nytimes.com: Starbucks Prospers by Keeping Pace With the Coffee Snobs

Angus Maxwell, 27, works in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He describes himself as an "installation and performance artist" and is a member of the Boom! Theater Company. He grew up in Seattle and wears a beard and wire-rim glasses.

He's also a barista for what must be among the most discerning coffee clientele in the country, where boutique roasters like Blue Bottle and Toby's Estate dominate the neighborhood. This week he brewed me a cup of "small lot" coffee - Nicaragua El Suyatal ("notes of hazelnut and caramel with a malty sweetness") - while describing the distinctive flavor profiles of beans from Tanzania to Hawaii.

Mr. Maxwell doesn't work for another artisanal upstart, but Starbucks. He's the assistant store manager at the chain's spacious year-old location on Williamsburg's Seventh Street, and has worked for the company for nearly five years.

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I'm traveling right now, in Charlotte by Lake Norman. Instead of my usual home pulled Americano, topped with a little steamed milk, we've been drinking pour overs of some of my own delicious roasted coffees. This morning I brewed a Daterra Farms Full Bloom that I got from Theta Ridge. Yesterday, a Sumatra I got from The Green Coffee Buying Club. But, this morning as I was out at a Harris Teeter grocery store, I stopped at a Starbucks and bought a "Flat White". It was surprisingly tasty. Not exactly what I would call a flat white. More a homogenous light brown, but very good. It was surprising to me because one of the things that led me to buying my own very good grinder, espresso machine, excellent quality beans and my own roaster was the very disappointing and always same tasting espresso drinks at Starbucks. There was no apparent difference between a latte and a cappuccino. Both just espresso topped with dry foam. This flat white at least did not have dry foam.
I'm not about to abandon my own coffee, but this was a pleasant surprise.

I like this coffee a lot. Very sweet and chocolatey with a hint of acidity, I'll get it again for sure.