Starbucks Milano Luna And Milano Sole Review: A Delicious Duo Coffee Fans Can Get Behind

For its latest coffee effort, Starbucks is aiming for versatility. On October 1, which just so happens to be International Coffee Day, the café chain is launching a coffee "duetto" (which means "duet" in Italian), in the form of two all-new Starbucks beans inspired by the city of Milano (or Milan, to Americans). The duetto, which will be sold separately, consists of a dark roast called Milano Luna (Italian for moon) and a light roast, Milano Sole (Italian for sun). Milano Luna and Milano Sole are the exact same coffee roasted two different ways. In anticipation of the official release, Starbucks invited Mashed to taste both coffees at the Starbucks Reserve in the Empire State Building.

We're always down for a coffee tasting, but this one was special. The tasting was led by Starbucks coffee developer Sergio Alvarez, who appeared live from an official Starbucks tasting room in Seattle, Washington. Alvarez was the lead developer for the duetto, and traveled to Milan where he immersed himself in Northern Italian café culture for the project. During the tasting, Alvarez went into detail about the process behind the duetto's inception, and was also eager to hear our perceptions on how Milano Luna and Milano Sole was perceived on the palette. Here's how it went.

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As Sergio Alvarez expressed in our session, launching Milano Luna and Milano Sole together is Starbucks' way of meeting consumers where they're at, while also attempting to blow their minds. It's a tall order, and to help coffee tasting newbies, the duetto is offered with a colorful tasting placemat (Starbucks calls it a sampling card), that breaks down the specific notes of Milano Luna and Milano Sole. You can do the tasting inside Starbucks with coffee brewed onsite, but in-house sampling cards are only available in select stores.

Sampling card or not, the most important point to know about Milano Luna and Milano Sole is that both coffees are a blend of Columbia and Sumatra Roasts — two types of beans Starbucks already sells. By roasting the same ratio of beans two different ways, Milano Luna and Milano Sole wind up tasting different from one another, yet retain their respective balance from the medium-body of the Columbia and the boldness of Sumatra.

Having the coffee tasting placemat to indicate those differences provides a nice visual, helping to point out the flavor contrasts of the duetto. It can also make a tasting feel more interactive. Starbucks locations that have the placemats will likely offer to brew the duetto with a Clover machine or French press, in traditional coffee tasting fashion. Upon its release, Milano Luna and Milano Sole will also feature regularly as the brewed dark or light roasts of the day.

We started the coffee tasting with Milano Sole, the lighter roast of Starbucks' duetto. Sergio Alvarez explained that when he and his coffee development team set out to create the Milano Luna and Milano Sole duetto, over thirty coffees were sampled in the process. Light roast coffees are known for their brightness and high acidity. We find that highly acidic light roasts can leave too sharp of an aftertaste, which is why bold roasts tend to win out with us. Milano Sole doesn't go too far in the acidic direction at all. Its medium acidity and notes of vanilla and pomegranate give Milano Sole a crisp yet smooth taste and mouthfeel.

Starbucks Coffee Development team chose to use Colombia-grown beans to represent the sunny side of the duetto and it was a great decision. What we get is a mindful flavor balance that plays upon the typically acidic properties of light roast coffee while accentuating its tart notes. Starbucks classifies the single-origin Colombia Roast coffee it sells as a medium roast — and the Milano Sole tastes more like a medium than a light roast to us ... and we're not complaining about it. Bottom line: Milano Sole drinks like a light roast made for people with slightly bolder tastes.

Right off the bat, we were drawn to the beautiful coffee bag that houses Starbucks Milano Luna. Not only did it really bring home the contrast between the dark and light roasts in Milano duetto, the original, vibrant artwork on the charcoal-colored bag pumped up the intrigue. Would the coffee itself be a glamorous, Italian fantasy?

Milano Luna is bold, but not quite robust. When we tasted it, the coffee developing strategy of Sergio Alvarez and his Starbucks team was very clear — especially the part about creating something that felt accessible enough to meet coffee drinkers where they are. We picked up on the toasty, caramelized sugar-ish notes of Milano Luna, but not the deep, espresso-y taste that we often associate with Starbucks Italian Roast, which is one of the darkest roasts in the chain's repertoire. Sumatra-grown beans seem like they're doing most of the work for Milano Luna, yet the inclusion of the Colombia beans definitely tamp down the bold edge of its flavor profile.

We liked the smoothness, lower acidity, and deeper flavors in Milano Luna, but the finish was medium-earthy, and could come off as a little muddy. Starbucks Milano Luna might not be ideal for diehard dark roast drinkers. That said, it is an accessible approach to bold coffee, and we enjoyed drinking it.

Starbucks Milano duetto feels like an ode to true coffee lovers. The juxtaposing bags of Milano Luna and Milano Sole are beautiful. The original abstract artwork was designed to evoke the vibrant café scene in Milan — just like the coffee beans inside. The emphasis put on sipping the coffees in a tasting setting and the juxtaposing abstract artwork on both coffee bags elevates Milano duetto out of the weekday a.m. routine and pushes it more toward the social realm. Milano Luna and Milano Sole feel like they are meant to be shared.

Grabbing both coffees as a set and hosting a coffee tasting with friends could be a fun little activity at your next gathering. You can discuss the elements of each coffee as a group or even take a poll of who likes which coffee best. As for us, we appreciated the finesse applied to crafting Milano Luna into a medium-acidity light roast with a balanced complexity of flavor, but slightly preferred the overall deeper notes of the Milano Luna. It was a close call. 

It can only be "la dolce vita" for so long. A great deal of time and care has gone into the roasting craftsmanship and development of Starbucks Milano Sole and Milano Luna, however, this is a limited-edition affair. We love the idea of Milan as a muse at Starbucks — the city bustles with stylish corner cafés and has the art of coffee roasting in its DNA (Starbucks opened a Reserve Roastery in Milan in 2018).

The Milano Duetto's October 1 arrival also allows for a unique opportunity to taste how different roasting methods change an identical blend of coffee beans. Sergio Alvarez pointed out that time and temperature are the key roasting factors that alter the beans' taste and texture. By roasting Milano Sole at a faster rate and lower temperature, the beans are light, bright, and more acidic. A bold roast like Milano Luna requires a longer roast time at a higher temperature to bring out the deeper earthy notes. Selling coffee in this unique format is a first for Starbucks, so if you're curious to give it a try, be sure to sample this delicious duetto.