Brewing whisky-flavored coffee in oak barrels for a limited time

Starbucks aged coffee is currently available only at Roastery outlets in Seattle for a limited time.

Now, some consumers have the opportunity to drink coffee "brewed" in oak barrels at Starbucks.

Whisky barrel aging is already widely used in the production of wine, beer, gin and even chocolate, and coffee could be the next drink to be influenced by this technology.

Aged coffee is made by placing unroasted coffee beans in used wine or spirit barrels and fermenting them for several weeks, during which time manual stirring is required to ensure that the surface of the coffee beans contacts the inner walls of the barrel evenly.

The original wine or spirit aroma in the barrel will be soaked into the coffee beans, and then roasted to remove the alcohol, while giving the coffee beans a "mixed earth and oak aroma" that traditional roasting methods do not have.

Starbucks uses 800 pounds of Sulawesi beans at a time to get the taste of whiskey.

Starbucks says it is the first company to try barrel aged coffee, although that's a bit of an absolute statement because many roaster cafes in the United States have been experimenting with the method since 2012, but Starbucks 'move may represent the beginning of the mainstream.

Ceremony Coffee Roasters of Annapolis is often credited as the first American coffee house to use barrel aging to make coffee. Other early experimenters included Chicago's Dark Matter Cafe and San Diego's Modern Times Cafe. The process took hundreds of coffee roasters to refine it into what it is today.

Aged coffee is currently available only at Starbucks Roastery in Seattle for a limited time, offering cold coffee and hot coffee with milk foam, both with vanilla syrup. A medium aged coffee costs $10, or you can buy the beans home for $3.70 an ounce.

Roastery is a concept proposed by Starbucks in 2014, focusing on the roasting process, known in Chinese as "coffee roasting workshop." Consumers can choose different coffee beans and brewing methods at Roastery, and witness the complete process of coffee making.

The first Roastery opened in Seattle in 2014, covering 1,400 square meters, which is also seen as part of Starbucks 'move into the premium coffee market. Shanghai Roastery is expected to open this year and is about twice the size of the Seattle store.

Judging from Starbucks 'past style, Chinese consumers are still very likely to taste Starbucks aged coffee. Starbucks, for example, started selling cold-brewed coffee in North American stores in 2015, and a year later, coffee beans brewed in cold water for at least 20 hours and flowing out of the tap like beer began to be sold in selected stores in China.

Including the now-red "Flat White" coffee, which was first sold in North America last January and then appeared in Starbucks China stores in October.

According to this step, aged coffee is expected to land on the Chinese market as soon as this year.