Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso Coffee, Blonde Roast, Box of 10, 51g
Read the name in the wrong order and you will be disappointed. The hazelnut is the louder of the two by some distance, warm and dry rather than sweet, and the cocoa sits behind it rounding the cup instead of sugaring it, so anyone buying this for the chocolate has the proportions the wrong way round. On fit: small original-line Nespresso capsules, not the larger Vertuo discs, and no use at all in a Dolce Gusto.
Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso Coffee, in brief.
Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso is a flavoured original-line capsule built on a blonde roast rather than a dark one, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection because the light base lets the cocoa and hazelnut sit beside the coffee instead of covering it.
A box of ten capsules, one drink each, 51g of coffee in total. Nespresso original-line machines only, not Vertuo, Dolce Gusto or Tassimo. There is no milk in the capsule, so a latte version is one you build yourself. Being a nut-flavoured product, the allergen declaration on the current box is the one that counts.
Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso is a flavoured capsule built on a blonde roast, and that single decision is the whole argument for the box. Nearly every flavoured coffee on the shelf is built on a dark roast, because a dark roast is bitter enough to hide behind and the flavouring has something to cover. A blonde roast has nothing to hide. The coffee underneath stays light, sweet and a little citric, so the chocolate and hazelnut notes sit alongside it rather than on top of it.
The practical effect is a cup that reads as coffee first and flavour second. If your experience of flavoured capsules is a syrupy dark espresso that tastes the same whichever flavour you bought, this is the opposite end of the category. It is also a ten-capsule box rather than a bulk sleeve, which is the right size for a flavour you want occasionally rather than every morning.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. No shelf or per-capsule figure is quoted here; the price in your basket is the price. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Starbucks by Nespresso
Starbucks makes its capsule ranges for other people's machines, and the Nespresso original-line boxes are the most widely stocked of them in UK supermarkets. Blonde roast is a Starbucks house term for the lightest end of its roasting scale, and it has become the brand's usual base for flavoured capsules precisely because a lighter roast leaves room for the flavour to be tasted rather than merely smelled. The tasting profile on this page is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Count: a box of ten capsules, one drink each, so ten cups from the carton.
- Machine fit: Nespresso original-line machines. These are the small espresso-style capsules, not the larger Vertuo discs, and they will not work in a Dolce Gusto or a Tassimo.
- Roast: blonde, stated on the pack. That is the light end of the scale, not a medium sold as light.
- Flavoured: the chocolate and hazelnut character is part of the capsule, so you get it without adding syrup. What the flavouring is declared as, and whether the box carries any allergen advice, is printed on the current UK pack and should be read there.
- Pack weight: 51g of coffee across the ten capsules, which is the normal dose range for original-line espresso capsules.
- What it is not: not a milk drink. There is no milk in the capsule, so a latte or a cappuccino version is something you build yourself.
The price in your basket is the price; it is shown on the product page above and nowhere else on this page.
Ideal Serving Conditions
Flavoured capsules are usually drunk badly. The two habits that spoil them are pulling them too long, which thins the coffee and leaves the flavouring stranded on its own, and drowning them in milk, which buries the part you paid for. A blonde roast is more sensitive to both than a dark one, because there is less roast character to survive the treatment.
The Espresso Pull
- Volume: use the short espresso button, around 40ml. This is where the hazelnut is loudest and the cup is properly balanced.
- Cup: a warmed espresso cup. A cold cup takes the top off the aroma before you reach it, and aroma is most of what a flavoured capsule is selling.
- Machine: run a blank water shot first if the machine has been standing. The first few seconds carry whatever was in the line.
- Sugar: not needed, and it works against the design. The blonde roast is already the sweeter end of the range.
The Long Cup
- Lungo: the 110ml button gives a longer, lighter drink. The chocolate note holds up better across a lungo than the hazelnut does.
- Americano: pull a short espresso and top up with hot water to taste rather than pulling a long shot. You keep the concentrated flavour and dilute afterwards, which is the better order.
- Iced: pull short over a cup of ice. The cold sharpens the nut note and the drink does not need sweetening.
- With milk: a splash rather than a mugful. A flat white made from one capsule tastes of milk; a macchiato made from one capsule still tastes of coffee.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Button: espresso for the full flavour, lungo when you want length more than intensity.
- Machine: Nespresso original line only. Check your machine before buying if you are not sure which system you own.
- Storage: keep the capsules in the carton in a cupboard. They are sealed individually, so the enemy is heat and sunlight rather than air.
- Freshness: the flavour notes fade before the coffee does. A box that has sat in a warm kitchen for a year will still make coffee, just a quieter one.
- Best with: an afternoon break, a biscuit with some butter in it, or as the after-dinner cup when a dark espresso would be too much.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso Coffee, Blonde Roast, Box of 10, 51g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Starbucks
Starbucks needs no introduction. Their at-home retail range covers the cafe-style favourites: Toffee Nut Latte sachets, instant coffee, and the wider iced and hot drink format. Particularly strong on flavoured latte sachets.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso Coffee, Blonde Roast, Box of 10, 51g is a flavoured black coffee rather than a finished dessert drink, which makes it a better starting point than a sweetened sachet. Six builds below cover the balanced espresso, a macchiato that keeps the flavour audible, two cold ones, an affogato and a tiramisu-style cream.
Made with this tea
The Balanced Espresso
How to make The Balanced Espresso with Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso.
- 1 capsule Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut
- A Nespresso original-line machine
- Warm the cup with a blank water shot and tip it out. A cold cup takes the aroma off the top of the drink.
- Drop the capsule in and use the short espresso button, around 40ml.
- Drink it within a minute or two, while the nut note is still lifting.
What you'll end up with: A short, dry, nut-forward espresso with cocoa behind it and no sugar in the way. This is the reference cup; judge everything else against it.
Hazelnut Macchiato (Not a Latte)
How to make Hazelnut Macchiato (Not a Latte) with Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso.
- 1 capsule Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut
- 30ml hot milk, frothed
- Pull a short espresso into a warmed cup.
- Froth about 30ml of milk, no more, and spoon the foam on top rather than pouring the liquid in.
- Leave it unstirred so you drink through the foam into the coffee.
What you'll end up with: Milk softens the edges without swallowing the flavour. A full latte made from one capsule tastes of milk; this still tastes of hazelnut.
Iced Nut Espresso
How to make Iced Nut Espresso with Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso.
- 1 capsule Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut
- A glass packed with ice
- 50ml cold milk, optional
- Fill a short glass with ice, right to the top.
- Pull a short espresso straight over the ice so it chills on contact.
- Top with cold milk if you want it longer, or drink it black.
What you'll end up with: Cold sharpens the nut note and blunts the acidity, so it rarely needs sweetening. Drink it before the ice waters it down.
Proper Americano, In the Right Order
How to make Proper Americano, In the Right Order with Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso.
- 1 capsule Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut
- 100 to 120ml hot water
- Pull a short espresso, not a lungo. The long button dilutes the coffee faster than it dilutes the flavouring.
- Add hot water to the shot, a little at a time, until it tastes right to you.
- Stop when the cocoa note is still audible. That point comes sooner than you expect.
What you'll end up with: A long cup that still tastes of something, because you decided the dilution instead of letting the machine decide it.
Hazelnut Affogato
How to make Hazelnut Affogato with Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso.
- 1 capsule Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- A little grated dark chocolate
- Put two scoops of vanilla ice cream in a cold bowl and take it to the machine rather than the other way round.
- Pull a short espresso straight over the top.
- Grate a little dark chocolate over it and eat it immediately.
What you'll end up with: The one pudding a single capsule can carry on its own. The nut note and the vanilla do most of the work; the chocolate is a garnish, not a sauce.
Coffee Cream for Spooning
How to make Coffee Cream for Spooning with Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso.
- 2 capsules Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut
- 300ml double cream
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar
- Sponge fingers to serve
- Pull two short espressos into a bowl and leave them to go completely cold. Warm coffee will slacken the cream.
- Whip 300ml of double cream with 2 tablespoons of icing sugar to soft peaks.
- Fold the cold coffee in a spoonful at a time so the cream does not split.
- Chill for an hour in small pots and serve with sponge fingers for dipping.
What you'll end up with: A tiramisu-adjacent pudding without the assembly. The hazelnut note survives the cream far better than a plain espresso would.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roast and ground coffee | the body of the capsule | The base of the drink. A blonde roast, so light, sweet and bright rather than dark and smoky. |
| Chocolate and hazelnut flavour | Printed on the current pack | The named character. Nut forward, cocoa behind it, and dry rather than syrup-sweet. |
| Added sugar | None in the capsule | Nothing sweet is added to the cup. Any sweetness you taste belongs to the light roast itself. |
| Format | 10 sealed capsules, 51g of coffee | One drink per capsule, individually sealed, sized for Nespresso original-line machines. |
Pack: Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso Coffee, Blonde Roast, Box of 10, 51g; ten espresso-style capsules, made with water only. The ingredient list, allergen advice and best-before date are printed on the current UK box and should be read there.
Characterising components shown.
Sourcing & blend. Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso Coffee, Blonde Roast, Box of 10, 51g is made by Starbucks for the Nespresso original-line system, one of several ranges the company builds for machines it does not make itself. The interesting engineering is the base rather than the flavour: flavoured coffee is almost always built on a dark roast, where bitterness gives the flavouring something to hide behind, and building it on a blonde roast instead means the coffee has to hold its own in the cup. That is a harder brief and a better drink, and it is why this box is in the range.
What's in Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso Coffee, Blonde Roast, Box of 10, 51g, and what isn't:
- In: blonde-roast coffee with chocolate and hazelnut flavour, sealed in individual original-line capsules.
- No milk: this is a black coffee capsule. Milk drinks are ones you build yourself, and a splash suits it better than a mugful.
- No added sugar in the capsule: sweetness in the cup is the light roast's own, and anything more goes in at your table.
- Packaging: follow the current UK pack and your local-authority guidance; the outer carton and the capsules usually take different disposal routes.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Starbucks Chocolate Hazelnut by Nespresso Coffee, Blonde Roast, Box of 10, 51g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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