I picked this coffee up from Starbucks while we were traveling to Thailand. It caught my eye because of the colorful packaging and the expensive (650 baht) price tag. Honestly, I do not recall Thailand is known for its coffee, and reading the package it is a blend of Thailand Northern region coffee and other pacific regions, I picked it up impulsively because it sounds exotic and not available in Canada.
The bag came vacuum sealed and upon opening the bag, a burst of roasted coffee rushed out and the beans looks very oily. This means the reaction has been occurring and I have very short time to enjoy it ????.
Further inspecting the beans, this is a dark roast with a distinctive Starbucks caramel (especially their espresso) other than they are oily, the sizes are also inconsistent, there are a lot of broken bits. This character is common with almost all Starbucks coffee beans.
… I already start to dislike this bag….
After I grind them for the Aeropress, I smelled strong caramel and burnt. I honestly can’t smell the various profiles listed on the package! Putting them into the Aeropress and watching the bloom happening is probably the best moment in any coffee brewer. The taste and smell of caramel is becoming more apparent.
Upon the first sip, I had a spiced sensation on my tongue. I couldn’t tell if it is hot or it is spicy. As I took a few more sips, I could taste on the back of my tongue that it is spicy. I have not had a spicy coffee at all, and the burnt and caramel flavor makes this “different” in the bad way. I expect a coffee sold for more than $20 would have a complex body, some might argue this odd sensation is “complex”, but not to my liking. I feel like I am drinking Starbucks espresso at home.
At this point, I had to add more water, cream and sugar to dilute it because it is just a little too strong (spicy), obviously my 1:10 ratio is not working very well.
I would not consider this coffee as specialty coffee because it just simply bland and unimaginative. The profile of this coffee is on the different side of the wheel.