Starbucks Reserve Rainshine Blend Coffee Review
This particular Starbucks Reserve roast is different than many of the others that I have experienced.
For one, it is one of the few that I remember Starbucks Reserve Rainshine Blend Coffee Reviewing that was proudly displayed as a blend. Most of the Reserve coffees are featured and frankly celebrated, as a single-origin small-lot coffee from one farm. Seeing that this was a blend that still was worthy of the Reserve badge definitely made me curious.
ABOUT
According to the card that came with the coffee, these beans are from the Ethiopia Kayon Mountain farm - something definitely worth checking out online if you are interested.
Because this is a blend of coffee beans, the processing method for the beans is mixed - some of the beans were fully washed while the others were sun-dried (natural processing). The beans are all Heirloom Typica varietals and were all grown in Oromia, Ethiopia.
Starbucks offered the following note about this unique roast on the coffee card attached to the bag:
“Blending washed and sun-dried coffees from the same farm was something we’d never heard of. Which is, of course, why we wanted to attempt it. We knew this would be time-consuming and fraught with risk, but suspected it would lead to extraordinary results. With an irresistible opportunity ahead and two crops at stake, we looked to Kayon Mountain Farm, who processed both lots in distinct ways. Our master blenders then wove together the contrasting flavors to arrive at a coffee greater than its parts, a resounding symphony of lavender and spice. For the first time, we proudly present coffee conceived and blended at a new level of complexity-the taste of one farm from two unique perspectives.”
Does that not make you want to order a few cups of this coffee euphoria right now?
Also, as a side note, the drinks made to review this particular coffee roast were all done using my Breville Bambino espresso machine and Breville coffee grinder - two coffee appliances that are worth their weight in gold.
REVIEW
Where to start with this.
How about…damnit this is an amazingly complex and gratuitously flavored coffee. It is almost comical the level of coffee complexity and goodness that comes from this. Maybe it is pure coffee wizardry? Who knows.
Starbucks indicates that this coffee has “aromas of lavender with notes of Meyer lemon, ginger spice and roasted cocoa nibs.”
I have to admit that reading that, while yes it sounds complex, did not really ignite my curiosity about this. The description of the marriage of processing methods, however, did.
In the cup, the aroma is so invitingly powerful.
And the taste is exactly what Starbucks described, although the flavors all hit in different moments, so it is a bit like a never-ending story, just delicious and in your mouth.
The roasted cocoa nib flavor somehow brings together the other flavors of ginger, lavender, and Meyer lemon in a way that I could not have foreseen as being called delicious.
Just wow.
Rating: 8.9/10