(6 Pack)Starbucks Dark Roast Whole Bean Coffee Espresso 100% Arabica (18 oz)

I started using this coffee and was enjoying it, but I felt like I could pay less and get an equivalent coffee. Maybe one can, but I was unable to. Here are some of the differences I noticed between Starbucks Espresso Roast Whole Bean coffee and some other coffees I tried.The first thing I notice in a coffee bean is its aroma upon opening the package. Starbucks Espresso Roast always smells wonderful, smooth, and enticing. Other beans I tried smelled less appetizing. Simply smelling kind of unpleasant is common. Some coffees smell harsh with an acute bitterness about them. Some smelled musty or dusty. I’m not a connoisseur, so probably cannot adequately describe flavors and aromas, but then again, flavor and aroma notes always seem pretentious and fall short of my flavor experience.The next thing I notice is the bean itself. Starbucks beans are uniform in color and oiliness (sheen), while other coffees I tried had great variances in bean color and sheen. I don’t know for sure, but this seems to be a quality issue such as inconsistent roasting parameters or just simply allowing a greater range of bean to pass QC standards. Whatever it is, it’s a turn off. Starbucks beans look better. Another aspect of this is the whole bean to broken bean ratio, where Starbucks coffee has a greater percentage of whole beans per package than the cheaper products I bought. I don’t know if this affects bean taste or freshness or any other aspect of the bean, but it doesn’t look nice.Next thing noticed is how it grinds. Starbucks coffee seems uniform in color where others were varied, specifically regarding what I took to be the husks or skins of the beans, like chaff.Finally, the most important factor: taste. Starbucks tastes good. Smooth with a bit of an acidic bite. Cheap coffees I tried tasted much like they smelled, with bitter coming to mind most often, along with what I can only describe as “dusty”.Starbucks is good coffee. There surely may be better coffees, but they will be more expensive and that’s not where I’m headed. Enjoy!