Starbucks Aged Sumatra, reviewed

It’s not everyday that you find a coffee packaged in its own, custom designed metal tin, but Starbucks Limited Edition Aged Sumatra comes in one that matches its tiger mascot. I like the tiger and the tin enough that I’m planning to keep it around for a while – not that that has anything to do with the coffee, but it’s a nice little bonus. The Starbucks Aged Sumatra is a dark roast, made from Indonesian beans that were aged for five years and were not mixed with younger beans to increase the overall volume of the batch. According to the packaging, the beans were tested every six months until their peak flavor was achieved.

These beans aged amazing well and the finished roast, while very dark, is incredibly smooth and flavorful. It smells rich, with a combination of woodsy scents and caramelized sugar (verging on burnt sugar, like a creme brulee). The coffee itself is slightly spicy, with hints of chocolate, and is very mellow from start to finish for such a dark roast. Aging coffee beans is a risky business because it is very easy for them to go bad during their time waiting, but this batch was clearly worth the gamble. These beans far exceeded my expectations and are really outstanding. This is a limited edition coffee, so you might want to move it to the top of your “to try” list if it sounds appealing and you want to pick up a package before they’re gone.