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Starbucks is easily the royalty of coffee and sales, and sometimes it can be accused of focusing too much on the bottom line and not enough on the quality and flavor of coffee. However, if you stand around in their coffee customer lines, you'll see that for every skinny latte with sugar-free vanilla syrup, there resides a connoisseur of coffee who seeks to challenge her palate. Starbucks recognizes this niche, and it rises to the demand by bringing back the Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee, which hasn't been sold in Starbucks since the 1980s.
Scott McMartin, Global Coffee Advocacy director, coffee master, and sommelier, led us through our coffee cupping with the pride of an artist who knew the work and perfection that supported the unveling of this rare and limited supply coffee. Starbucks employs coffee masters as roasters and buyers who scour the coffee world for beans that meet their taste expectations, price requirements, and volume requests. Roasting the coffee in such a way to bring out the natural flavors and valuable qualities of the coffee is as important as sourcing a good coffee, he emphasized
throughout the cupping. Blue Mountain is lightly roasted to enhance its bright acidity, and it was brewed in the Clover machines that will be featured in specific coffee shops nationwide. The Clover Brewing System is a unique way to prepare a cup of coffee and allows the barista to control water temperature and brewing time, enhancing the coffee's natural flavors, aroma, body, and acidity. This was a coffee experience that went beyond grabbing a paper cup of coffee and rushing to a meeting. This tasting, or cupping, required a methodical, completely focused method.
Joining a coffee cupping might be new for some. Essentially, you focus on detecting the subtle and overt flavors of coffee without dulling it with sugar, cream, milk, or syrup. To do this, you first inhale deeply the steam wafting up from your cup. After you reflect on some of the flavors you detect - we smelled grapefruit and cocoa - you then aerate the coffee over your palate by slurping as loudly and accurately as you can. The purpose is to spray the coffee over your tongue and palate, enhancing the flavors and giving your tongue a chance to detect each nuance. If slurping isn't quite your thing, then you can also take a sip and swish it around your palate. With each slurp, different flavors jumped out, and we began envisioning flavors of light chocolate, sweet citrus, and bright lemon.
The Jamaica Blue Mountain was bright and citrusy, and it was sweet and light. One taster commented that the nose of the coffee was much more strong than the actual taste. She commented that this was an ideal summer coffee, because it was not heavy and could be paired with lemony bright desserts rather than dense chocolate desserts. The delightful springy taste reminded me of lightly toasted hazelnuts, and its smooth feeling actually improved as the coffee cooled. The coffee is too light and valuable to be drowned in a mixed drink, and even a dab of milk would have dulled the lightly toasted flavors. As the coffee cooled, the truly earthy experience of understanding a crop by tasting its soil came through.
Jamaica Blue Mountain is grown on volcanic soil in a high altitude region that enjoys extremely long growing seasons. The result is a perfectly ripe cherry that is picked and processed in a method that is strictly regulated by the Jamaica Coffee Industry Board to ensure high quality and the coffee's reputation. There is no post-roast blending for this coffee, all you taste is pure Jamaican soil and fruit. Jamaica Blue will be offered in selected coffee shops, and you can check Starbucks' website for details. Since it is a limited run, it is sold only at Starbucks locations that have the Clover Brewing System in selected cities, including Seattle. Sales are through August 31, or until the supplies last. This coffee is worth tasting, so be sure to check the locations here and get there very soon.
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