Honoring Veterans With The Perfect Starbucks Pairing #Cbias #DeliciousPairings

I am a HUGE Starbucks lover! For the past few years you could see me around 8am at my local Starbucks ordering a Venti coffee. While I seriously could not go one day without my Starbucks drink, my husband thought to save some money we could brew Starbucks coffee right in the confines of our home. I was skeptical at first because I have been such a faithful Starbucks customer at their retail shops, but I decided one day to buy some coffee from Starbucks to brew at home. He was right in that the Starbucks home brewed coffee was equally as tasty!  I now split my time between brewing at home and visiting their stores.

Recently I found out that Starbucks has a Limited Edition Holiday Blend at Sam’s Club. Once I heard that they have it on the shelves, I immediately headed over to Sam’s Club. The description on the Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday blend stated that it was “Spicy and Sweet with Hints of Comfort and Joy.” This sounded fantastic to me, but what really stuck out to me was the cost of $18.98 for a 28oz. bag. For the $3-$5 price I spend on a Starbucks coffee, I thought to myself this is a great deal. I can drink many brewed cups of coffee right in my home.

While I was at Sam’s Club, I went on to check out the wide assortment of Artisan Fresh Baked Goods. We regularly buy Artisan Fresh baked goods, including cinnamon rolls, muffins, etc, at Sam’s Club so I knew that all of their baked goods are extremely tasty. I thought it would be great to buy one of the Artisan Fresh products and to see how it paired with the Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday Blend. I decided on the Artisan Fresh Pumpkin Muffins since it is a limited flavor that can only be purchased this time of the year.

The next day, I got up and brewed myself a cup of the Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday Blend. I usually put a lot of cream in my coffee but because of the description of the flavors, I thought I would try it without any added cream, sugar, or milk to get the true taste. I knew it probably would taste good because the aroma infiltrating my house when I brewed the coffee was amazing. The next step was to taste it and boy, was it MARVELOUS! Then I decided to take a taste of my Artisan Fresh Pumpkin muffin before I took another sip of coffee and it really was an incredible pairing. When I paired the two together, I picked up the wonderful complementary tastes of ginger, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange, and cloves. The combination of the Artisan Fresh Pumpkin Muffins with the Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday Blend really brought out the wonderful, smooth, and delightful taste of the Starbucks coffee. I am a huge fan!

When I was at Sam’s club, I picked up another package of the Artisan Fresh Pumpkin Muffins with a package of the Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday Blend for my father-in-law. This past Monday was Veteran’s Day and I thought it would be wonderful to show my appreciation to him for all the years he put into the armed services by giving him the gift of my Starbucks holiday package that I created for him.

Hayley wanted to help out too with giving him this gift, so she made her “papa” a personalized card to go along with the Artisan Fresh Pumpkin Muffins and Starbucks Holiday Blend coffee. I thought it was very sweet that she wanted to honor her “papa” too for all the years he spent in the service and his contribution to the army.

After we were all set, we added in a Starbucks mug and set out to give it to my father-in-law.  We are all so grateful for all he did to help out this country. His main job in the army was to provide dental treatment to the soldiers. He was an army dentist for many years and was stationed all over the world.  Without his services the soldiers would not be able to get true dental care. I am very proud of him for his years that he did this for the military!

He was so excited to receive this package. Like me, he never tried the new Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday Blend, so he asked if he could make it at his office. Of course, his dental assistant wanted to try it too. They could not rave enough about the pairing of the pumpkin muffins with the Starbucks holiday blend! They thought the Artisan Fresh Pumpkin Muffins made the Starbucks coffee flavors come to life and bring out all the delicious flavors!  He now wants to go out and buy my mother-in-law her own Starbucks holiday blend package for the holidays. I think that is a great idea!

I am also going to send  another Starbucks blend package for the holidays to my babysitter who just got married to a wonderful man who was stationed in Iraq for the last 3 years. She has unfortunately left us to be stationed on a base in Virginia with her husband and I think sending them a Artisan Fresh/Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday Blend package would really bring great smiles to their faces. We miss them so much!

Make sure you head out to your local Sam’s club to make your own #DeliciousPairings for yourself or a loved one. The combination of the coffee with the pumpkin muffins is truly incredible. Get yourself in the holiday mood by picking up some of the Starbucks Limited Edition Holiday Blend Coffee and Artisan Fresh Baked Goods today! Also, Sam’s Club will open at 7am on Black Friday and they will greet all the customers with free Starbucks Holiday Blend coffee and Artisan Fresh pastries while supplies last! This will be a great time to see how well the pairings go together!

 

 

*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™. #CBias #SocialFabric