The problem is that most coffee you buy or make at home in your $20 coffee pot ends up being pretty bitter or burnt. Good coffee isn't bitter but it seems like people just use cream and sugar to make shitty coffee drinkable. I've only tried Starbucks drip a couple of times and it seemed to be made for people to dump cream/sugar in it and have it still have a coffee taste. Surprisingly, I do like McDonald's black coffee quite well overall. It seems to vary a lot between stores, but I think they're overall pretty good.
This is a favorite rant of mine. The first thing is the robusta vs. arabica coffee varieties. Arabica= superior, more expensive, better tasting. When you see 100% arabica on a coffee bag or sign that is a mark of quality. Robusta= cheaper, moldy rotting vietnamese variety of coffee which has more caffeine and tastes bad. Blended with arabica in coffee such as Maxwell House, Folgers, Chock Full O Nuts, average gas station coffee, etc. This ties in with the idea of cream and sugar to mask the bad flavor of cheap coffee.
This, IMO, is why the average person doesn't like black coffee, because they have only had poor quality coffee, made on dirty equipment (coffee equipment needs to be cleaned with dedicated coffee cleaning chemicals as the coffee residue isn't water soluble, and the oils go rancid and then get mixed into the next coffee brew, further destroying the taste.)
Starbucks= dark roast, the roasty character is considered sophisticated by some consumers, and the burnt flavor cuts through milk and sugar based drinks, and gives Starbucks a distinct style, even if its not particularly good. You also have to remember that Starbucks buys a huge amount of coffee so they can't get the best possible crops.
McDonalds advertises 100% Arabica coffee. This is because McDonalds took the threat of Starbucks seriously, and has tons of money to create a proper better product. McDonalds and Dunkin Donuts are basically on the same page, both using decent quality 100% Arabica blends, medium roasted for a more balanced flavor (as opposed to the dark roast taste which overpowers the natural flavor of the bean)
I like McDonalds coffee, its cheap and tasty. However, I've noticed some variability from store to store, and I believe it is due to varying brew temperatures due to some stores being newer than others and hence better and newer brewers, or it may be due to cleanliness of the brewer, or perhaps how long the coffee sat on the hot plate, which is generally not done with specialty coffee.
If you've ever tasted fresh roasted, top notch arabica coffee you can drink it black easily and you will taste amazing coffee flavors. Especially in a pour over cone where there is no coffee residue to taint the brew.
I could go on and on but its 8 am. Time for some coffee, which is fresh roasted columbian coffee from Sweet Marias. Well worth it.
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