Blind Coffee Tasting 

Beginning with blind coffee tasting, baristas identified the characteristics and flavors of Starbucks coffee (brewed in a coffee press by the judges), demonstrating their coffee knowledge and sensory skills.  

For baristas representing China, Japan, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia Pacific, North America and Latin America & the Caribbean, they tasted and identified six brewed core Starbucks coffees, and Starbucks Reserve ® Roastery baristas did the same with Roastery Microblends.  

Judges evaluated this round on a variety of elements including accuracy of coffee descriptors (such as aroma, acidity, body and flavor), ability to assess roast profile, growing region and more.