What is the Starbucks Espresso Roast for Vertuo?
A dark roast capsule for Nespresso Vertuo machines, carrying the Starbucks name and made by Nespresso.
The blend itself is old. Starbucks first put it together in 1975 and it is still the base of the handcrafted espresso drinks in its stores, which is a longer continuous history than most things in a coffee aisle.
What is new is the format. These are sold on nespresso.com alongside Nespresso's own range, at $13.00 for a sleeve of ten, and they are made to the same aluminium spec as everything else in the Vertuo line.
Which machines does it fit?
Nespresso Vertuo machines only, and nothing else.
Vertuo capsules carry a barcode on the rim that tells the machine what size to pour. An Original machine cannot read it and will not take the capsule, and no K-Cup, Dolce Gusto or Tassimo brewer comes close.
It is worth being blunt about what this is not. A capsule branded by one company and sold by another is usually a compatible pod, made by a third party to fit somebody else's machine. This is the opposite: Nespresso makes it under licence, sells it on its own store, and it carries the same barcode lock as any other Vertuo capsule.
What is in the capsule
Latin American Arabica, roasted dark, with published notes of rich molasses and caramel sweetness.
Nespresso rates it 11 on its own intensity scale. That number needs a caveat, and Nespresso prints the caveat itself on the page: its intensity scale is not the Starbucks Roast Spectrum, and each brand classifies flavour and strength its own way. So the 11 is comparable with other Nespresso capsules and with nothing else.
What is published, in the Contents and Allergens panel rather than anywhere near the price, is the weight: 68g for a sleeve of ten, so 6.8g a capsule. That is the figure that lets you compare it honestly with a K-Cup, and it is the K-Cup roasters here who do not print it: not one of the four states a dose.
What a cup costs
$1.30 a pod, in sleeves of ten, which is the only size sold.
That places it between Nespresso's own Ristretto Intenso at $1.08 and the Melozio at $1.40. Buying the Starbucks name on a Vertuo capsule costs you twenty-two cents a cup over the cheapest thing in the range and saves you ten over the most expensive.
There is no bulk option. Nespresso sells Vertuo coffee in sleeves of ten and nothing larger, so unlike a K-Cup roaster who will sell you a hundred at a lower unit price, the $1.30 is the floor.
What happens to the capsule afterwards
Aluminium, recycled through Nespresso's mail-back scheme rather than your kerbside bin.
Nespresso sends free collection bags and takes them back at UPS drop-off points and its own boutiques. It is a real, funded programme and it works if you use it, which is more than most capsule brands offer.
It is still not the same proposition as putting something in the bin that is already collected from your door, and the word recyclable on a box does not distinguish between the two. Nespresso is also a certified B Corp, which is a company-level certification rather than a claim about this particular coffee.
Starbucks Espresso Roast vs Nespresso Vertuo Ristretto Intenso
Both are dark Vertuo capsules. The Ristretto Intenso is stronger, smaller and cheaper.
The Ristretto Intenso is rated 12 of 12, pours 25ml, and costs $1.08. The Starbucks is rated 11, pours 40ml and costs $1.30. If what you want is the most concentrated, most bitter cup the Vertuo system makes, the Nespresso capsule is both more intense and twenty-two cents cheaper.
The Starbucks earns its price on the blend rather than the numbers. It is a named, dated recipe with published origins, where the Ristretto Intenso is described only as majority Robusta with dry-processed Arabicas. Which of those matters more is a question about you rather than about the coffee.
Is the Starbucks Espresso Roast worth it?
If you want this specific blend on a Vertuo, yes. As a way to spend less on Vertuo coffee, no.
The honest case is narrow and real: this is the espresso Starbucks builds its milk drinks on, made properly for the machine you own, at a price that sits in the middle of the range rather than above it.
The case against is the one that applies to the whole system. At $1.30 a cup you are paying roughly double what a bulk K-Cup costs and about twice what good beans cost per cup. Nespresso does publish the weight, and it does not help: 68g for a sleeve of ten, so 6.8g a capsule, which is $191 a kilo. Of every capsule here only the Master Origin Colombia costs more, and against whole beans it is dearer than all but a handful.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Vertuo owners who like the Starbucks espresso profile and want it without leaving the system.
Buy it if you own a Vertuo, you drink milk-based coffee, and you want the blend those drinks are built on. Buy it if you value a named blend with a published origin over a higher intensity number.
Do not buy it if you are trying to bring the cost of your Vertuo habit down, because it will not. Do not buy it expecting a third-party bargain, because Nespresso makes it. And do not buy it if you need decaf, because this line has none.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Starbucks Espresso Roast for Vertuo a third-party capsule?
No. Nespresso makes it under licence from Starbucks and sells it on its own store, so it is an official Vertuo capsule in every respect: same aluminium, same barcode, same recycling scheme. It is not a compatible pod made by somebody else to fit the machine.
Will it work in a Nespresso Original machine?
No. Vertuo and Original are separate systems whose capsules do not interchange. Vertuo capsules are larger and carry a barcode the Original machine cannot read or accept.
What does intensity 11 mean here?
It is 11 on Nespresso's own scale, and Nespresso states on the page that this is not the same as the Starbucks Roast Spectrum. Treat it as comparable with other Nespresso capsules and with nothing outside the system.
How much does a cup cost?
$1.30. It is sold only in sleeves of ten at $13.00, and Nespresso offers no larger box for Vertuo coffee, so there is no bulk price that brings it down.
Are the capsules recyclable?
They are aluminium and Nespresso runs a mail-back scheme with free bags returned at UPS drop-off points or boutiques. That is a real route and it is not the same as your kerbside collection.
