Starbucks Café Estima Blend

Café Estima Blend by Starbucks

Café Estima Blend is a Fair Trade Certified coffee from East Africa and Latin America. For those who don't understand what Fair Trade is about, a simple explanation is that the farmers in poorer countries get the same price for their coffee as farmers in wealthier nations, rather than being paid a low price for their product.

I got my first taste of this blend a couple of days ago - they had run out of what they had brewed up earlier, so a young barrista made me up a venti serving. I had to wait about 5 minutes to get my coffee, but it was worth the wait.

This is a rich, bold blend, which hits the tip of the tongue at first taste. I noticed some earthiness to the flavor, along with a hint of fruit. After tasting a few more sips, I decided that the taste had a hint of peach flavor to it.

After sipping a little more, I noticed that it starts to hit the back of the tongue as well. Some awesome bitterness is in this blend that makes it a great all-around coffee. In addition, it doesn't linger on the tongue very long, so it is good for just about any food, and I think it would be an excellent coffee for breakfast with bacon and eggs.

After I finished my tasting, I decided to try it with one of my favorite coffee pairings - coffee and a candy bar. This coffee is fantastic with a Payday candy bar. It is a real treat, that enhances the flavor of the candy very nicely. I think that next time I will try it with some chocolate, as its richness is guaranteed to work very well with just about any good chocolate.

Starbucks suggests pairing with a chocolate chip cookie - this would be a near-perfect combination. Another suggestion is to pair it with chocolate-dipped fruit. Personally, I would skip the fruit and go straight for a Café Estima with some good milk chocolate - heaven on earth, for sure!

I hope you have found this review helpful, and as always, may your next cup be your best!