Starbucks Reserve Tanzania Southern Highlands, reviewed

Starbucks Reserve’s Tanzania Southern Highlands is one of my current favorite reserve coffees at the moment. On paper, it looks like it would be a solid medium roast coffee that has some typical flavors that you might expect to find in African coffees – and this is true, but the coffee far exceeded any flavor expectations I had before I tried it. The coffee has a bold, tangy berry flavor that makes me think of summer and fruit desserts. It does have a chocolaty smoothness to it, but I would say that it is pretty refreshing even when it is served hot. This coffee is also a certified Fair Trade coffee.

I’ve mostly been drinking this coffee hot, but since the weather has really been heating up in Southern California lately I have been opting for iced coffee more than usual. And this coffee is great over ice, and I would say that the citrus notes come out even more strongly when it is brewed strong and served cold. I was pretty surprised at how intense the flavors were on my first sip! The coffee did mellow out a little and get even smoother as it sat for a few minutes, and ended up being an excellent iced coffee choice for a hot day.

Starbucks Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino, reviewed

The caramel sauce that Starbucks uses to finish off drinks like the caramel macchiato is addicitive, and one of the most popular requests in caramel drinks is for extra caramel (or even extra, extra, extra caramel). The newest seasonal offering from Starbucks is the Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino, a drink designed for the people who like to ask for extra caramel in their frappuccinos. I’m partially kidding, because the drink doesn’t really use all that much extra caramel, but there is some extra in there and it has a lot of caramel flavor, so it should definitely do the trick for caramel fans.

The Caramel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino is a caramel frappuccino that has caramel sauce blended right into it (the usual caramel frappuccino doesn’t). It is poured into a cup that is lined with a generous drizzle of “dark caramel sauce,” and topped with whipped cream, caramel drizzle and crunchy caramel topping.

It sounds over-the-top – and it is, but in a good way. The drink has a really good caramel flavor and, thanks to the burnt sugar notes in the “dark caramel” sauce, it has a flavor that is reminiscent of dulce de leche or creme brulee, and the crunchy toffee-like bits on top are absurdly addicting. It’s sweet, but you can still taste the coffee in there, so it actually has a pretty nice balance of flavors and will hit the spot when you want something sweet and cold on a hot day.

Starbucks Iced Peach Green Tea Lemonade, reviewed

I am a big fan of the Iced Tea Lemonades at Starbucks when the weather gets warm, since they’re just sweet enough and very refreshing. Sometimes I get black, but often I get the Green Tea Lemonade, which has a very mellow flavor to it. It was fantastic with the melon syrup that Starbucks offered a few seasons ago, and when I saw that one of my local stores was promoting an Iced Peach Green Tea Lemonade, I knew that I had to give it a try.
The drink is made the same way as the green tea lemonade, but is sweetened with peach syrup. The baristas led me to believe that you can’t get an unsweetened peach tea for that reason (but I only get them sweetened, so that wasn’t a problem for me). The peach syrup has a very mild flavor that adds nice peach notes to the tea without making it too sweet or too peachy. You can still taste the green tea, but the lasting after taste is all peach. Delicious.

This drink hasn’t been rolled out to all Starbucks stores yet, and I’m not entirely sure when it will be, but it is definitely in more stores than it was in its initial test run. If you see it, give it a try. I’ll be drinking many more in the hopes that they keep this one on the menu long-term.

Starbucks Reserve Perú Aladino, reviewed

Peru is one of the top coffee-producing countries in the world, although it doesn’t necessarily come to my mind first when I think about coffee. So, I was slightly surprised to see that a Peruvian coffee was the newest addition to the Starbucks Reserve line on my last visit. Perú Aladino is named after one specific farmer – Aladino Delgado – in the Chontali District of Peru who uses an unusually processing method for preparing his beans. The beans are fermented in earthenware tanks before being dried in greenhouses which create a controlled microclimate to dry the beans as evenly and carefully as possible.

After one cup, I knew that this coffee was worth going out of your way for. It has a velvety texture and a strong toasted nut and toffee flavors, with a more subtle flavors that hinted at cream and cocoa. It is actually quite light and so well balanced that it is exceptionally easy to drink. I liked it best straight from the Clover at Starbucks, but it brews well in a french press and also makes very good iced coffee if you brew it a little stronger before pouring it over ice.

Peet’s Anniversary Blend 2013, reviewed

Peet’s is celebrating their 47th anniversary this year and, although they have been offering anniversary blends for many years now, it seems that they are getting more dramatic as the coffee house closes in on their 50th anniversary. The 2013 Anniversary Blend combines Ethiopian Yirgacheffe with beans from Colombia and Java.  Fans of floral and slightly citrusy Yirgacheffe wont’ be disappointed with this coffee, since that provides the base for this blend. It has a lot more body and fruitiness to it than Yirgacheffe alone (and, full disclosure, I tend not to be a big fan of Yirgacheffe), thanks to the two beans blended with it, and so the final blend has a rich, smooth and flavorful profile that  appealed to me much more than I anticipated.

This is definitely a bold coffee and works just as well when put through an espresso machine as it does in a french press. You could opt for a regular drip coffee maker, if that’s your preference but you’ll get a little extra body and mouthfeel from this blend if you opt to press it instead.