It’s hard to believe that 2 years ago I had walked through the doors of the Roastery, and ordered a cup of Pantheon made on the clover. Now we are on the third version of this celebratory blend, and it is once again it rises to the occasion, putting the artistry of our master roasters on full display. This years version of Pantheon features coffee from Guatemala, Nicaragua and Ethiopia. Perfectly balanced and celebrates our love for coffee in the most delightful way. …
The holidays are all about tradition, and I love that Christmas Reserve has become part of my holiday tradition. Something I like to do every year is bake a gingerbread house with gingerbread baristas to go with it. Starbucks made my life easier this year by putting out a Starbucks gingerbread house, but I still wanted to bake my partners and pair it with something special.
With Aged Sumatra and our own coffee from Hacienda Alsacia, this coffee has the perfect balance of sweet and spice to pair with gingerbread cookies.
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It’s that time of year again. My favorite time of year, when the purple bags start showing up on the shelf. Christmas espresso is one of the coffees I stockpile, so I can enjoy it throughout the year. It is a bit different that Christmas blend, with it’s own unique blend of beans and roast profile. With coffee from Costa Rica and aged Sumatra, this lively coffee makes the perfect shot of espresso. Woodsy with an herbal spiciness.
I might be kind of dating myself a bit here, but a long time ago, Starbucks used to carry these amazing espresso brownies. I used that as the inspiration for this tasting for National Espresso Day! (November 23rd)…
Aged Sumatra is back in reserve stores this month, and I am so happy! Aged Sumatra is something I look forward to every year, and it’s what makes some of our seasonal coffees so special. The cedary and spicy notes you find in Anniversary blend and Christmas blend are due to the aged Sumatra. This lot, lot number 571, has been aging for 4 years! It might sound like a long time, but it is worth the wait. Maple and toasted marshmallow notes with a syrupy sweetness and heavy body….
Growing up, around Christmas time, my mom would always make her famous curry and serve it with a mandarin orange salad. It is probably one of my fondest food memories. I wanted to take that idea of curry and mandarin oranges and apply it to a coffee tasting. Ethiopia Gedeb is the perfect coffee for this. Ethiopia Gedeb has intense apricot and ginger notes to it, I knew those flavors would compliment curry very well.
I wanted to create a tasting that was a twist on a classic snack; french fries and ketchup….
Starbucks is testing the facebook @ work platform, and I am in the pilot for it. It is essentially, facebook, but only for Starbucks partners, and you can only access it by logging in with your global username and password. It is actually a very cool way to interact with partners all over the globe! I joined the coffee tastings group (naturally), and there were a few partners challenging each other to use fruit as a vessel. Kenya in grapefruits, Colombia Las Margaritas inside a pear, Willow blend in a lemon, it kind of turned into a coffee tasting throwdown. I decided to join the fun and serve up the real pumpkin spice latte.
Introducing #notacoffeecup….
Cold brewed Colombia Cerro Azul served inside an ice sphere with a pineapple, sage and lavender simple syrup. This is a little bit of a more specialized technique with a little bit of of trial and error. You can do this with any cold brew and syrup combination, or even cocktails!!…
While I was in Sacramento, I stopped at Teavana and stocked up on their seasonal teas. (We do not have a Teavana store nearby, sadly). So many of my friends love pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks, and I thought they might appreciate the pumpkin spice brûlée tea from Teavana. It’s the perfect mix of pumpkin, cocoa, caramel, vanilla and ginger.
When I came up with this recipe, I wasn’t planning on blogging about it, but I did post it on facebook, as I was tossing ingredients in the pan. My friend Melody, tried it, loved it and blogged about it! The response was overwhelmingly positive, so I thought I would add it here as well.
To compliment the warm spice notes these pecans have, I am pairing them with Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend!…
Colombia Santana El Bolsón
Colombia Santana El Bolsón prepared as an espresso shot and served in a tomato. I added thyme leaves to the grounds and portafilter prior to brewing to extract the thyme flavor into the espresso shot….
Every Friday, my store does something called French Press Friday. This idea was adopted from another partner, Cookie, who is on the other side of the country. Thanks to social media, we were able to connect and she inspired us to commit to doing french press Friday each and every week. By doing this, we have completed our passports, and now are moving on to Reserve coffees! I am kind of a coffee hoarder. I’ll get a coffee, and keep it hidden until I have a special tasting or a meeting. Mexico Guadalupe Zajú is the Reserve subscription for October, so I really wanted to use that, but the idea for this tasting goes a bit further back.
In March, at the Starbucks shareholders meeting, I was able to sample a reserve coffee I had never seen or heard of before; Mexico Finca Nueva Esperanza. A few of the Roastery partners were sampling it on the siphon, and I was struck at how sweet and soft this coffee was, with vibrant notes of almond and lemon. I knew I had to have this coffee, and I knew that I wanted to make conchas, because the artwork of the card reminded me of the neon sugar paste. Getting this coffee was not an easy task…..