Starbucks’ signature roast was too bitter for my liking.
Erin Ajello for Insider
This Seattle-based chain is a coffee mainstay throughout the world, but I wasn’t too impressed.
The Pike Place roast is Starbucks’ signature coffee, and though it’s a medium roast, it definitely tasted dark to me.
Whereas Starbucks describes this roast as rich, I would describe it as overly powerful and very bitter.
Starbucks’ website describes this blend as having notes of “chocolate and toasted nuts,” but I did not experience those flavors.
As I’ve learned, the downside of drinking only black coffee is that you quickly learn which places serve roasts that are meant to be diluted with sweeteners to improve the taste — no wonder Starbucks is known for its flavorful Frappuccinos and mixed drinks.
I wouldn’t be able to drink this coffee again without pouring a ton of milk and sugar into it, and I wouldn’t go out of my way to order it in the future.