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Coffee like Starbucks Pike Place, but fresher

Starbucks describes Pike Place Roast as a smooth, medium-roast blend of Latin American coffees with subtle notes of cocoa and toasted nuts. To find something similar but fresher, look for a medium-roast Brazil, Colombia or Guatemala from a specialty roaster whose bag lists chocolate, caramel or nut notes, with a recent roast date.

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What Pike Place actually tastes like

Starbucks created Pike Place Roast in 2008 as an easy, all-day coffee, named for its first store in Seattle's Pike Place Market. It's a medium roast, a blend of Latin American coffees, and Starbucks describes it as smooth and well-rounded with subtle notes of cocoa and toasted nuts.

On a specialty bag, that reads as: chocolate, cocoa, nutty or caramel notes, a medium roast, and low-to-medium brightness (not much fruit or tang).

How to find a Pike Place-style coffee on any bag

1. Roast: medium. Not light (fruity and bright), not dark (smoky).

2. Origin: Latin America. Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico or Peru. See chocolatey coffee from Brazil, Colombia or Guatemala.

3. Notes: chocolate, cocoa, nuts, caramel, brown sugar. Our chocolatey, nutty and caramel pages list them all.

4. Skip if you don't want fruit: berry, citrus, floral, "natural" or "anaerobic" on the label.

In a store? Snap the bag and we'll tell you how close it is to your taste.

Specialty coffees with a Pike Place-style profile

Medium roast, Latin American, chocolate or nut notes, one per roaster, closest to the profile first. Chosen from what's in stock today; prices are as listed by each roaster, and we link you there to buy.

If you drink it with milk, or as drip

A medium-bodied, chocolatey coffee stays sweet and round with milk, which is why this profile is so popular for lattes and everyday drip. If you add a lot of milk, lean toward the fuller-bodied picks above.

Why a small-roaster version can taste better

Freshness. Coffee tastes best within a few weeks of roasting, and specialty roasters print the roast date and roast in small batches. The same chocolate-and-nut profile from a fresh bag usually tastes sweeter and less flat.

Other Starbucks roasts

Like a lighter roast, such as Starbucks Blonde? Try light roast coffee. Prefer something darker, like French Roast? Try dark roast coffee. A Sumatra fan? See coffee from Sumatra and earthy coffee.

Not sure what you like? Take the 1-minute quiz and we'll rank every coffee in stock for your taste.

Questions people ask

What coffee is similar to Starbucks Pike Place?
Medium-roast Latin American coffees with chocolate and nut notes, such as a medium-roast Brazil, Colombia or Guatemala from a specialty roaster.
What kind of coffee is Pike Place?
A medium-roast blend of Latin American coffees that Starbucks describes as smooth, with subtle notes of cocoa and toasted nuts.
Is Starbucks Pike Place coffee strong?
It's a medium roast, which describes flavor, not strength. How strong a cup tastes depends mostly on how much coffee you use for the water.
Does Pike Place taste like chocolate?
Subtly. Starbucks lists cocoa and toasted nuts as its notes.
What coffee beans are better than Starbucks?
"Better" is taste, but a freshly roasted specialty coffee with the same flavor profile, medium roast with chocolate and nut notes, is the closest upgrade.
Does My Next Coffee sell Pike Place?
No. We don't sell coffee. We list specialty coffees from US roasters and link you to each roaster to buy.

Starbucks Pike Place Roast facts are from Starbucks: Pike Place Roast. We don't sell coffee and aren't connected with Starbucks; tasting notes on the coffees above are each roaster's own.

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