Coffee Tasting: Blonde Espresso from Starbucks

1:59 PM 1/13/2018

Coffee Tasting: Starbucks® Blonde Espresso

Name:

Blonde Espresso

Origin/Blend:

Latin American and African

Brew Method:

Espresso, Verismo® espressso, pour-over

Espresso is a brewing method, not a roast of coffee. Traditionally, in Italian coffee culture darker-roasted beans are preferred to make espresso, and this practice was adopted elsewhere, hence the misconception that only certain beans can be espresso beans. One can make espresso out of any beans, as long as you have the right equipment and the beans are ground to the correct fineness.
How Espresso and Brewed Coffee Are Different
History of the Espresso Machine So, light-roast espresso isn't that revolutionary. But, kudos to Starbucks for getting people excited about something that actually involves actual coffee instead of some flavor-of-the-month or brightly-colored frozen sugar-milk.
I have tried the blonde espresso [beans] multiple times in the following ways: flat white, doppio ristretto with heavy cream, regular doppio, brewed coffee [pour-over], and Verismo- brewed espresso. None of these preparations have yielded something palatable that I want to consume again. The problem is the beans/blend. It is too light and too acidic. It puckers your mouth, not in a pleasant citrus-y African coffee way; it’s just sour, like canned green bean juice. The blonde espresso is a blend of Latin American and African beans whereas the “Signature Espresso” is a blend of Latin American and Asia-Pacific beans. It would have been better to roast the Signature Espresso beans lighter, in my opinion. Even either of the regular light-roast coffees that Starbucks offers would have been better as espresso. The “green-bean-juice” note is a common characteristic in Latin American coffees, and can even be pleasant, but in this coffee it is overwhelming.

Coffee Tasting: Starbucks Reserve ™ Christmas 2017

Coffee Tasting: Starbucks Reserve ™ Christmas 2017

Name:

Starbucks Reserve ™ Christmas 2017

Origin:

Blend:
Hacienda Alsacia ™: Costa Rica;
Aged Sumatra: Indonesia

Brew Method

Starbucks Clover ™ Brewing System

The flavor of the Reserve Christmas is predominately that of the Aged Sumatra and then the undertones are the acidic and bright Hacienda Alsacia ™. The mandarin orange notes are really subtle, and the Aged Sumatra tastes a less herbal and more muddled and dirty. Previous years' Christmas offerings have been smoother than this one. It is probably better with, say, a little brown sugar and some heavy cream, but I always taste and drink my coffee black. Starbucks has had seasonal coffees that tasted better in my opinion and cost less.