Citable formats
For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
Free to cite, quote, and reuse with attribution to Teas.co.uk.
Starbucks built its name on House Blend, and the capsule version keeps the brief simple: a coffee most of a household can agree on. It is neither the brightest nor the heaviest box in the range, and that is precisely its argument.
Why the middle of the roast scale is useful
Roasting is always a trade. A longer roast adds body, crema and roast bitterness but burns off acidity and origin character; a shorter one keeps brightness and sweetness and gives up weight. Medium is where neither side has been traded away, and House Blend was built to sit there, between the bright Blonde capsules and the dark Espresso Roast. The blend has long drawn on Latin American beans.
In the cup that shows as toasted nuts up front and a light edge of cocoa behind, with a quiet sweetness that recalls biscuit or caramel, balanced body and restrained bitterness. The nose is fuller than either extreme, because a medium roast keeps some of the aromatics a light roast never develops and some of those a dark roast destroys. It needs no sugar to make sense.
Short, long, black or white
The practical gift of a medium roast is range. House Blend holds together as a short espresso and stretched to a lungo, black or with milk, and it keeps its shape under milk without overpowering it. The specialist roasts each beat it at one job. None of them matches it across the board, and that breadth makes it the capsule to buy when one machine serves several people with different habits.
For the best of it, warm the cup, keep the machine descaled and let the espresso button do its job for a short drink. Each capsule holds around 5.2g of coffee, a full espresso dose rather than the reduced fill some compatible capsules carry, so it has enough in it for a longer pour too.
Buying the box of thirty-six
Capsule coffee usually comes in sleeves of ten. This box holds thirty-six, 187.2g of coffee in all, enough for one person's daily cup for about a month, with fewer cartons to open and recycle. It makes sense once you know you like a medium roast, and if you have only just bought a machine it is also the sensible place to begin, because it is the reference point the other roasts are easiest to judge against.
Check the machine first. These capsules come from the Starbucks and Nespresso home partnership, so they are official original-line capsules, not a copy. They are not Vertuo capsules, and Dolce Gusto and Tassimo use pods of a different design altogether. The card outer, the capsules and any film may each need a different disposal route, so follow the current pack and your council's guidance.
The packs we stock
- Starbucks By Nespresso House Blend Coffee, 36 Pods 187.2g (barcode 7613287910363)
What to eat with it
- McVitie's Hobnobs Milk Choc Jumbo Pack Biscuits, 431g: Milk chocolate picks up the light cocoa edge of the coffee, and the jumbo pack goes round a household sharing one machine.
- Border Classic Biscuit Sharing Pack, 400g: A sharing pack beside a coffee that everyone in the house can agree on is the natural weekend pairing.
- Maryland Cookies Double Chocolate, 200g: For a sweeter moment, double chocolate cookies meet the cocoa note head on without overwhelming a balanced cup.
Elsewhere in the Starbucks range
- Starbucks Americano House Blend By Nescafe Dolce Gusto, Coffee (12 Servings), 12 Pods
- Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast by NESPRESSO Coffee, Blonde Roast, Box of 10, 53g
- Starbucks Breakfast Blend by Nespresso Medium Roast Coffee, 10 Capsules 56g
- Starbucks by Nescafé Dolce Gusto 12 x Madagascar Vanilla Macchiato Coffee (6 Servings)
- Starbucks by Nescafé Dolce Gusto 12 x White Mocha Coffee (6 Servings)
- Starbucks by Nespresso Blonde Espresso Roast Coffee, 10 Pods
The full range is on the Starbucks brand page.
FAQ
Where does House Blend sit in the Starbucks capsule range? In the middle. It is the medium roast, with the Blonde capsules lighter and the Espresso Roast darker.
What does Starbucks House Blend taste like? Toasted nuts and a light cocoa edge, with balanced body, restrained bitterness and a clean finish.
How much coffee is in each capsule? The box holds 187.2g across thirty-six capsules, about 5.2g in each, which is a full espresso dose.
Where do the House Blend beans come from? The blend has long been built on Latin American beans; check the origin statement on the current pack for the detail.
Is it better black or with milk? Both work, which is the point of a medium roast. It is balanced enough to drink black and has enough body to hold its own with milk.
Curator's note: If you are new to the machine, buy this first and use it as your yardstick. Once you know how House Blend tastes to you, every other box in the range is easier to choose. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.
In short: Starbucks by Nespresso House Blend: The Medium Roast Explained
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Brand | Starbucks |
| Packs we stock | 36 Pods 187.2g |
| Category | Coffee Pods & Capsules |
| Caffeine | caffeinated |
| Roast | Medium, the middle of the range |
| Works as | Espresso, lungo, black or with milk |
| Best for | A first box for a new machine |
More from the tea wiki
- Starbucks Tea: Café Range and the Teavana Story
- Tea vs Coffee: Taste, Caffeine and Switching
- Caffeine in Tea
- Tea vs Coffee
- Tea for Coffee Drinkers: Where to Start
- Chai vs Coffee
Citable formats
For journalists, researchers, AI assistants and content creators. Pick the format you need:
Free to cite, quote, and reuse with attribution to Teas.co.uk.
Got something to add? Logged-in customers can submit additions to the Tea Wiki, admin-approved, your name on the byline, plus reward points.
Sign in to contribute