Yes the coffee tastes burnt, but what else does it do and why do they do it?
Starbucks does it because they want to get the coffee in and out of the roasting plant--fast. Like I said, in the US alone, Starbucks has the responsibility of sending coffee from this one roasting plant to +10,000 stores. They need to roast it quickly. Thats why Starbucks roasts there coffee at a higher temperature, so then they can roast it faster. Another benefit for the corporate giant is that high roasted coffee can keep longer--if it is kept as whole beans. If it is pre-ground, it will go stale easily within days.
Three major side affects of this amount of roasting--bad taste(which I have already covered), oily beans, and losing the essence of the coffee.
The beans become oily because....well lets get a minor education on roasting. Coffee roasting is supposed to stop between after the first crack (endothermic process) and a little bit past the second crack. Most coffees are in the happy median between. However, Starbucks often roasts after the second crack. These cracks release moisture within the bean, and also it releases oils. These oils can clog and damage your machine and grinder.
The third consequence is that this degree of roasting destroys the essence and background of the bean. Roasting develops the specific bean's flavors (for example, an Ethiopean-grown bean has specific admired qualities), but after the peak of flavor--somewhere between first and second crack, varies with different coffees--the flavor and taste of that specific bean just deteriorates. This also might be a reason why Starbucks roasts their coffee at such a large temperature, because roasting near this amount takes away from the flavor and the coffee impurities because the impurities of some coffee are their flavor.
This is all that is flowing out of my mind right now, in the future I'm going to write these posts about this subject:
- Starbuck's "Specialty Drinks" and Customers
- Starbuck's employees and their treatment
- Starbuck's Policy/Morals
Wow, so much hate. Do we really want the masses to become enlightened to really good coffee? Let them drink their Maxwell House or Starbucks. The less they know about the finer things, the better for the rest of us.
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