Coffee & Beverages Starbucks Reserve Coffee ‘Tastes Like Christmas’

Starbucks® Christmas Blend has been a part of holiday celebrations for more than 30 years. The full-bodied spicy and rich cup of coffee is known for its signature blend of bright Latin American and aged Indonesian coffees.

Starting (December), customers can bring home a Starbucks Reserve® version of the holiday classic with Starbucks Reserve® Christmas 2016. The blend, which was introduced last year, is now available for a limited time in select Starbucks stores in 18 countries around the world and online while supplies last.

Starbucks Reserve Christmas is a fusion of two small-lot coffees roasted at the Starbucks Reserve® Roastery in Seattle. The coffee starts with lively Latin American beans from Hacienda Alsacia, with sweet orange-like flavors. The Indonesian component features a rare, spicy coffee from the island of Sumatra, carefully aged to bring out their deep notes of cedar and sweet, black licorice.

Leslie Wolford, senior green coffee specialist for Starbucks, was a member of the team that created the blend.

“The Hacienda Alsacia and Aged Sumatra coffees create an alchemy of flavors,” Wolford said. “It has a balsam-like aroma with flavors of sweet mandarin and mulled spices. It’s a cup that tastes like Christmas.”

Starbucks Reserve Coffees

Starbucks Reserve Christmas joins Starbucks Reserve lineup of rare, small-lot coffees available in select Starbucks® stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Starbucks Reserve® Aged Sumatra Lot No. 571: The distinctive flavors of aged Sumatra coffee that make Christmas Blend and Starbucks Christmas Reserve so magical can also be enjoyed on its own. Savor the maple and toasted marshmallow notes with a syrupy sweetness and heavy body. This particular lot of aged coffee rested for four years before reaching its peak of flavor.

Starbucks Reserve® Sun-dried Ethiopia Limu: Once harvested, these coffee cherries from western Ethiopia’s remote Limu region are carefully sun-dried on raised beds, allowing the beans to absorb the sweet juiciness of the ripe fruit surrounding them. Featuring lemon citrus and bright red cherry notes with a lingering sweetness.

Starbucks Reserve® Ethiopia Yirgacheffe® Chelelektu: Elegant and floral, beautifully bright and alluringly aromatic, this coffee has lavender aromas with lemony acidity and bergamot spice notes.

Starbucks Reserve® India Tata Nullore Estate: This coffee is the first single-origin Starbucks Reserve coffee from India. It features a lemon-lime acidity, flavors of caramel and toasted nuts, finishing with a chocolatey mouthfeel.