I'll occasionally buy beans or a package of ground Starbucks' beans when on sale in a grocery store, especially Sumatra beans or the even rarer Java beans. But it's true. Their coffee is burnt (burned) tasting. Anyplace that whips up a batch of coffee and keeps it sitting around in supposedly "airtight" containers to retain the heat is always going to have an inferior product. But it's just as easy to buy the same type of beans at most grocery stores in the USA that aren't overpriced like Starbucks.
When I'm at the ranch and have to make a run to Elko or Twin Falls, I'll buy a pound of coffee at Albertsons, Smiths, Kroger, or Raleys, grind it at the grocery store, and then cold process it that evening. It's the only way I know of having a cup of coffee that tastes the way fresh coffee smells. The "Inca Brewing Carafe" is a big pyrex carafe that holds a pound of freshly ground coffee and 1.5 litres of cold water. There is a hole in the bottom of the carafe that has a special, reusable micro filter and rubber stopper that fits in it. You let the coffee and purified water sit overnight and then drain into another pyrex container with a shot measure that fits on top. You end up with a coffee liquor that tastes best that day. But it's possible to freeze it into cubes and pop a cube of coffee liquor into a cup of purified water and heat for 35 to 40 seconds in the microwave. Never used boiling water. Still tastes amazingly clean and just like good coffee smells as it's being brewed or hot filtered. The only problem is the expense of finding and buying new mircro filters. They can only be cleaned so many times before they, too, become stale.
By the way, I loved the ranking of 10 US-style businesses that failed in Oz.
However, I wouldn't know a macchiato if you poured it over my head. Nor would most baristas in South America. But you can always order un doble cappucino con leche - and specify if you want a gotita de leche o un poco más. And instead of creating a design in the froth, the have various stencils they put over the foam and sprinkle freshly ground canela (cinnamon). Interestingly, cinnamon first thing in the morning with your coffee works as seriously strong natural appetite suppressant.
