Since its humble beginnings in Seattle’s historic Pike Place market in 1971, Starbucks has always been a place where you can find the world’s best coffees. Today with over 15000 stores in 45 countries worldwide, Starbucks has certainly brought premium Arabica coffee to a whole new level, setting new standards for sourcing coffee within the speciality coffee industry.

Coffee Origins

Many people think that all coffees are alike however the place that they are grown and the care and attention the farmers, processors  and roasters give to the precious beans unlock many different flavors from the countries of origin ! Starbucks samples coffees from around the world – more than 150,000 cups a year, in fact, to find only the finest, richest and most interesting beans.

Most of the world’s coffee is grown between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. It’s grown on plantations, small farms and coffee gardens in Africa and Arabian regions, Latin America and on Pacific Islands. Because the various regions have different soil, climate and cultivation methods, the coffees produced vary greatly by taste. Each is a unique treasure.

Latin American coffees are characterized by vibrant acidity with floral and delicate cocoa notes and nutty finish, and a clean, well balanced flavor. Coffees from the Africa/Arabica region, the birthplace of coffee, have distinguished flavors ranging from berries to exotic spices to citrus fruits, and aromas with hints of lemon, grapefruit, flowers, and chocolate.

The Asia/Pacific region is home to many coffee treasures, from the assertive, herbal spiciness of Indonesian coffees to the balanced acidity and complexity that define coffees from the Pacific Islands. Because of their full flavor and character, these coffees are found in many of Starbucks heartier blends.

Along with single origin coffees, Starbucks offers a wide variety of multi-region blends which bring together complementary elements from the world’s top-quality coffees and combining them to achieve an intriguing interplay of flavor and aroma.

Once you know what to look for when tasting, you’ll be able to distinguish the subtle differences in aroma, body, flavor and acidity that make each coffee unique. Ask a barista to guide you through the coffee choices; they can help you find the perfect coffee to suit your taste

Cornerstones of Brewing Great Coffee – The Four Fundamentals

Selecting great coffee is only the first step in savoring a wonderful cup of coffee. How you grind, brew, and store your coffee is just as important. It’s not just the machine that makes great coffee – the “four fundamentals” of proportion, grind, water and freshness are even more important. Armed with a little coffee knowledge, you can create great coffee with a coffee press, home brewer or espresso machine.

Proportion: Using the right proportion of coffee to water is the most important step in making great coffee. For the most flavorful cup, 10 grams of coffee for every 180 milliliters of water is recommended.

Grind: Different brewing methods have different grind requirements, but in general – the shorter the brew time, the finer the grind. For example, coffee ground for an espresso machine should be very fine, because the brew cycle is only 18-23 seconds long. Yet for a coffee press, the coffee should be ground coarsely, because the water and coffee are in direct contact for four minutes. 

Espresso machines: Fine grind. 
Drip coffee makers: Medium grind.
Coffee press: Coarse grind (rough grind).

When you go into a Starbucks store ask one of our barista’s to show you which grind will bring you the best cup of coffee from your brewing method

Water: A cup of coffee is 98 percent water. So the water you use to make coffee should taste clean, fresh, and free of impurities. Water heated to just off a boil (96°- 98° C) is perfect for extracting the coffee’s full range of flavors. Any cooler and the water can’t adequately extract, if it’s hotter it may taste burnt. 

Remember that: Clean water = Better coffee

Freshness: Coffee is freshly produced, and its enemies are oxygen, light, heat, and moisture. To keep coffee fresh, store it in an opaque, airtight container at room temperature. You can store it that way for up to a week. For the best results, coffee should be ground just before brewing. 

Remember that: Fresh coffee = Less than one week old

Coffee Tasting Characteristics

When tasting different coffees, there are four main characteristics that make up the coffee flavor profile.

Aroma

This is the first hint of how your coffee will taste. In fact, most of your sense of taste comes from your sense of smell – which is why coffee can smell so sublime and taste so satisfying. A human can smell over a thousand different aromas and Arabica coffee has over a thousand different aromas

Acidity

Acidity means a lively, tangy, palate-cleansing property, ranging from low to high. Think of the way lemon juice makes you salivate, and you’ll get the idea. For example, “Ethiopia Sidamo” is quite lively on the tongue, so we say it has a high acidity. In contrast, a coffee like “Gold Coast” is quite complex with spicy notes– it has a low acidity.

Body

This is the weight or thickness of the beverage on your tongue. Body ranges from light to full. To give you an idea, this is like comparing skimmed milk – very light bodied to whole milk – full bodied; we sometimes use the wordy “syrupy” to describe a full-bodied coffee like Sumatra. Medium to light bodied coffees are fantastic first thing in the morning when your taste buds are fresh and awake. Medium to full bodied coffees are great later on in the day especially Indonesian coffees late in the evening.

Flavor

This is the all-important melding of aroma, acidity, and body that creates an overall impression. For example, drinking Kenya often reminds us of grapefruit. There’s just a hint of citrus to it. But when we say that, we don’t mean that Kenya is grapefruit-flavored – it still tastes like coffee. There are many different ways to describe the flavor of coffee, just as there are many different ways to describe snow.

The distinction in our coffees is in the complex flavor layers that come from the coffees being grown high up in mountains areas, the higher the coffee is grown the more complex it becomes.

The Third Place

In addition to the wide range of high quality coffees, Starbucks is known for being a meeting point in the community. Starbucks is a place for people to come to, a place to not be alone, a place to be with other people, and a place where, without having to do anything, people become part of a community. Starbucks has long been dedicated to creating a unique “third place” between home and work, through enlivening the centuries-old tradition of the coffeehouse as a place to gather, share ideas, and enjoy delicious beverages.