Late this afternoon (January 20, 2013), I dropped by the Starbucks at Fourth and Seneca, in Seattle. Actually, I had just downloaded a new book on my Kindle, and planned on doing some reading. I got some food, Casi Cielo in my January tumbler, and sat down near a window. Shortly after I arrived, the partner on the bar (whom I later learned is Eric) brewed some coffee on the Clover. I saw a bunch of labeled cups, and Eric said to me, ‘I’m doing a coffee tasting – would you like to join in?‘
Eric walked over to the large community table and set up the sample cups. And then he walked around the lobby for a few minutes. By the way, all the while, I was surprised. It was a totally impromptu coffee tasting. And even more surprising, three customers (besides myself) readily jumped up saying they wanted to join in. I have watched customers say “no” to coffee tastings many times! So, I and three customers were lead through a coffee tasting by Eric.
He brewed Guatemala Antigua (the core coffee), Casi Cielo, and Guatamala Finca Medina on the Clover brewer, and then one by one we walked through them, and compared how they tasted. It was a great comparison! One thing that surprised me was that I hadn’t realized that the Finca Medina was the darkest roast profile of the three, or so it seemed. The Casi Cielo was amazing – this year’s Casi Cielo is perfection. I love the tart, lemony-ness of it. The core Guatemala Antigua is an under-rated coffee! Nice cocoa notes in it.
Thank you Eric for the great coffee tasting! I promised to share more of my day-to-day experiences at Starbucks, and this one counts. And well, I have always enjoyed a good comparative tasting.
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It has been years since I had the honor of coffee tasting and never at Starbucks. Sounds like great tasting experience. I hope one day I may be party to aromatic event
What a great Sunday experience at a SB. The casualness of the coffee tasting was quite nice because it showed to me that Eric was very customer centered. He seemed to engage you and the others. Very nice. Coffee tastings around here? Hardly and certainly if there are any not like this. Liked your pics especially the community table. Just curious- the woman sitting at the corner table working- did she show any interest in the coffee tasting? Thanks Melody.
That sounds like it was great! I’d love to see something like that happen at my store sometime in the future!
I’m not a fan of this year’s Casi Cielo – I anticipate it every year, and always enjoy it, so it was a dissapointment this time around (I wonder if my dislike will be among the minority consensus?) 🙁 I find the tart, lemony-ness to be too pronounced for my liking. I made myself pour overs twice last week on shifts and then did a tasting via french press with my SM a few days ago. She and I both agreed this year’s CC needs to be had with food (its good with the chocolate caramel muffin), not on its own…It seems quite acidic in comparison to years past.
Melody, Im glad you mentioned the core Guatamala Antigua as well. It’s one I often look past, but I was inspired to give it another try after my dissapointment with the CC – the warm, smooth cocoa notes were remarkably pleasant 🙂
So this tasting was like the battle between the Guatemalan’s?
Melody, it was such a pleasure to do a coffee tasting with you! I hope you learned a little about the Guatemalan coffees we offer by comparing them to one another! Come see me at the 1st and Pike store sometime and we can do some more amazing coffee tastings!
Eric – Just want to say thank you for your passion for bean! @Chgo. – LOL – You’re right. This was a battle of the Guatemalans!
Melody, this is a little off subject but I was wondering if you’d be doing a tasting on the Muan Jai Blend and the Kape Vinta Blend? I love the packaging on these and since they’re only available online I was hoping you’d be doing a blog post on how these taste and compare to other coffees. Always enjoy your posts on the tastings.
@Becky E – I was thinking I’d love to try the special online coffees, though the last time I did a blog article on StarbucksStore coffees, it simply wasn’t a very popular article.
http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2012/12/09/shining-a-spotlight-on-puerto-rico-blend-coffee-exclusive-to-starbucksstore-com-starbucksstore/
I just sort of thought that my readers were uninterested in that kind of article. I have been meaning to buy the Muan Jai and Kape Vinta. I have had both a long time ago when they used to be found now and then at the “experimental” Starbucks, but it’s been a long time ago.
Melody, I’m not sure that the article on the Puerto Rico coffee was unpopular. Maybe it was just the time of year. I went back and read it again just now and do remember seeing it back in December. But, it was just a busier time for me right then so even though I read it I had no comment at the time. Please don’t hesitate to write about tastings or anything else as I’m sure there are plenty of people that read them but don’t always know what to say or feel they can bring anything to the conversation. I’m not a coffee expert like I feel several people on here are. I just know what I like and love reading other people’s opinions and seeing pictures of stores, merchandise, and tastings. I would love if Starbucks would just send you around the country to photograph and visit lots of stores so that we could read about your travels. But seriously, I for one would love to read about more coffee tastings.
@Becky E – Well you make a good point – it’s true that there’s a bit of a crash in blog traffic in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I mean who has time to leave blog comments when there are present to wrap? 🙂
I just ordered the Muan Jai and Kape Vinta. That may be a future article.
As to Starbucks sending me around the country – what a dream come true that would be!! Let’s petition for that! 🙂