Starbuck's "Forty Mile Blend"

I've just had another amazing cup of coffee from Starbucks: Forty Mile Blend.

This blend is made exclusively of peaberrys--the name given to the coffee cherries that only develop one bean. Instead of the normal flat sided beans, peaberrys are rounded on both sides. Some say this adds a different taste profile.

The story behind the blend's name is that finding these peaberries is as difficult as panning for gold. So they named it after a famous gold panning river.

The taste was bright and palate cleansing. But the most enjoyable, and surprising, elemenet was the way the taste slowly expanded to fill your mouth. The closest I can come to describing it is thinking of listening to a beautiful concerto on a low volume and then slowly increasing the volume. It never got overbearing. But all the complex sensations were never threatened. They just got "bigger" as you savored each swallow.

I know, this sounds corny. But try a cup before you mock me. You'll have to buy your own; I've finished my supply!

[I have utterly failed to find this coffee listed on any websites, Starbucks-owned or not! I really did buy a pound at the Starbucks store in Bangor!]