Starbucks Peru Single Origin Coffee Whole Beans & Espresso

First Appearance

When it comes to coffee, anything with the Starbucks trademark on it immediately suggests an impeccability of taste and aroma, and the latter is immediately apparent from the air vent on the packaging for these 100% Arabica coffee beans, with a strong and herbal spicy aroma emanating that draws you to brew up a cup. This is all helped along by the unusual and colourful parrot design on the front of the packaging for the Starbucks Perú Whole Bean Coffee.

Grinding the Beans

On opening the package we found quite shiny and dark roasted coffee beans which were fresh and in good condition. These single origin 100% Arabica coffee beans are harvested from smallholder coffee farms in Peru, which was once the heart of the Inca Empire and has a perfect growing environment of sun, rain and rich soil. We decided to grind them in our previously reviewed Blendtec Designer 725 blender and in no time had a perfect texture of ground coffee which exuded smells in our studio redolent of a high-street coffee-house.

Starbucks Peru Single Origin Coffee Whole Beans

Brewing

Tamping the ground coffee into the portafilter of our Sage Barista Express we were full of anticipation about the brew to come. As the water slowly filtered through the filter we were very pleased to see a good crema which we feel always makes the coffee immediately more appetising. Once again there was a spicy aroma and the appearance of the coffee within the glass cup was dark and smooth looking.

Starbucks Peru Single Origin Coffee Espresso.jpg

Taste

To achieve a proper tasting we brewed both an Americano and two shots of espresso, one for a cappuccino. Our immediate impression of the taste was one of a medium bodied coffee with wonderful rich and spicy hints that included a slight suggestion of aniseed and almond. Together with the deep herbal and spice aroma, the taste superseded our expectations, and will not disappoint any seasoned coffee drinker. There is no harshness to this Starbucks Perú coffee, it is a medium smooth coffee but not dull because of the genuine depth of the flavours embodied within it.

Starbucks Peru Single Origin Coffee Cappuccino & Americano

Summary

Perú Whole Bean single origin coffee is available exclusively from Starbucks, normally at £4.95 for a 250g vacuum pack, but can also be requested to drink within Starbucks coffee-houses. We think it is a genuinely original medium bodied coffee which is richly aromatic and particularly enhanced with a soft spicy flavour that includes slightly deeper and darker nutty strains. It definitely deserves its 5-star rating for taste and should not be missed.