The Starbucks Coffee Blend Baristas Love (But You Probably Haven't Heard Of)

Every fall, Starbucks fans get excited about the coffee chain's sales record-breaking pumpkin spice latte, but while customers are clamoring for gourdy goodness in their cup of joe, the professionals have their eyes on something else. Starbucks baristas have their own countdown, and it's for the annual appearance of the Guatemala Casi Cielo whole-bean coffee. This limited release has been going on for 20 years, building cult status among in-the-know coffee slingers. 

According to the Starbucks blog, baristas wait all year to get their hands on the coffee they lovingly refer to as "Casi." Casi Cielo is Spanish for "almost heaven," an apt name for the unrivaled flavor experience and the enthusiasm that it inspires. The coffee does sound pretty dreamy — it's smooth, rounded, and balanced with floral aromatics and bright citrusy acidity. Apparently, Starbucks baristas use their "markout (their employee benefit to get a free coffee or tea item each week) to snag Casi Cielo.

"I recently purchased an AeroPress and have been using my markouts for the Casi Cielo and it's absolutely wonderful," said a Starbucks barista under the Reddit handle Problemwithaccount. Customers can follow baristas' lead and experience Casi Cielo via either one-pound bags of whole bean coffee or by grabbing it brewed into a hot or iced coffee at participating locations. Where those locations are depends on which Starbucks have the ultra-fancy Clover Vertica machine, which brews single coffees to different standards for the beans being used and cuts the waste of paper filters.

One of the key things to know about Starbucks' coffee beans is that the brand sources from the "Coffee Belt," over 70 countries across Latin America, the Asian and Pacific regions, and Africa, where coffee grows best. Guatemala is a great source for coffee because of its climate and rich soil, and it's one that Starbucks uses frequently — take its Guatemala Antigua variety, for example, which is available all year around. Casi Cielo is also from this region, growing on the mountains of the Antigua Valley at high elevations that contribute to its complex, rich flavor. The Starbucks team picked Casi Cielo to highlight Guatemalan coffee flavors and fine-tuned the blend with Seattle chefs before its debut in 2004. The citrus, floral, and even subtle cocoa notes make Casi Cielo an easy way to create elevated food and coffee pairings — Starbucks recommends cheeses, nuts, caramel, and chocolate.

Hearing about its flavors and its background, it's no mystery why Casi Cielo is so popular, even among baristas who could understandably get a little jaded working with high-quality, single-origin coffee day in and day out. While Starbucks fans are used to ranking the chain's popular drinks, like flavored lattes and shaken espressos, it's worth paying attention to the experts when they're personally hyped up about a simple but special coffee. Even the bag is collector item-worthy, with a 19th century Japanese woodblock printing-inspired depiction of the gorgeous Antigua valley.