Starbucks Coffee
Rwanda Blue Bourbon Black Apron Exclusive
Roaster Location: | Seattle, Washington |
Coffee Origin: | Rwanda. |
Roast Level: | Dark |
Agtron: | 37/40 |
Review Date: | April 2008 |
Aroma: | 7 |
Acidity: | 7 |
Body: | 8 |
Flavor: | 8 |
Aftertaste: | 7 |
Blind Assessment
A paradoxical coffee, thin and subdued, but with considerable suggestions of richness and complexity. In the aroma muted suggestions of night flowers, butter, black cherries. In the cup lean but silky mouthfeel and delicate hints of spicy nut, cocoa, more flowers and cherry, perhaps of a rather dullish aromatic wood. The flavor persists nicely into an otherwise short, fast-fading finish.
Notes
The coffee cooperatives of Rwanda, benefiting from superb growing conditions, traditional varieties of Arabica and support from aid agencies and coffee idealists, are beginning to produce coffees that rank among the world's finest and most distinctive. Bourbon is a prestigious heirloom variety of Coffea Arabica. This is the April 2008 offering in the Starbucks Black Apron Exclusives line of distinctive seasonally available coffees. Visit
Who Should Drink It
Starbucks watchers or convenience shoppers. An obviously interesting green coffee that perhaps lost energy from origin to cup. Put away the Charbucks cliches, however, because I would not call it over-roasted, just dulled either by fading or perhaps by very slow roast profiling.
Explore Similar Coffees
Click here for more reviews from Starbucks Coffee
This review originally appeared in the April, 2008 tasting report: Special Reserve is Dead. Long Live Special Reserve.