What Does Starbucks Original Coffee Mean? What's the Difference Between Original Coffee and Black Coffee?

Understanding Black Coffee

Black coffee is coffee with nothing added to it, and it embodies the five flavors of coffee: aroma, sweetness, mellowness, acidity and bitterness. It is at once primitive and bold, deep and intriguing. Black coffee puts the inherent aroma of the bean front and center, with bitterness as its basic character. That bitterness varies in intensity and texture. Raw coffee beans contain only trace amounts of bitter compounds; the bitterness we associate with coffee develops through the caramelization and carbonization of sugars, starches and fibers during roasting.

Black coffee also contains acidity. Proper heat during roasting creates a moderate acidity that lifts the flavor and adds depth. The sweetness in black coffee is tied directly to its bitterness - which is why a high-quality black coffee with a clean profile must carry a sweet undertone.

Original Flavor Coffee vs. Black Coffee

Ordinary "original flavor" coffee, by contrast, does not follow any fixed standard. Generally speaking, "original flavor coffee" is a term invented by merchants and does not describe any specific type of coffee - it could be black coffee, or it could even be a 3-in-1 instant mix. Starbucks' original flavor coffee, for instance, could be an unsweetened, milk-free Americano, or it could be a simple latte made from nothing but coffee and milk.

Black coffee, specifically, means coffee with nothing added at all - no milk, no sugar, no creamer, absolutely nothing.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

To taste coffee at its most direct, FrontStreet Coffee's Fine Blend is a great place to start: a classic combination of Brazil Cerrado and Colombia Huila that delivers the nutty, chocolatey profile black coffee is all about, with a comfortable sweet-bitterness and a silky body. If you usually take your coffee with milk instead, the Classic Blend is the ideal companion - built on a traditional Mamba recipe, it produces dense, golden crema and a full, mellow body with caramel sweetness, so it stands up beautifully in a latte or cappuccino. Either way, you get a cup whose inherent flavor is worth drinking for its own sake.