Originally Posted by IAHRyan

?#@% browser ate my first reply.

Anyways, yes, I do drink a lot of coffee. Far, far more than I should. What would you like to know? My home setup is a Baratza Maestro, Hario Buono and Chemex. I get my espresso from one of the top-ranked baristas in the nation, from whom I’ve learned much about this topic.

The issue here isn’t with packaging (though I have my own gripes with nitrogen flushing—it doesn’t change the fact that the coffee has to be aged for the CO2 to outgas before it can be packaged).

Rule of 15s: Roast coffee within 15 months of harvest, grind within 15 days of roast, brew within 15 minutes of grinding. I suppose this coffee might meet the second of those, but the other two are largely blown out of the water here.

Furthermore, Starbucks roasts low-grade beans to a far darker profile than beans should be roasted. They do so to trade roast profile for bean profile, because their beans, well, suck.

In addition, pretty much everything in this situation, from crop to cup, is just wrong. Roasted too long, ground months before being brewed, brewed at least 30˚ below the correct temperature at who knows what ratio. When every aspect of the process is to such subpar standards, who cares where the beans come from?

I’m not trying to defend whatever roaster UACO chooses going forward, I’m sure it’s going to be just as bad. But it’s not like the stuff PMUA had was all that great either. They’re both horrible.



I never said it was a good change. It’s a change I couldn’t care less about because we’re talking about two bad products. I think they’re both dreck.