What is the Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast Double Espresso?
A light-roast Vertuo capsule that pours 80ml, twice the volume of a normal espresso capsule.
Blonde is Starbucks' own word for its lightest espresso roast, and this is that roast in capsule form, made by Nespresso and sold on nespresso.com for $16.20 a sleeve of ten.
The double espresso format is the unusual part. Most capsules in this section pour between 25ml and 40ml. This one pours 80ml from a single capsule, which changes what you are comparing when you look at the price.
Which machines does it fit?
Nespresso Vertuo machines only.
Like every Vertuo capsule it is read by barcode, which sets the pour volume automatically and locks the system to capsules Nespresso has encoded. An Original machine will not take it.
That lock is worth understanding before you buy the machine rather than after. On the Original system there are dozens of compatible capsules from other roasters, usually cheaper. On Vertuo there are none, and there is no mechanism by which there could be.
What is in the capsule
Beans from Latin America and East Africa, roasted light, described as soft, mellow, sweet and balanced.
Starbucks describes the result as boldly mellow, which is marketing doing two jobs at once, but the underlying claim is straightforward: a lighter roast keeps more of the origin character and less of the roast character, so the sweetness and acidity come through where a dark roast would give you cocoa and char.
Unusually for this range, no intensity number is published for it at all. Its dark-roast sibling carries an 11 on Nespresso's scale and this one carries nothing, so there is no published way to place its strength against the rest of the range.
What a cup costs
$1.62 a pod, which is the highest price in this section.
For comparison, the same sleeve size of Nespresso's own Melozio is $1.40 and its Ristretto Intenso is $1.08. The Starbucks Espresso Roast, from the same licensed line, is $1.30.
The defence is real and the number is published, in the Contents and Allergens panel rather than anywhere near the price. A sleeve of ten weighs 125g, so 12.5g a capsule: the same weight of coffee as a 230ml Melozio mug and two and a half times an Original espresso's 5.0g. So the double really is two singles' worth of coffee, and at $1.62 it comes to $130 a kilo against $180 for an Original capsule.
What happens to the capsule afterwards
Aluminium, and Nespresso's mail-back scheme rather than kerbside recycling.
Free collection bags, returned to a UPS drop-off point or a Nespresso boutique. It is the same route as every other capsule in the range and it is genuinely funded rather than a disclaimer.
The distinction that matters is between a scheme you have to participate in and a bin that is already emptied for you. Aluminium is endlessly recyclable in principle; whether this particular capsule gets recycled depends entirely on whether you post it back.
Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast vs Nespresso Vertuo Melozio
One is a light double espresso at $1.62, the other a mild 230ml mug coffee at $1.40.
These are not the same drink and the price comparison is close to meaningless without saying so. The Melozio fills a mug. The Blonde pours a double shot you would top with milk or drink short.
On what can be compared: the Blonde names origins across two continents where the Melozio names Brazil and Latin America, and the Melozio publishes an intensity where the Blonde publishes none. The Melozio has a decaf version and the Blonde does not. If you want a long black coffee, the Melozio is the one designed for it and it is cheaper.
Is the Starbucks Blonde Espresso Roast worth it?
Only if you specifically want a blonde roast, because nothing else here offers one.
At $1.62 this is the most expensive pod in this section and, at $130 a kilo, one of the cheaper coffees in it. The double pour is the argument in its favour rather than a discount. If you drink one double a day it costs about $49 a month.
What you are buying that you cannot get elsewhere in this catalogue is the roast level. Every other capsule here is medium or dark. If the light, sweet, acidic end of espresso is what you like, the alternatives are not cheaper capsules, they are a different brewing method entirely.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Vertuo owners who prefer light roasts and drink doubles.
Buy it if you own a Vertuo, you find dark-roast capsules flat or bitter, and you drink a double espresso or a milk drink built on one. Buy it if you would otherwise pull two single capsules, where the price per drink starts looking sensible.
Do not buy it if you drink long black coffee, because it is not built for that and the Melozio is. Do not buy it if price per cup is the thing you are optimising, because it loses to everything here. And do not buy it expecting the strength to be published, because it is not.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does blonde roast mean?
It is Starbucks' name for its lightest espresso roast. A lighter roast keeps more of the bean's origin character and develops less of the roasted, cocoa-and-char character a dark roast gives. It is not weaker in caffeine, which is a common assumption and not how roasting works.
Why does one capsule pour 80ml?
It is built as a double espresso. Vertuo machines read a barcode on the rim and pour the volume that capsule is encoded for, so this one delivers two shots' worth from a single capsule rather than a single shot.
Is $1.62 a pod expensive?
It is the highest per-pod price in this section, against $1.40 for the Melozio and $1.08 for the Ristretto Intenso. It also pours twice the volume and holds 12.5g against the Ristretto Intenso's 6.0g, so per gram of coffee it is the cheaper of the two: $130 a kilo against $180.
Are there cheaper compatible versions of this capsule?
No. Vertuo capsules are barcode-locked to Nespresso, so no third-party roaster can make one that the machine will brew. That is a difference from Nespresso Original, which is widely copied.
Is there a decaf version?
Not in this line. Nespresso publishes decaf versions of several of its own capsules, including the Melozio and the Volluto, but none is listed for this one.
