I heard recently that Starbucks was making an effort to get back into making actual coffee rather than milkshakes with burnt espresso. To do this they opened up a Starbucks Reserve in Seattle. 2 things you should know about me going into this place. 1. I LOVE everything Starbucks makes that has NOTHING to do with coffee. 2. I LOVE great coffee. 18 years of being Straight Edge will make you a coffee expert. So I was excited to try this out. The location is fucking incredible. Hands down its the best looking coffee shop you’ve ever been in. Everything Starbuck normally has snack wise they have a gourmet counterpart. The coffee is on a menu where rather than picking between syrup flavors you’re picking coffee options by region and then selecting a preparation method. Serious coffee nerd porn. They couldn’t help themselves so of course here are other fancy drinks like an espresso, mint and soda water lightly sweetened but all designed to bring out the flavor of the coffee. So what’s the verdict? Well just like Starbucks normally. The coffee, despite taking the recommended region and prep tasted like Starbucka but a bit better. The fancier espresso and mint was amazing and the coffee flavor was definitely front and center. All in all its a great idea, and an exciting turn to see Starbucks start to embrace the flavor of coffee, but it still ain’t got shit on Stumptown.