yeah it's for sure a combination. Starbucks overroasts their coffee to add their own distinct flavor that will be the same all around the world, which is what they are going for. Plus they can roast more beans at one time faster doing it at such a high heat instead of the more traditional slowe roasting. I'm no expert on coffee but I've read they also do this because it's harder to tell the difference for good quality beans and bad when you overroast it like that, which makes sense to me. There is a handful of reasons they do this, really. But when I make coffee at home it's usually pretty strong. If I can afford the good stuff though I usually put less in than the starbucks shit because the taste is better that way. This cheap shit I buy I just drink it for the caffeine, the flavor is gonna be garbage no matter what with this brand but it's ridiculously cheaper here for some reason than everything else.

also! the way starbucks keeps their coffee heated seems way hotter than everywhere else besides like McDonalds, which definitely adds bitterness to the coffee. If I ever actually have to go into a starbucks, I just buy a double or triple shot, put 1 packet of sugar in it and slam it. It tastes like shit but it's super cheap and easy to just get it over with