Gravitas blend no3

The third installment of Gravitas is back at the Roastery. This legacy blend launched on March 20th 2017, and I just happened to be in town visiting. Perfect timing on my part! This years version of Gravitas is a blend of Sumatra Lake Toba, Nicaragua Maracaturra and Sun-dried Brazil Barinas. The result is layers of herbal and chocolate notes with a unique dried fruit sweetness.

The definition of the word gravitas is to have dignity, seriousness or gravity.

Gravitas is a full bodied coffee with a low acidity. This coffee contains three different processing methods; washed (Nicaragua Maracaturra), semi-washed (Sumatra Lake Toba) and natural (Sun-dried Brazil Barinas). You have probably seen the Nicaragua maracaturra and the Sumatra Lake Toba in reserve stores, but the Sun-dried Brazil Barinas has yet to be released. I asked the Roastery partners if we would see the sun-dried sold on it’s own, and no one seems to know! It is a mystery!

I arrived at the Roastery early on Monday morning, and ordered a cup of Gravitas on the clover with the yogurt and granola with dried fruit. It was such a perfect breakfast with an adorable note from a Roastery partner. I truly felt like I was back home <3

Then I wandered over to the scoop bar and picked up a few bags of Gravitas to take home with me, and for a coffee seminar at the East Olive way Starbucks. The scoop bar had all three green beans in a little tray so you could see the difference. I am always amazed at how huge the maracaturra beans are. They are massive, especially in comparison to the Brazil and Sumatra!

Developed as an homage to our legacy of bold, assertive coffees, it documents where we’ve been—and where we’re headed.

Where can you get Gravitas? Currently, only at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting room in Seattle. This blend will probably only be available for a few months, and once it’s gone, it’s gone until the next installment.

To compliment the dark chocolate and dried fruit notes, I made simple dark chocolate coins topped with dried cherries, cranberries and strawberries. To make these, just melt chocolate (I used 70% dark chocolate) and drop teaspoons of the melted chocolate onto parchment paper. Top with chopped dried fruit, and that’s it!

Super simple to make, but also perfectly compliments the coffee!