Today's Review: Starbucks Guatemala Antigua

I was recently sent a bag of Guatemala Antigua beans from Starbucks to try out. I sampled their limited edition Kenya beans a few months back, and found them very much to my liking, so I was expecting good thing from these as well. They're available in store until 4th November.

These beans promise an interesting mix of subtle spices, cocoa and lemon flavours. It's also apparently best paired with chocolate, which is certainly not a bad thing. Depending on how you brew it, different aspects of the flavour apparently come to the forefront, but since I only have a cafetière at home I went for that approach, which is said to enhance the coffee's lemon-like acidity. I must say, I didn't get too much of a lemon taste, but this still makes a good cup of coffee. It's nice and clean, with a definite kick to it. It's pretty smooth, and just a little bitter, and it certainly doesn't leave the after taste that I've become accustomed to with instant coffee. I can't say I detected much cocoa while drinking either, but after the fact there was a definite lingering hint of spice and chocolate, a pleasant after taste that stuck around for a while. This is a nice, smooth coffee that will definitely wake you up, and while I didn't find the flavours as bold as I'd hoped, it still makes for a tasty cup. These beans are worth picking up over the next couple of weeks.

My rating: 4/5