The Rare and Nearly Mythical Starbucks Coffee: Howard Once Called it “Extraordinary.” 

There is one Starbucks Reserve Coffee that is nearly rare and mythical. It’s called Micro Blend No. 11. It was introduced into the Reserve coffee lineup sometime in about 2013 with the thought that it would be offered at fine dining establishments. (And in fact, that is where you’ll find it mostly now: Starbucks roasts this coffee for restaurants).

It is 30% sun-dried Ethiopia, and 70% Guatemala Antigua.  Starbucks describes it as “dense with jammy berry notes and a rich, port-like mouthfeel.”  It’s the marriage of lovely cocoay notes from the Latin American component with some deep berry notes.

The first time I mentioned Micro Blend No. 11 was in this blog post here. (That article is a bit dated. However, the experience of Howard Schultz calling this coffee “Fantastic” and “Extraordinary” stands the test of time.)

In the same sense that this coffee is rare and hard to find, it’s kind of like the unicorn of  Starbucks coffees.

Once in a while, it appears at the Starbucks Roastery. You’ll find it regularly at the Starbucks store at Macy’s Herald Square location in New York.

Today, June 13, 2016, it appeared in Flavorlock packaging at the Roastery. It was roasted on June 12, 2016, by Starbucks roaster Mikey. Starbucks only roasted about 250 pounds of it – that’ll last the Roastery maybe 2 weeks.  The half pound bag retails for $17.50. It’s a slightly darker Reserve coffee (blends are often a little darker than single origin coffees), roasted for about 12 and a half minutes in the roaster.

That’s what you need to know: Get to the Roastery now if you want to try Micro Blend No. 11. Probably by 2 weeks from today, it will be sold out. The Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room is located at 1124 Pike Street, in Seattle, Washington. If you need to call them, their phone number is 206 624 0173.

Here’s more photos:

As an aside, the Starbucks coffee tasting descriptor cards (shown above with the coffee) are like the baseball cards of the world of coffee. Some people collect and trade them. See if you have all the U.S. Starbucks Reserve tasting cards by skimming through DiscoverStarbucksReserve.com.