IMAG8806 Casi Cielo whole bean coffee 13Jan2014On Monday night, I was at the East Olive Way Starbucks attending a coffee seminar for Casi Cielo coffee, and one person in the group talked about how she loved Casi Cielo brewed on the Bunn brewer (meaning filter brewed, as many people make coffee at home).  She described that she loved how the high notes of the coffee came out, and then blurted out, “that’s my coffee jam!”

So here’s my question to you:  what’s your coffee jam?

At the coffee seminar (Monday, January 13, 2014), we tried the seasonal Starbucks coffee Casi Cielo by three brew methods:

  1. Bunn Brewed – this would be akin to the common paper filter brew method that many use at home.
  2. Clover Brewer – A special machine found at Starbucks to make one perfect cup of coffee. Uses a reverse vacuum press technology with a special mesh filter, producing a cup of coffee that is something between using a French press or a filter brewer. (There are over 600 Starbucks stores in the U.S. with a Clover brewer – use the store locator on Starbucks.com to see if there is one near you.)
  3. French press – No filter.  This will almost always produce the biggest, full bodied coffee because no natural oils of the coffee get filtered out.

You can see Casi Cielo by each brew method here, and it’s really obvious that the one that is made by the French press is the oiliest. The one made by the Clover brewer is the least full cup of coffee – I couldn’t stop drinking it:

IMAG8800 Casi Cielo - Brewed by 3 brew methods - 13Jan2014With the Bunn brewer method, the aroma had some citrus notes, and a lot of aroma of cinnamon.  The coffee tastes of cinnamon, cocoa, citrus, and had a bright finish with some acidity to it.  The creamy texture of the lemon loaf seemed to add a little more body to the coffee.  It smoothed out the coffee.

By far, my favorite was the Clover-brewed Casi Cielo.  The aroma had more cocoa notes, but the bright notes seemed to be very tone down.  I like that the body was a little heavier than the Bunn brewer, more not as heavy as with the French press.  I definitely think this year’s Casi Cielo is a little roasty-er than last year’s.  We paired all of the coffee with the La Boulange lemon loaf, which didn’t overpower the cocoa flavor in the Casi Cielo.  It was a very nice pairing!

A few people at the coffee tasting really liked the French press version of the Casi Cielo.  That’s definitely a bold cup of coffee!  The aroma was full of cocoa notes, and the body was pretty heavy in the mouth.  The pairing with the lemon loaf was really interesting – the contrast between the lemony-ness of the lemon loaf and dark cocoa notes of the coffee really somehow made the the lemon loaf zing.

This is the first year that Casi Cielo comes in the Verismo pod format.  I love it!  The Verismo Casi Cielo comes out a little lighter than the Bunn brewed, but has a lot of the cocoa notes.  It is amazing how brew method affects flavor and this is true with the Verismo too.  The Casi Cielo Verismo pods are fabulous.

I thought I’d share a few photos from the coffee seminar.  Jess did a great job leading the event!  By the way, I hope you get the chance to join me an East Olive Way Starbucks seminar some day.  They are generally every other Monday evening, but be sure to call for the schedule.

Last but not least, I thought it would be fun to feature a bunch of photos from the Via Latte Taste Challenge.  If you have one to send my way, please do so!  Please do not send to me via social media.  Email me at Melody at StarbucksMelody dot com.

Thank you, as always for being readers of this blog!  It wouldn’t be nearly as much fun if I were just talking to myself.  It’s always more fun to connect over coffee. 😉

IMAG8805 Casi Cielo - Whole Bean and verismo pods 13 Jan 2014IMAG8794 Casi Cielo Whole Bean CoffeeIMAG8788 Jess smiing - Casi Cielo coffee tasting 13Jan2014IMAG8796 Jess with a thermos of bunn brewed Casi Cielo - 13Jan2014