Consistency is king for giant food corporations. Roasting the hell out of beans drives off unique taste elements so beans from different harvests and locations can be blended together for the same taste every time.

Also, Starbucks is based on Italian coffee culture where beans are practically carbonized, which also makes espresso easier to extract (more bang for your buck).

[–] Aedis@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago (2 children)

What I got from your post is "Italian coffee is crap" and that sounds preposterous to me.

A good dark roast is hard to achieve without burning the beans. But also removes the disgusting acidic taste from the beans that medium and light roasts heretics have been trying to demand our respect for.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Different strokes for different folks! I've definitely had good dark roasts, but it is undeniable that the more you roast something, the more regional character it loses.

Personally, I like acidity in beverages, and coffee is not very acidic at all compared to beer/wine/juice/etc.

[–] zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 7 points 3 days ago

I don't agree with the "Italian coffee is crap" sentiment, but I also don't agree with the "light and medium roasts are disgusting" sentiment. So fuck you both, now let's kiss

[–] Lemmyoutofhere@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Big difference between dark roast beans and burnt.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago

As far as I know "burn" isn't a scientific term, so it's subjective. You wouldn't say that someone burned a pizza if it had leopard spots on it if it's pleasant to you.

In my opinion, the definition of "burned food" could be "heat related changes that i find unpleasant". That absolutely happens with coffee.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I just made an espresso at home (we were gifted a tiny machine 20 years ago and I’ve cobbled it back together a few times as parts fail). Dark roasted Italian style espresso is a good treat once or twice a week in our house. I’ll only pay Starbucks for it when I need to use their shitter in an emergency.

[–] evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

There's definitely a time and place for it! For something like an affogato or a milk drink, it works great.