2 - 1 - 20151004_164901[1] tanzania mount meruThe September 2015 Roastery Subscription Coffee was the Tanzania Mount Meru. Up until just a few days ago, I hadn’t bothered to subscribe to the Roastery subscription coffees, but I changed my mind because of offerings like this unique coffee: Very exquisite small-lot coffees that you can’t get by any other means other than the subscription. I subscribed just yesterday, October 6, 2015.

This past Sunday, the 4th, I went to a coffee tasting for the Tanzania Mount Meru. Starbucks partner Jocelyn Freeeman paired the Tanzania with brownies topped with a homemade strawberry “cavier”. To be clear, it was not fish eggs, rather a homemade strawberry jam in a cavier-like format.

This was an exquisite coffee and perfect pairing. Although we had it via a pour over (so there was filter), it had a huge body in the mouth. (I can imagine this would be amazing in a French press.) The coffee almost had a red-wine-like mouth feel with an amazing amount of berry aroma and mixed berry flavors. The sweetness of the brownies made the coffee come alive all that much more with sweet flavor notes. This was a fine sun-dried coffee. Give me an excellent sun-dried coffee, and I’m in heaven.

If you are looking into the Roastery Subscription, the website indicates that the October subscription coffee will be the Bali Vintage Klasik coffee. I’ve heard gossip that November will be a Panama Carmen Estate coffee. You must order by today, the 7th, to be able to get the Bali Vintage Klasik.

I’ve included a few more pics from the Tanzania Mount Meru coffee tasting:

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It’s funny. Yesterday morning on my way to work, I dropped by the Roastery, as I often do. I went up to the scoop bar and mentioned to the partner working there, “Hey I just subscribed to the Roastery Subscription!” I was met with little enthusiasm. For a while now, I’ve thought that it would be great fun to actually watch the roasting of a subscription coffee, and be able to write about that here. How awesome it is to be able to watch the process of coffee go from green coffee, to beautifully roasted, to your coffee cup. I asked the Roastery partner if he knew when the next Roastery Subscription would be roasted and he said he didn’t know. He advised me to follow up with the roasters. I was on my way into work and decided that I’d have to come back later to look for this information. I then noticed that there was a brand new Ethiopia coffee on the scoop bar and asked about having a single card for my collection. You’ve seen that I use the cards for ExploreStarbucksReserve.com.  The partner told me  a firm “no” that I couldn’t have a card without purchasing coffee. He then pointed out that the new Ethiopia is an affordable price point, at less than $14 for 8 ounces. I can go back later and buy coffee but I wasn’t going to buy coffee and then bring it to work with me. I do genuinely buy all kinds of things (and coffee) at the Roastery. I really do. It’s possible that there are one or two readers who have even received coffee and/or Roastery gifts from me. I have to admit, I walked out of the Roastery a little deflated. And that was the day I subscribed to the Roastery subscription. I’ve had many good experiences at the Roastery, but that was not the finest yesterday. Nonetheless, I would absolutely encourage you to visit the Roastery and subscribe to the Roastery Coffee Subscription. I will still follow up to see if I can attend the roasting of the Bali Vintage Klasik coffee. I don’t work for Starbucks so I’m honest with you about what my experiences are inside the stores as just an ordinary customer. Sometimes it’s a fabulous exploration of new coffee, such as the Guatemala San Isidro and sometimes it’s not. I hope you’ll expect this from me: I will tell you honestly my store experiences whatever they may be and please don’t stop reading because of that honesty. You wouldn’t want a blind cheerleader.