Rwanda Blue Bourbon Black Apron Exclusive

Blind Assessment: A paradoxical coffee, thin and subdued, but with considerable suggestions of richness and complexity. In the aroma muted suggestions of night flowers, butter, black cherries. In the cup lean but silky mouthfeel and delicate hints of spicy nut, cocoa, more flowers and cherry, perhaps of a rather dullish aromatic wood. The flavor persists nicely into an otherwise short, fast-fading finish.

Notes: The coffee cooperatives of Rwanda, benefiting from superb growing conditions, traditional varieties of Arabica and support from aid agencies and coffee idealists, are beginning to produce coffees that rank among the world's finest and most distinctive. Bourbon is a prestigious heirloom variety of Coffea Arabica. This is the April 2008 offering in the Starbucks Black Apron Exclusives line of distinctive seasonally available coffees. Visit www.starbucks.com for more information.

Who Should Drink It: Starbucks watchers or convenience shoppers. An obviously interesting green coffee that perhaps lost energy from origin to cup. Put away the Charbucks cliches, however, because I would not call it over-roasted, just dulled either by fading or perhaps by very slow roast profiling.