The Five Coffee Blogposts of Christmas

You can't imagine how much I struggled to come up with 12 things to tell you about coffee this Christmas...would have sounded alot cooler than 5 things, but oh well, better to keep it concise and with impact.  Hosted family this year so I was busy in the coffee bar of my kitchen serving up some great coffee and cappuccinos.  With that, I have five great things to share and will endeavor to get them up over these next five days.The first is about Starbucks' Christmas Blend Coffee.  This limited edition blend is released in late November or early December and I scoop it up every year.  Starbucks has been releasing this special unique blend once a year for 25 years.  It's a more complex blend, which I like.  It combines spicy notes with a higher than average acidity and nice pop in the flavor from their choice of Latin American beans.  And mellowed with a smooth but consistent-body flavor from their choice of Pacific beans.  The key ingredient is their choice of aged Sumatran beans.  Sumatran coffee on its own is definitely in my list of top ten coffees.  Alot of the spicy tones of the Christmas Blend come from the aged Sumatran beans.  It also has a full consistency without being "thick" and an acidity that doesn't shock the palate.There may still be time for you to pick up a pound of the Christmas Blend before you have to wait another year.  I would but as you'll read in the next four posts, my coffee stock is on the heavy side right now so I have work to do.  I was working through the last of this pound of Christmas Blend as family arrived, so they managed to get a cup or two of it before it was gone.