Seattles Best Coffee

I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I love Starbucks coffee and anything short of that has seemingly become a cheap comparison. I haven’t quite found a match for Starbucks whether it is whole bean for drip coffee makers or the Keurig K-Cups and/or Tassimo T-Discs Brewing machines. I’ve reviewed quote a few different coffees, but obviously there are quite a few brands I’ve never had the opportunity to try. Seattles Best Coffee isn’t one of them. I’ve tried it and I like it, but can it replace my standby, Costco, Roasted-by-Starbucks brand in the 2lb whole-bean bags? In reality, I believe the Seattle brand is a cheaper subsidiary of Starbucks.

Seattles Best vs Starbucks

If I love Starbucks so much you might be asking why I would even consider their Seattle brand. I’ll give you the answer in two words: Price and convenience. The Costco roasted-by-Starbucks brand comes in whole bean which are very inconvenient to take home and grind every night. Also, I think the quality and flavor of the Costco brand isn’t quite what it used to be. I’ve gotten tired of it. Unfortunately, though, the 1lb bags of Starbucks averages out to be $2.00 to $5.00 more expensive than the other, pre-ground gourmet brands of coffee beans. There has to be a compromise and that’s where Seattle’s Best Coffee has promise.  I’ve had Seattles Best before and liked it – just not as much as Starbucks. The reason is its darkness. Every blend of Seattles Best Coffee that I’ve tried is very bold to the point where it tastes like a French or Italian Roast. There is more smoke than actual coffee flavor. On the other hand, Seattles Best coffee is very smooth and low in acidity which makes it more tolerable for me than most non-Starbucks brands of Coffee. When I found the ground, Seattles Best Coffee at my local, King Sooper Supermarket for $6.00 a pound, I thought it would be worth giving this coffee another try.  I found four different varieties of Seattles Best Coffee:  Level-1, Level-2, Level-3 and Level-4: Okay, what do all these levels mean. I forced myself into a new level of comfort-zone and decided to read the explanation on the label. The level ratings our the Seattles Best Coffee roasters way of telling us how dark the roast. Level 1 is the lightest and Level 5 is the darkest. My grocer didn’t have the level-5 and being that Seattles Best always seemed a little too dark for me, I figured Level-3 would be the perfect compromise.

Seattles Level-3 roast did not disappoint me. On the other hand, like all the others that I’ve tried, it’s a tad darker and smokier than I prefer. Still, for the money, this is a decent and more convenient coffee than the degraded, whole bean roasted-by-Starbucks brand I’ve been buying for years at Costco. The most encouraging news however is that if the level-3 is too dark, I still have 2, lower, levels of lightness to look forward to trying.  If the level-2 is still too dark, I’ll try the level-1. My guess is that either of those will be an improvement, because their coffee is consistently darker than any others that I’ve tried. On my next trip to the supermarket, I’ll pick up a 1lb bag of both the Level-1 and Level-2 Seattles Best Coffee. Can either of these Seattles Best  blends become my new, household, every-day favorite? <