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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Delicious Pairings with Starbucks and Walmart

Yesterday, I invited a few family members to a little book party I put together.  I had the opportunity to sample Starbucks' Willow Blonde Blend coffee, and Walmart's Lemon Sliced Loaf Cake, and wanted to see what the others thought about them.

My husband and I both frequent our town's Starbucks retail store and he regularly drinks Starbucks brand coffee at home.  He prefers flavored coffees like carmel and vanilla. I was curious what he'd think of the Willow Blonde Blend, as it features complimentary notes of citrus flavor.  I wondered if he, as well as my other guests, would be able to pick up on them with the addition of the Lemon Sliced Loaf Cake---a citrus-flavored treat.
Before the party, I shopped for the coffee at Walmart.  They have a special display in the bakery section featuring certain coffees that are meant to compliment the flavors found in some of Walmart's baked items.  I didn't have a hard time finding the display, but it was up a little highI think I would have preferred it at eye-level since there are several things to read on it.  I knew where to find the cake as I'd seen it before when shopping, but never would have thought to pair it with the coffee.  It was three aisles over from this display so the intended pairing wasn't obvious.
Jamie brews a great pot of coffee!
When it was time for me to try the coffee and cake, I was surprised by the bold flavor of the coffee.  I assumed, as did my guests later on, that a "blonde" blend would be lighter in flavor.  Instead, it was surprisingly rich.  We were not at all disappointed by the quality of the coffee.  One of my guests later commented on the lack of bitter aftertaste that she was used to in other coffees she'd tried.  Starbucks proved, once again, to be our favorite brand.
Unfortunately, I was disappointed by the lemon cake.  The lemon flavor in the cake was barely detectable, which made it difficult to pick out the citrus notes in the coffee.  The cake had more of a buttery flavor and was fairly dry---even though it looked moist in the package.
My guests were also not able to detect the citrus notes in the coffee.  We all agreed the cake changed it's taste, making it lighter and sweeter.  We found ourselves wishing we had something with a stronger lemon flavor to try out.  Since we knew the citrus flavors were there in the coffee, we were curious to experience them!  
After our taste-testing experiment, we took turns sharing book reviews.  Mom talked about a story of a princess that she's enjoying and I received applause for finishing Little Women.
We all really enjoyed our time together, sharing good books and treats.  Maybe we'll pick another #DeliciousPairings combination a couple months from now and do it again!

For more information visit: 
Starbucks on Twitter and Facebook
Walmart on Twitter and Facebook

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™.  All opinions are honest and are my own. #cbias #SocialFabric

Linking with:
Tea Time Tuesday @ Rose Chintz Cottage 
Teach Me Tuesday @ Growing Home
Titus 2sdays @ The Time Warp Wife  
Tabletop Tuesday @ A Stroll Through Life
Courtship Connection
Whole Hearted Home Wednesday
Wise Woman Linkup @ A Wise Woman Builds Her Home  
Inspire Me Wednesday @ Mama Buzz
Whatcha Work Up Wednesday  

10 comments:

  1. I'm so sorry to hear about that cake not turning out as hoped. Perhaps a Lemon Meringue would be better? :)

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  2. I understand about flavors not turning out like you expected, but it looks wonderful! What a fun evening!

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  3. It sounds like you had a wonderful time, despite the disappointing cake.

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  4. What fun! The coffee sounds good. I'll bet you could probably bake your own lemon poppyseed tea cake that you all would really enjoy.

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  5. Hi Sarah,
    It sounds like you all enjoyed a lovely time together despite the disappointing cake.
    I do enjoy a nice cup of coffee in the mornings and Hubby always brings coffee home after work which we enjoy together while talking about the day we've had. Thank you for coming to tea and I hope your week is off to a wonderful start.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  6. PS~ Yes, I do normally have a list of beverages you can choose from besides tea, but I neglected to add it to my post this week for several reasons. One being our computer was not working properly at the time. Thanks for sharing with us today.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  7. Looks like a fabulous gathering, even if the cake wasn't wonderful. Thanks for joining TTT. Hugs, Marty

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  8. What a fun idea. Makes me wish I liked coffee. It's always at the center of a fun group of ladies :) Blessings from Hungry for God today.

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  9. It is always encouraging to know that other people have things not turn out quite like expected. I have had cakes totally flop on me even though I have made them from scratch for years.

    Thanks for linking up over at WholeHearted Home this week. I hope you have a wonderful week.

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Mrs. Sarah Coller

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