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Starbucks to cut 900 jobs and close dozens of North American stores as sales struggle
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2025
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Starbucks chars their beans because it masks the harsh flavor of the low quality beans. The other benefit for the mega corporation is that all burnt coffee tastes pretty much the same, meaning coffee origin and crop variations aren't important and every mediocre cup of Starbucks coffee taste the same. Whoever convinced the public that 'burnt' equaled 'high quality' was a marketing genius, but maybe the public's waking up to the scam.
Espresso made using even using a moderately priced home espresso machine and high quality beans is far superior to anything Starbucks puts out IMO. The machine can pay for itself in well under a year too.
This is absolutely the case. We love coffee here. For my partner especially, Starbucks used to be a daily habit. So I got a fancy expensive espresso machine, cost like $1,000. It has paid for itself many times over. Coffee is actually better IMHO- I like straight espresso and when the coffee isn't burnt you get a much more complex flavor. Fresher too- we get our beans from a local roaster, so the first cup out of the bag is made with beans roasted days ago not months ago.
Links to cheap machines under 300$? Anything i shouldnt skimp out on?
Costco and Amazon usually have some sub $300 machines around Black Friday including super automatics that do everything for you including grind the beans. I've used both supers and manual machines and prefer the convenience of the super automatic even though manual machines produce better coffee, IMO even with moderately priced Costco beans it's world's better than what Starbucks puts out.
This is $300 right now. Would you consider this one? https://www.costco.com/philips-800-series-fully-automatic-espresso-machine-with-milk-frother.product.4000161076.html
That was on sale last year and I took a look at it as a 2nd machine. I ended up with a bit nicer Philips from Amazon that was also on sale. Looking at Amazon right now the only thing you get for $100 more on their model 1200 is chrome. Another option for $50 more is a 2230 with an automatic milk frother, but I've repeatedly read that the daily cleaning requirements aren't worth the trouble and people wish they had just bought one with a manual frother.
If you don't need any additional features (like 1 button Café Americano), the Costco model should be a big upgrade from other home brewed coffee and better than what most chain stores serve. It won't be the quality of a high-end machine or an excellent coffee shop, but shots from these kinds of machines are quick, easy, and IMO taste quite good. (Espresso lovers with big dollars to spend and who don't mind the time and effort required with a manual machine won't agree.)
Start with a medium or light roast and take time to play with all the settings to find what you like best. You can change the grind, the quantity of coffee, quantity of water, and on some machines the water temperature. Philips sells a water filter that is designed to seriously reduce the amount of scale that builds up in the machine - worth the money IMO.
You're not supposed to freeze or refrigerate beans, but we did a blind taste test with beans stored in a sealed container on the counter for 1-2 weeks vs. beans frozen and then thawed in the fridge as needed. We far preferred the frozen/refrigerated beans. (Do not put frozen beans in any grinder, let them thaw first.)
Enjoy!
Thanks for that info! I bookmarked your message to come back to. I always refridgerate pre-ground beans; always taste better and last for like ever in a sealed mason jason in the fridge.