Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend, reviewed

Even though it has been out for a couple of weeks, the Starbucks Thansksgiving Blend seems like a very short-lived coffee blend. This is probably because Thanksgiving happens in a rush of food and shopping over the course of about a week – in between thinking about Halloween and worrying about holiday presents. The blend is actually a great idea because most people end up serving a lot of coffee to friends and family this time of year and it’s promising to see a roast put out for the occasion.

The Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend is a blend of extra-dark roasted Sumatran and medium roasted Guatemalan beans. The blend is designed to let the deeper flavor of the dark roasted beans create a backdrop for highlighting the sweet, slightly spicy notes of the lighter blend, so there is an emphasis on the darker beans. I didn’t get all the herbal notes that the tasting notes promised, but this blend did have a really good overall balance to it and you could taste the sweetness from the lighter beans over the slightly smokey dark roasted ones. This is a blend that will appeal to a lot of coffee drinkers, as it is neither too intense nor to mild, and will still complement all kinds of foods, sweet and savory.

Trader Joe’s Blue Bali Moon, reviewed

The Blue Bali Moon coffee, which is new at Trader Joe’s this month, has a great, eyecatching look to the packaging. The coffee is from Bali, which is known for mild, yet fairly complex, blends. There isn’t enough land on Bali to really have big coffee estates, and instead the beans tend to come from multiple growers for every batch of Bali-grown coffee.

This particular coffee is a medium-roast. It has a great roasty aroma to it, with hints of a smoky earthiness and a touch of sweetness. In other words, it smells delicious and offers a good, full-bodied flavor that is neither too dark nor too light. This is my current “everyday” coffee to brew in the mornings, as it’s inexpensive and goes well with just about everything.

Trader Joe’s Gingerbread Coffee, reviewed

You know it’s really fall and that we’re headed for the holiday season when Trader Joe’s rolls out its flavored coffee blends. Unlike most “flavored coffees”, TJs mixes whole beans with pieces of real spices that get ground up alongside the beans and actually flavor the coffee. not just scent it. Their newest addition is Trader Joe’s Gingerbread Coffee, “coffee spiked with real ginger, cinnamon and gloves.”

When you open the can, it smells just like gingersnap cookies: sweet and spicy.

Brewed, the coffee is very good. It has a mild scent and flavor of cloves, which gives it a very gingerbready feel. The beans are a medium roast and the coffee overall is smooth and rich tasting, with no bitterness to it. This is definitely an excellent choice for fall and is perfect for serving with cookies – especially gingersnaps or molasses cookies, as well as with anything chocolate.