New Product: Starbucks Espresso Regalo coffee beans

by Teresa Gubbins

Starbucks offers all sorts of coffee beans but it has only ever had one espresso bean. But now they've released the Espresso Regalo, a limited-edition release and their first new espresso blend in nearly 30 years.

According to the marketing blah-blah:

Espresso Regalo is made from expertly roasted Ethiopia Yirgacheffe® and Costa Rica central valley, 100 percent certified organic arabica beans. It is a delicate coffee featuring an elegant and medium body with nuanced flavors of floral notes, peppery spice, and tropical citrus fruit while finishing with soft hints of dark chocolate. It is a wonderful complement to the popular, bolder Latin American and Asia Pacific espresso that is sold in whole bean bags and served in store in all Starbucks® espresso beverages.

That's possibly all true. As the basis of a cappuccino or latte, it's still dark and toasty, but not quite as ashy-tasting as the regular espresso beans and OK, maybe there's "soft hints of dark chocolate", too.

But other points of interest re: the Regalo:

It was introduced to accompany an expensive ($600) new espresso machine Starbucks just started selling. The machine, called the Sirena, is a gourmet level, and supposedly you need new gourmet beans to match.
It reflects the behavior of boutique coffee companies such as Intelligentsia and Ecco who offer more than one espresso blend.
It's only available in half-pound increments, $8.95 per half-pound. (Starbucks' regular espresso beans go for $9.95 a pound.)
It's a special seasonal coffee with only a few bags shipped to each store, and not available for re-ordering.