No new summer drinks from Starbucks?

Starbucks rolled out new menu boards and signs (which are very nice, by the way) to launch their summer promotions this week, but unlike last summer and the summer before, the “new” menu doesn’t include any new drinks. Probably due to cost cutting somewhere down the line, Starbucks has opted to promote Caramel Frappuccinos and Iced Coffee as their two big summer beverages this year. Both these drinks are good – and you can get the iced coffee sweetened or with mild added to it if you’re not the black coffee drinking type – but it’s a bit of a let down for some customers who look forward to trying something new. They have to wait until the next promo period comes around to see if any new drinks make the cut then.

If you want a new Starbucks drink right now, consider heading over to a Barnes and Noble Cafe Starbucks instead. The one I checked out this week was offering Mocha Mint Chip Frappuccinos (which have been available at the regular ‘bucks before) and Mocha Toffee Chip Frappuccinos.

Black Forest Coffee

Maraschino cherries and coffee aren’t elements that are put together all that often, but make a surprisingly good combination when they do come together – especially when chocolate is involved. This Black Forest Coffee is inspired by black forest cake, a cake with dark chocolate layers, and loads of whipped cream and maraschino cherries. This is a little simpler and a little less rich, while still incorporating the same flavor elements.

The coffee is slightly sweet with a hint of cherry flavor. My recipe here doesn’t include milk, but you could certainly add some in to make the base more like a mocha latte than just chocolate+coffee. My favorite part is the whipped cream with the cherry on top. No harm in finishing that part off, adding another layer of whip and another cherry, and calling it dessert, right?

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Tea Code Cups

I’ve never liked the little strings that come attached to bagged tea. I appreciate that they make it easy to handle the bag, but more often than not the string slides down into the hot tea as it steeps and needs to be fished out – defeating the purpose of having a string in the first place. The reason for the slide is that the string is hard to secure. The design of these Tea Code Cups neatly solves that problem and makes string tea bags a lot more convenient to use. The cups have what looks like a button on their sides that you can wrap the tea bag string around to hold it in place. The sides of the cups, which come in various sizes, are double walled so they don’t get too hot to handle when you are drinking (or trying to remove the tea bag string). A spoon will work well for fishing out a tea bag, but this type of cup could be a nice addition to the collection of, say, a Lipton lover who wants to stick with the string-ed tea bag no matter what.

There is a cute little animation showing how these cups work here, although if you end up ordering some, I think you’ll find them to be pretty self explanatory.

Starbucks Brazil Ipanema Bourbon coffee, reviewed

I’ve been disappointed by a lot of the light roast coffees I’ve had in recent weeks. Many have been really lacking in the flavor department. I can safely say that Starbucks’ Brazil Ipanema Bourbon coffee was not one of these. The light roast coffee – categorized as a mild by Starbucks – is packed with different flavors. It starts off really clean, with a subtle hazelnut taste. There are also some sweet and vaguely fruity notes, and a finish that is a little bit darker, with a hint cocoa or chocolate. It is not woodsy or overly roasty (i.e. burnt) tasting at all. It’s low acidity and is smooth and easy to drink from start to finish. This is a really nice coffee overall and should be popular with all kinds of coffee drinkers.

Incidentally, the coffee is not not pronounced “BOUR-bon” like the liquor. Starbucks says, “Bourbon” (pronounced bur-BONE) refers to the specific variety of coffee plant from which these beans come. Arabica Bourbon is one of the world’s oldest and rarest species of coffee. The Bourbon tree is carefully nurtured to maturity, its prized cherries hand selected to ensure ripeness and peak flavor.

Chocolate Cappuccino Chip Cookies

Adding coffee or espresso to a recipe can infuse some coffee flavor, but it tends to be on the mild side unless the recipe can accommodate a lot of it, as Mocha Pudding Cake can. I find that it’s often better to use coffee extract, instant coffee or other coffee-flavored things, like Cappuccino chips. The chips are made by Guittard and have a distinctly milky coffee taste to them. They’re not too sweet, even though they’re made of white chocolate, and add a nice extra boost of flavor to a recipe.

These chocolate chip cookies have real coffee in the dough, as well as cappuccino chips, chocolate chips and white chocolate chips. They’re delicious when they’re still warm, served with milk or coffee, and have a nice chewiness to them even after they’ve cooled. Espresso can be substituted for the coffee, as well.

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