StarbucksStore.com is now offering the Starbucks Brasil Blend. Starbucks produces a series of coffees which are intended for sale in specific international markets. The Brasil Blend coffee is part of that international series of coffees. The hallmark of these international coffees is that the coffee beans are sourced from the same origin country where it is sold. And outside of these coffees appearing now and then on StarbucksStore.com, they’re sold exclusively in their origin countries. You may have seen others in this same series:
- In Brazil, you find Starbucks Brasil Blend, which is grown in Brazil. I’ll mention this again shortly.
- In China, you would find Starbucks South of the Clouds coffee, which is grown in the Yunnan province of China.
- In Thailand, you would find Starbucks Muan Jai coffee, which is grown in northern Thailand. For a limited time, that coffee is also available on StarbucksStore.com.
- In the Philippines, you would find Starbucks Kape Vinta coffee,which features coffee grown in the Philippines.
- In Puerto Rico, there is a Starbucks Puerto Rico coffee. That coffee too is available on StarbucksStore.com for a limited time.
- In Mexico, there’s a Starbucks Mexico coffee.
- In India, Starbucks sells India Estates Blend coffee.
That’s kind of a quick overview of what the international series of coffees are, and where you might find them. By the way, I’m pretty sure that “international series” is not any official name for the above coffees, but that’s what I call them since they all follow the exact same pattern: Coffee sold exclusively in their origin countries, grown in that same origin country.
I was very excited to see Brasil Blend return to StarbucksStore.com. A long time ago, when the store 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea was an experimental store, I recall trying Brasil Blend there and just loving it. I believe that I’ve tried almost all of the international series of coffees, and Brasil Blend stands out as one of my favorites. I’ve ordered some from StarbucksStore.com but it hasn’t arrived yet.
A good friend recently ordered this coffee too. She took some photos of the beans and the packaging which were such great pictures that I have to share them here:
The tasting notes (mostly from my friend’s coffee tasting) is that it is a soft acidity coffee, with milk chocolate and nutty tasting notes. She suggests pairing it with the Starbucks Banana Bread or Milk Chocolate Grahams. It’s a medium roast coffee, and my friend picked up a walnut finish. Her suggestion was that it would be interesting to compare this side by side with Guatemala Antigua.
I can’t wait to try it myself. As soon as my order gets here, I’m going to run into a Starbucks and share it with coffee passionate partners!
Enjoy!
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A great article as ever Melody. Out of interest does the India Estates Blend fit into this category?
@Chris – You are good! Thank you!! Yes, you’re right! India Estates would fit into this category. I completely forgot about that one – the newest one. And I haven’t tried that one. Will edit the blog article now and add India Estates.
My pleasure Melody.
I get so excited whenever I see a new coffee blend is coming only to be disappointed by the fact that it’s a medium roast. While I do like some medium roast coffees, most of them do not tickle my taste buds & I am not willing to play coffee roulette. Do you know why Starbucks doesn’t offer more Dark Roast choices? I get so tired of the same old blends, even with the reserve coffees there is not always a dark roast available. As much as I love French Roast, Italian & Espresso, I get bored of them too. I’ve started to expand to non-Starbucks offerings because of the lack of choice.
@bmommyx2- Have you ever tried Cafe Estima Blend? http://www.starbucksstore.com/fair-trade-certified-caf%C3%A8-estima-blend/011018177,default,pd.html
If you like dark roasts then you will likely enjoy Cafe Estima Blend.
You may even enjoy Brasil Blend. Brazilian beans are the backbone in many espresso blends because of the deep flavor and body they bring to the party.
@melody- I always enjoy trying these coffees that are not available in stores. It’s interesting to me to get a sense for the flavor profiles popular in other parts of the world.
Nice article and thanks to your friend for the pictures. I’ve been thinking or ordering this coffee. I’m anxious to read about your opinion when you get to try it. Such pretty packaging.
@Organic Fair Trade Dave – You mention something I hadn’t thought about – I don’t know if these coffees are roasted/blended to cater to the tastes of another geography. Would be interesting to know. If so, I’d expect the India Estates to be a medium coffee. They use a slightly lighter espresso roast in Starbucks India than here in the US. It’s a Tata-produced Espresso roast.
@BeckyE – Soon I hope to write more on this coffee. I just couldn’t pass up the beautiful pics!
Oh wow! Every time I see these posts about Starbucks store-exclusive coffees, I feel so devastated that they don’t ship internationally! I can only hope that I can share these with my partners one day. They look amazing. – a coffee master from singapore!
Shucks, I totally forgot to order this when I placed my order this weekend.
Note: I just saw Torrefazione Italia 12 oz. coffees online; wish they would occasionally offer free shipping or a lower minimum shipping cost ($60/75 is high).
Brasil Blend was much better before.
We had a blend of process and it was the taste that every brazilian people loved! It made coffee more complex.
It came from a farm in Minas Gerais, called “Ipanema Coffe” in a city called Alfenas in Minas Gerais. It was rich flavored with chocolate and nutty flavors. Just perfect!
Now we have a region blend. The beans come from: Minas Gerais (South, not Alfenas anymore), Sao Paulo (Alto da Mogiana) and Bahia (Vitória da Conquista). And now the coffee is just washed.
I didn’t like the change too much because and don’t like the high acidy coffees. I prefer coffees like Sumatra, for example.
And the Brasil Blend id very different now.
It’s not one of my favorites anymore.
Even with this change hope everyone still enjoys it.