/tablespoon of grounds (forget which one) for something like 1/2 cup of water. but i dont know if this is enough, it tastes really grindy and heavy.
generally whats a good ratio? does anyone here do it where they dont have to bring out the measureing cups every time? id love to get to the point where i can just eyeball it
>>7063184
I have an idea:
make coffee
taste it
think
next time add more/less coffee to taste
BINGO
>>7063184
>coffee machine
>measuring in tea/tablespoons and not grams
Stop
If you're using a coffee machine because it's easy to use just get a Moka pot, it's easy to use but makes great coffee.
>>7063184
I just eyeball it...... Like the other guy said, although he said it in a trollish way, it's really up to you.
>>7063184
1 tablespoon per 6oz.
>>7064104
why?
>>7060643
Because of this.
Can someone give me advice, how to preserve my coffee the best way?
>>7062805
I'll buy the seasonal blends when I'm out with friends or family.
>>7065941
typewriters are actually nice if you cazn't trust yourself to not procrastinate on a computer.
That's pretty much the only legitimate purpose for them, and even then, you could just use a minimal loonix distro with nothing but emacs/vi/m/nano, or whatever your flavour of autism is, and with all etwork drivers disabled.
>>7062836
What I wonder is why smaller shops often adjust their standards based on shitty chains and end up selling worse product for more money.
>>7060643
Starbucks burns the shit out of their coffee when they roast it. Apparently they started doing it to distinguish their coffee from other local coffee shops that mostly did light roasts when they started. The result is burnt tasting garbage.
>>7067761
Buy enough to last you a couple weeks and no more. Replace when you run out. I just store my coffee in the bag I buy it in, which is a brown paper bag with a waxed/plastic interior.
>>7063179
you clearly dun fucking goofed if the girl you are into likes coffee more than you and thinks starbucks can make a decent espresso. just go to fucking dunkin donuts you trash people.
>>7062805
>Do people actually buy regular coffee from Starbucks though?
I did once, when driving thru Ohio on the way to Pennsylvania.
Tasted bitter as shit and burned to fuck and gave me heartburn afterward.
My buddy loves Starbucks and will always get it when he comes over, (as there is one around the corner from my house) dropping $6+ on a cup of fucking coffee, but its one of those double throw-down half-caff whatchamacallits.
>>7068370
I read somewhere that the initially specialized in dark roasts. Is there truth to that?
>>7069570
Yes. Starbucks, when it was first getting it's start specialized in a very dark roast when not many places were doing anything but light to just barely medium roasts.
Ultimately, the roast set themselves apart, and they started growing. Eventually, due to needing to be consistent, they darkened their roast even more to cover any inconsistencies in the variety of beans they used, and we have the resulting charred/burnt taste of the current starbucks coffee.
>>7069606
You know that they have more than one roast, right?
>>7069614
I'm aware. However their espresso is mostly what I'm talking about.
Fucking for real. Store made coffees are so fucking gross. Why is Starbuck a conglomerate? The same reason McDonalds is? Its just there? Fuck that. Most brands of ground coffee are good to me except fast service bullshit.
>>7069618
I should rephrase this.
Starbucks espresso beans were the same beans they use to use for their regular drip coffee they served. Eventually they introduced different blends/roasts for their drips.
Good cheap grinder: 20 bucks.
Filters and plastic coffee funnel: 10 bucks.
Make fresh ground coffee every day. Let the boiled water sit without a lid to cool off for a minute or two before brewing so it reaches 91 degrees celsius.
Literally perfect coffee every time.
Boiling water=bitter coffee
Dark roast=less acidic
>>7069564
I do, just because Starbucks has the coffee monopoly on campus. It's not that great and overpriced. I try to stop at McDonalds or a gas station beforehand if I can as they are way better for 1/3 of the price.
I believe their espresso-added drinks have a good flavor that can't be matched at home with drip Folgers.
Like I tried making a macchiato and flat white at home. Can't duplicate the taste with home made drip coffee. The exorbitant price is justifiable to me.
Are you guys just be contrarians?
For me it's the opposite; the coffee I make with my moka is alright, but nothing can beat the espressos they make in bars with pic related
>>7060643
starbucks is delicious IMO
>>7070631
I used to go to college that had a coffee vending machine in each vending machine row.
50 cents for a 8oz cup. Only took a minute to make, and was convenient in every building.
Then for grad school i went to a different university, and this was starbucks only. Had to walk 5 minutes for a cup of coffee.
>>7062805
I went to Starbucks the other day just to try their regular black. It was just as bad as people say it is. It tasted like ash and newspaper. It was drinkable with 2 sugar packets but it still tasted mediocre; more like bustelo after it has spent 30 minutes on the coffeemaker's hotplate. Not to mention it was $2.12, 62 cents more than the small cafe by school that has pretty solid coffee.
I can only assume that they roast and brew their coffee that way so that it tastes nice when they put pounds of syrups, milk, and what not in it.
Starbucks coffee is pretty shit-tier. One of the biggest reasons why is because they burn the beans when roasting so that the flavor is the same no matter where it gets shipped to.
Honestly, I think McDonald's coffee is significantly better. Yeah, it's still shit compared to homemade or from a good coffee shop, but between the two i'll always pick McD's.
>>7061760
>I've ever had out of a keurig?
because a keurig just runs hot water through the beans, whereas other machines/gadgets end up steeping the coffee in the hot water. Even a fucking drip pot steeps the coffee with water for longer than a keurig machine does.
In order to have tolerable coffee in a keurig machine, you really need a stainless still reusable k cup to have decent coffee.
coffee
>>7060643
Lazy college dropouts
>>7075264
I'll never get the point of using a Keurig. It just barely requires just a tiny bit more effort to put one or two tablespoons of coffee into the filter manually.
>>7070995
>moka
>>7076362
>I'll never get the point of using a Keurig. It just barely requires just a tiny bit more effort to put one or two tablespoons of coffee into the filter manually.
1) Office spaces without a sink for scrubbing a carafe or cleaning up a basket or filter in the room (or maybe no hot water source at the tap). Office or space without considerate people prepping or cleaning up for each other. Idea that people can only pay for their own portion by bringing their own choice of beans and kcups they actually like...harmony and peace. Hotel rooms, auto repair shop or hotel waiting rooms, where employees don't ensure cleanliness between guests. On demand brewing without use of anything unhygienic whatsoever.
2) Infrequent drinkers of hot beverages, where the drink is always possible and at hand whether it's only a weekend indulgence or when you have guests who like it, and different drinkers can do different things where the only thing needing to be in common is delicious spring water.
I find them wrong on so many angles, and I use a french press 50% of the time for nicer beans, but an electric percolator 25% because my mother likes it best, and for some occasions, I'll use my high pressure espresso machine if I want to clean it. I have a moka pot for cuban coffee moods, too. But if price is no object, I don't care if people like keurig. If someone can pay $1/can for red bull or Arizona tea, I don't give a shit if they blow 50cents a portion on sub-par beans that aren't any worse than bags of the same beans in popularity. Sure, you can do better coffee at that price, but grinding isn't easy for a lot of home users on cheaper grinders either.
>>7076376
I've never had percolator coffee but it seems absolutely horrible. Moka pot can be nice with milk and sugar but I feel like a kek adding milk to coffee nowadays, and I'm lactose intolerant.
i can't vouch for other coffee franchises, but i personally find it useless to criticize black starbucks coffee when its main draw is all of the extra-frills coffee they serve.
anyone who buys black coffee from starbucks is an idiot, odds are there are at least 3 places nearby you could get better black coffee for cheaper.
>>7060643
People exaggerate about how bad Starbucks is. It's like those people who constantly rant about how bad The Big Bang Theory supposedly is as if they watch it.
>>7077116
>odds are
Do you live in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, or Williamsburg?
Seriously though, I get Starbucks black coffee at ORD every time I get off the 7:48 arrival from LGA. Sometimes there's only fast food chain garbage around, and you're in a hurry. I'm not going to wander the streets of Chicago for 45 minutes trying to find an Intelligentsia that may or may not be open.
>>7077138
holland actually, and at nearly every (somewhat busy) train station there are at least 3 different places to get coffee from.
i thought that if a place populated/busy enough to warrant a starbucks, there's probably another comparable coffee chain (or two) in the close vicinity. but of course i could be wrong
>>7077156
Here, it depends on the train station.
Grand Central Terminal in NY now has 2 decent coffee shops and a variety of not so great ones. I don't think there's a Starbucks at all.
NY Penn Station is basically nothing but shit tier crap, the best you can do is maybe Dunkin Donuts. Same with Philadelphia Penn. Washington Union Station is also crap, and there is a Starbucks.
And those are the only train stations in all of North America that actually matter, so I won't go into the rest although I could.
Starbucks coffee is shit. They don't sell coffee they sell 'lifestyle' (bwaahahaha).
>>7077199
>le wrong generation
>>7077199
>I'm such a maladjusted shut-in that a shitty chain coffee shop gives me an insecurity complex
fucking wow
>>7077206
>insecurity complex
pretty sure that's you lol
aaand
>maladjusted
lmao, are you seriously so fucking retarded and brainwashed you think not liking a fucking corporate non-product is something of 'right' (whatever that is? adjustment? Haha.
>>7077206
PACKERRRRSSS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iqLhdInGrk
>>7077231
>not liking a fucking corporate non-product is something of 'right' (whatever that is? adjustment? Haha.
Your English leaves something to be desired. Care to run that through Google Translate again?
>>7077242
You understood me quite well, bimbo.
>>7077247
Not so much, my foreign friend. Are you Mexican? I take it from the "bimbo" that you are saying I'm a white bread sort of fellow?
Please say what you mean instead of using idioms that don't work with machine translation.
>>7077253
>desperate lame ass attempt of deflecting
just stfu dumbass
>>7077265
Oh well. Perhaps your bad English skills must be why you've developed this notion that Starbucks is for impossibly cool, fashionable people who lord it over uncool people such as yourself. Hopefully that translates ok.
Get more language practice next time, hopefully we can have a real 4chan style argument. I recommend watching lots and lots of American TV, it worked for my immigrant neighbors :)
>>7077276
>let's play cool, maybe no one notices I pissed my pants
ahahaha are you 12 or something?
>>7077288
>google translate recognizes jajajaja
Fascinating. I wonder if they added huehuehue yet
>>7077297
so we're playing last post one wins the argument?
>lol, you are one dumb fuck, respond again and I might start trolling you
>>7077311
Te molesta si practico mi espanol contigo? No tengo muchas oportunidades para practicar con hispanohablantes, excepto a los limpiadoras de mi oficina cuyo espanol es muy dificil entender.
>>7060643
I thought that was a can of clay. I just got some today and ate it for detox. It was okay.
>>7060643
I can take most place but Starbucks coffee is just disgusting outside of their lattes/maybe other espresso based drinks. Far too bitter but if it's all there is around at the time I don't care, just want my coffee.
Only other coffee I tend to avoid now too is Cumberland Farms hot coffee, it just often tastes very off and is unusually heavy in my stomach at my nearest location anyways. Not too bad just really strange coffee there.
>>7062805
Yes, but only once. Has to be the worst black coffee I ever had. Didn't even have high expectations or anything...
>>7060667
This pretty much
I remember getting 500g of starbucks grains as a present, shit was burnt and had no scent. You'll most likely get better coffee for less money on your local franchise/store.
>>7060643
Mainly has to do with the machines that pull the espresso.
Craft coffee places use actual espresso machines that have to be packed and loaded by hand. ( its takes abit of training and getting used to but you get decent to god tier espresso on a manual espresso machine)
The extraction process is volatile and depends alot on pressure in the brew head while making a shot.
The starbucks fully automatic machine, you press a button, boom you have a shot.
All the measurements are proprietary so even the employees don't know the pressures going on in the brewer so you have no idea what variables are bring applied when pulling the shot. Usually the Starbucks shots are bitter, dark and lack crema because of the shitty brewing methods in their espresso machines.
>>7062905
Cold brew is shit. Don't bother.
>>7063184
60g/L
16:1
>>7078519
>Mainly has to do with the machines that pull the espresso.
Partly true. Has more to do with the coffee used though, even if those super-autos are terrible. Also, the OP was talking about filter coffee. Starbucks uses very similar equipment to a standard third wave joint for batch brews. They should be able to make great coffee. But they don't have any sort of quality control or setup on the machines, or teach anyone there how to tell if the coffee is right. The beans are also generally stale and over roasted, and of mediocre green quality most likely.
>The extraction process is volatile and depends alot on pressure in the brew head while making a shot.
Actually, the pressure doesn't matter so much. It changes some flavor characteristics and often also the flow rate. But you can make great espresso at 4bar, and 6, and 9. Doesn't matter so much as the: bean; preparation; grind; water composition.
>>7076659
>I've never had percolator coffee but it seems absolutely horrible.
Percolator coffee is fine. It's somewhat better than drip coffee IMO. I'd just recommend pulling out the basket with the grinds in it right after it's done so that it doesn't start to taste like ass.
economics. read the undercover economist (barely read it). but it has to do with things like convenient locations, like being the only coffee shop in a train station
>>7063184
Depends on what sort of blend it is.
8-12 spoon per liter seem to be nice.
>>7062836
>Starbucks
>fairly low prices
I see you're a memer. I too am a memer :^)
