# Starbucks Espresso Roast by NESPRESSO Coffee, Dark Roast, Box of 36, 198g

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**Price:** £13.20 GBP

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**Canonical URL:** https://teas.co.uk/product/starbucks-espresso-roast-by-nespresso-coffee-dark-roast-box-of-36-198g/
**Source:** teas.co.uk, UK tea specialist, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

**Brand:** Starbucks
**Price:** £13.20 GBP
**Caffeine:** Caffeinated
**GTIN:** 8445291365988
**Stock:** instock

## Summary

Starbucks Espresso Roast by Nespresso is the dark roast that sits underneath almost everything the shop sells with milk in it, put into capsules for Nespresso Original machines. This is the box of 36 rather than a sleeve of ten: the same coffee at a meaningfully lower price per shot. Smoky, caramelised and built to carry through a large latte, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection for households that want the shop taste at home.Ingredients and dietary suitability: roasted ground coffee only. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.Packaging: follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; capsules and cartons take different disposal routes.Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description, and the serving volumes are our recommended starting points rather than pack instructions. These are Nespresso Original capsules and will not fit Vertuo, Dolce Gusto or Tassimo machines. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Cup lengths, machine care and milk serves are set out in full in the detailed Q and A tab below.

## Description

Starbucks Espresso Roast by Nespresso is the dark roast that sits underneath almost everything Starbucks sells with milk in it, put into capsules for Nespresso Original machines. This is the box of 36 rather than the usual sleeve of ten, which is the reason it earns a place on the shelf: the same coffee, bought three at a time, at a meaningfully lower price per shot. The character is not subtle and is not trying to be. Espresso Roast is taken dark, built to carry caramel and molasses depth through a large quantity of steamed milk without disappearing, and it tastes recognisably of the shop. The Taste Profile
 Roast Depth: ●●●●●(5/5) Dark, and openly so. This is the roast style the brand built its name on, smoky and caramelised rather than bright. Body: ●●●●○ (4/5) Heavy and syrupy in a short cup, with the thick crema a sealed capsule produces easily. Bitterness: ●●●●○ (4/5) Firm, with a burnt-sugar edge. It is the reason the coffee still reads through a large latte. Acidity: ●○○○○ (1/5) Almost none. The roast has taken it out deliberately, which is the whole design of the blend.

Teas.co.uk Curator Rating: 4.8 / 5 - Our expert verdict from the curators at Teas.co.uk. The Story Behind Starbucks Espresso Roast
Starbucks is a Seattle coffee company, and its house style is the dark end of the roasting scale. Espresso Roast is the blend that runs underneath the whole menu: the shot in a latte, a cappuccino, a macchiato and a mocha. Whatever you think of that style, it is coherent, it is consistent, and a great many people know exactly what it tastes like before they open the box. Roast level, origin composition, the capsule material and any certification marks are printed on the current carton and can change between production runs. Read the box in front of you rather than a figure quoted online, ours included. Which Machine This Fits, And Which It Does Not
This is the part that costs people money. These are capsules for the Nespresso Original system: the small conical capsules that a lever or a button clamps and pierces. They will not work in a Nespresso Vertuo machine, which uses a larger capsule with a barcode rim, and they will not work in a Dolce Gusto or a Tassimo, which use different pods entirely. Starbucks sells coffee for all of those systems under similar names and similar packaging, so check the machine rather than the brand. Within the Original system, the dose is fixed at whatever the manufacturer sealed in, which here is about 5.5g per capsule by simple arithmetic on the box weight. You cannot adjust it, you cannot adjust the grind, and you cannot adjust the temperature. The one control you have is the volume of water you run through, and on a roast this dark that single decision does more to the cup than anything else you could change. Packaging: capsules and their cartons follow different disposal routes, and some capsules are covered by brand-run collection schemes rather than kerbside recycling. Follow the current UK pack and your local authority guidance. How Does Starbucks Espresso Roast by Nespresso, Box of 36 Compare To:
 Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast by Nespresso, 36: the same box size at the opposite end of the roasting scale. Blonde is lighter, sweeter and brighter and is not a weaker coffee, whatever the colour of the box suggests. If you drink your capsules black, try Blonde; if you drink large milky coffees, stay here. Starbucks by Nespresso Medium Roast House Blend, 36 Pods: the middle option, nutty and cocoa-led rather than smoky. House Blend is the everyday one and the safer choice for a household where people disagree; Espresso Roast is the one that tastes most like the shop. 
 Ideal Extraction Conditions
No grinder, no dose, no temperature dial. One button, and on this roast it matters more than on most. The Espresso Serve
 Espresso button: about 40ml. The reference serve and the one the blend was designed around. Ristretto button: about 25ml. Sweeter and denser, and worth trying first if you find the dark roast severe at 40ml. Warm the cup: run a blank shot of hot water into the cup and tip it away. A cold ceramic cup costs several degrees, which on a dark roast is audible. Do not re-pierce: one capsule, one shot. A second pull through a used capsule gives you hot brown water.
 The Lungo, Milk And Iced Serve
 Avoid the lungo button: stretching a dark capsule to 110ml drags the harsh tail of the extraction into the cup. Pull a 40ml espresso and add hot water on top instead. Same volume, far better drink. Latte: what this blend exists for. Flat white: one 25ml ristretto into 130ml of milk. At that volume a single capsule is plenty. Iced: pull two ristrettos straight onto a full glass of ice, sweeten while hot if you want sugar, then top with cold milk. Never pull a long shot for an iced coffee; ice dilutes, so start concentrated.
 Machine Care And Storage
 Descale on schedule: a scaled machine runs cooler and slower, and the first symptom is a flat, thin shot whichever capsule you use. Empty the capsule bin: a full bin is the usual cause of a capsule failing to drop and jamming the lever. Storage: keep the carton cool and dark. Capsules are sealed individually, so an opened box is not exposed the way an opened bag of coffee is. Buying big: the case for a 36 box is cost per shot, and it only holds if this is the roast you actually want. Buy a sleeve of ten first if you are unsure.
 Safety, Allergens And Caffeine
Ingredients and dietary suitability: roasted ground coffee and nothing else. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Allergen note: plain roasted coffee contains no cereals, dairy, nuts or soya as ingredients.
Caffeine: this is a caffeinated coffee. A darker roast is not automatically higher in caffeine; roast level changes flavour far more than it changes caffeine. If you are sensitive to caffeine, or pregnant, follow NHS guidance on daily intake.
Traditional use: the espresso base of a milk drink, taken in the morning or as an afternoon pick-up.
Child safety: keep capsules out of reach of children.

## Product Questions

Which machines do these fit?Nespresso Original machines only: the small conical capsules a lever or button clamps and pierces. They will not fit a Nespresso Vertuo, which takes a larger capsule with a barcode rim, and they will not fit a Dolce Gusto or a Tassimo. Starbucks sells coffee for all of those systems under similar names and similar packaging, so check the machine rather than the brand.How many capsules are in the box?36 capsules, 198g in total, which works out at about 5.5g of coffee per capsule. That figure is the box weight divided by the count rather than a printed claim. Does it taste like the coffee in the shop?Recognisably so. Espresso Roast is the blend that runs underneath the whole Starbucks menu: the shot in a latte, a cappuccino, a macchiato and a mocha. It is dark, smoky and caramelised rather than bright, and if that is the taste you are after, this is the box that delivers it at home.Why buy 36 rather than a sleeve of ten?Cost per shot. Three sleeves bought separately cost more than this box, and you are less likely to run out. The case only holds if this is the roast you actually want, so if you are unsure, buy a sleeve of ten first and come back for the box.How is this different from Blonde Espresso Roast?Opposite ends of the roasting scale. Blonde is lighter, sweeter and brighter, and it is not a weaker coffee whatever the pale box suggests. Espresso Roast is dark, smoky and built to carry through milk. If you drink capsules black, try Blonde. If you drink large milky coffees, stay here.Espresso button or ristretto button?Start with the espresso at about 40ml, which is the serve the blend was designed around. If the dark roast reads severe at that length, drop to the ristretto at about 25ml: sweeter and denser, because the harsher compounds come out late in an extraction.Can I use the lungo button?You can, but it is the quickest way to make this capsule taste worse than it is. Stretching a dark roast to 110ml drags the harsh tail of the extraction into the cup. For a long drink, pull a 40ml espresso and add hot water on top. Same volume in the mug, a completely different drink.How do I make a latte the size the shop makes?Two capsules as 25ml ristrettos into 250ml of steamed milk. One capsule disappears at that volume, which is why shop lattes are built on a double shot. How do I make an iced coffee with it?Pull two ristrettos straight onto a full glass of ice, sweeten while the coffee is still hot if you want sugar, then top with cold milk. Never pull a long shot for an iced coffee: ice dilutes, so you have to start concentrated.My shots have gone flat and thin. Is it the capsules?Usually the machine. A scaled machine runs cooler and slower, and the first symptom is a shot that tastes flat whichever capsule you use. Descale on the schedule in your machine's manual. A full capsule bin is the other common fault, and it shows up as a capsule failing to drop and jamming the lever.Do capsules go stale once the box is opened?Not in the way an opened bag of coffee does. Each capsule is sealed individually, so opening the carton exposes nothing. Keep the box cool and dark and go by the best before date printed on it. That is the main reason a 36-capsule box is a sensible purchase where a 36-serving bag of ground coffee would not be.Can I recycle the capsules?Capsules and their cartons follow different routes, and some capsules are covered by brand-run collection schemes rather than kerbside recycling.

## Ingredients & Nutrition

IngredientProportionWhat it bringsRoasted ground coffee100%The whole of the product, ground and dosed for a sealed capsule and taken to a dark roast: smoky, caramelised and built to carry through a large quantity of steamed milk without disappearing.Coffee per capsuleAbout 5.5gThe box weight divided by the capsule count (198g across 36 capsules), not a printed claim. The dose is fixed by the manufacturer and cannot be adjusted.Origin composition and roast levelPrinted on the packStated on the current carton and liable to change between production runs. Read the box rather than a figure quoted online.Additives, flavourings, sugarNoneNothing is added to roasted coffee. The caramel and molasses notes are roast development, not flavouring.Pack: Starbucks Espresso Roast by NESPRESSO Coffee, Dark Roast, Box of 36, 198g; 36 capsules for Nespresso Original machines, caffeinated. Best before date printed on the carton; each capsule is sealed individually, so an opened box is not exposed the way an opened bag of coffee is.Origin composition, roast level, capsule material and any certification marks are printed on the current pack.Sourcing & roast. Starbucks Espresso Roast by NESPRESSO Coffee, Dark Roast, Box of 36, 198g carries the name of a Seattle coffee company whose house style is the dark end of the roasting scale. Espresso Roast is the blend that runs underneath the whole menu: the shot in a latte, a cappuccino, a macchiato and a mocha. Whatever you make of that style, it is coherent and it is consistent, and a great many people know exactly what it tastes like before they open the box. Sold here in capsule form for Nespresso Original machines, where the sealed capsule does for freshness what a vacuum brick does for ground coffee, only more thoroughly.What's in Starbucks Espresso Roast by NESPRESSO Coffee, Dark Roast, Box of 36, 198g, and what isn't:In: roasted ground coffee, and nothing else in the capsule.No artificial colours, preservatives, flavourings or added sugar: any sweetness is developed during roasting.No dairy, cereals, egg, soya or nuts as ingredients: black coffee brewed without milk or sugar carries effectively no calories.Caffeine: caffeinated. A darker roast is not automatically higher in caffeine, and the volume you pull changes what reaches the cup, so no figure is published here.

## Flavour Science

The flavour of Starbucks Espresso Roast by NESPRESSO Coffee, Dark Roast, Box of 36, 198g is built in three layers, and reading them in order explains exactly why the shot tastes the way it does from the moment the capsule is pierced to the last swallow.The outer layer is aromatic: burnt sugar, molasses and a distinct smokiness, arriving all at once because a capsule gives up everything it has in about twenty-five seconds. These volatile compounds form late in a roast, and a dark roast makes a great many of them. In loose coffee they would start escaping the moment the beans were ground, which is the whole reason a sealed capsule exists: the 5.5g inside has stayed close to how it was packed rather than fading on a shelf. Capsule number thirty-six should smell the same as capsule number one, and that consistency is most of what people are buying.The flavour spike arrives in the middle of the shot and is where the roast decision shows most plainly. Taking a roast this far destroys effectively all the fruit acids and replaces them with heavy bittersweet and smoky molecules, and under the pressure a capsule machine generates those are exactly the compounds that come out in a usable form. The result is a middle that reads dark and caramelised rather than bright, and it is deliberate rather than careless. A shop that builds most of its menu on milk needs a coffee that survives milk, and brightness is the first thing a large latte destroys.The base structure is the finish: long, smoky and dry, staying on the palate rather than clearing off it. Bitterness here is structural, doing the same job tannin does in a strong cup of tea, and it is what lets a 25ml shot remain audible under 250ml of steamed milk. The line to watch is between smoky and ashy. A well pulled short shot finishes dark but clean; an over-extracted one finishes dusty and keeps drying the tongue a minute later, and on a capsule machine you cross that line by stretching the cup rather than by grinding badly.Getting it right in the cup. You have no grinder, no dose and no temperature control, so the button you press is the whole of your technique. Start on the espresso setting at about 40ml, the serve the blend was designed around. If that reads severe, drop to the ristretto at about 25ml: shorter, denser and sweeter, because the harsher compounds come out late in an extraction and a short pull leaves them in the capsule. The reverse is the commonest mistake with any dark capsule: the lungo button at 110ml drags exactly that harsh tail into the cup. If you want a long drink, pull a 40ml espresso and add hot water on top. For a shop-sized latte, use two capsules as ristrettos into 250ml of milk; one capsule simply vanishes at that volume, which is why the counter version is built on a double. Warm the cup first with a blank shot of hot water, because a cold ceramic cup costs several degrees and at this roast level that is audible.How water and temperature change it. On a capsule machine you do not set the temperature, but you do decide what state the machine is in, and that comes to the same thing. A scaled boiler runs cooler and slower, and the first symptom is a shot that tastes flat and thin no matter which capsule you use, so descaling on schedule is the closest thing a capsule owner has to dialling in a grinder. Water hardness matters twice over: it builds the scale in the first place, and it flattens what little acidity survives this roast, pushing the cup chalky. Very soft water sharpens the bitter edge instead, which on a roast this dark is the direction you least want to travel. Filtered water is worth it for the taste and for the machine. None of this is a fault in the coffee, it is the same capsule responding to the machine you put it in, and once the machine is in good order the result repeats every morning without further thought.

## Recipe Ideas

Starbucks Espresso Roast by NESPRESSO Coffee, Dark Roast, Box of 36, 198g is the shot underneath the shop menu, so the builds below are the shop drinks, made at home with a Nespresso Original machine. Six of them: the reference espresso, the ristretto, the full-size latte, a long black done properly, an iced latte and a mocha.
Brewing methods and serving ideas, born here first
 The Reference Espresso How to pull the reference shot of Starbucks Espresso Roast. 1 min 1 espresso Easy You'll need 1 Starbucks Espresso Roast capsule A Nespresso Original machine Filtered water in the tank A small warmed cup Method Warm the cup with a blank shot of hot water and tip it away. Drop the capsule in, close the lever and press the espresso button for about 40ml. Drink it within a minute, before the crema settles and takes the aromatics with it. One capsule, one shot. A second pull through a used capsule gives you hot brown water. What you'll end up with: Judge every other serve against this one. 
 The Ristretto, If 40ml Reads Severe How to pull a ristretto of Starbucks Espresso Roast. 1 min 1 ristretto Easy You'll need 1 Starbucks Espresso Roast capsule A Nespresso Original machine A small warmed cup Method Press the ristretto button, or stop the espresso button manually at about 25ml. Shorter is sweeter, because the harsher compounds come out late in an extraction. This is the serve to use as the base of every milk drink below. What you'll end up with: Denser and sweeter than the espresso, with the smoke still intact. On a capsule machine, cup length is your only real control. 
 The Full-Size Latte How to make a shop-sized latte with Starbucks Espresso Roast. 5 min 1 large mug Medium You'll need 2 Starbucks Espresso Roast capsules 250ml whole or oat milk A milk frother or a jug and whisk A 350ml mug Method Pull two 25ml ristrettos into the mug. Heat 250ml of milk to about 60°C and foam it lightly. Pour steadily down the centre to combine. One capsule vanishes at this volume. That is why the counter version is built on a double. What you'll end up with: This is the serve the blend exists for. 
 Long Black, Not Lungo How to make a long black with Starbucks Espresso Roast. 2 min 1 mug Easy You'll need 1 Starbucks Espresso Roast capsule 100ml hot water A warmed 200ml mug Method Pull a 40ml espresso into the mug. Add 100ml of hot water on top. Do not use the lungo button. Stretching a dark capsule to 110ml drags the harsh tail into the cup. What you'll end up with: The same volume as a lungo and a far better drink. This one adjustment fixes most complaints about dark capsules. 
 Iced Latte, Strength First How to make an iced latte with Starbucks Espresso Roast. 3 min 1 tall glass Easy You'll need 2 Starbucks Espresso Roast capsules A tall glass filled with ice 100ml cold milk Syrup or sugar to taste Method Pull two 25ml ristrettos straight onto the ice. Sweeten now if you want to; sugar will not dissolve in a cold glass. Top with 100ml of cold milk and stir once. Never pull a long shot for an iced coffee. Ice dilutes, so start concentrated. What you'll end up with: An iced latte that still tastes of coffee at the bottom of the glass. The smoke survives the ice better than a lighter roast would. 
 Mocha, The Honest Version How to make a mocha with Starbucks Espresso Roast. 6 min 1 large mug Medium You'll need 2 Starbucks Espresso Roast capsules 20g dark chocolate, chopped 220ml whole milk A pinch of salt Method Melt the chopped chocolate into a splash of the hot milk in the mug, with a pinch of salt. Pull two 25ml ristrettos over the chocolate and stir to a smooth paste. Heat the rest of the milk to about 60°C, foam it lightly and pour. Real chocolate rather than syrup. It takes two minutes longer and tastes like a different drink. What you'll end up with: A mocha where the coffee and the chocolate argue with each other properly. The smoky roast is what stops it tasting like hot chocolate.

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