Reviews for Barefoot Coffee Roasters

A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Crisp, rich, caramel-toned. Caramel, lemon zest, date, hazelnut, oak. Balanced structure with briskly sweet acidity; feathery-smooth mouthfeel. The finish is deeply sweet, richly caramelly, with hints of lemon zest and hazelnut. The addition of whole milk elevates caramel, already front and center, to dessert-like dominance.

Deep, complexly pungent. Concord grape, black currant, flowers, dark chocolate in aroma and cup. Richly brisk, floral-toned acidity; lightly syrupy, buoyant mouthfeel. Chocolate in particular lingers in a resonant finish.

Tart, zesty, complex: lemon, fir, spicy tea rose, a hint of nut-toned cocoa in both aroma and cup. Sweet but tartly assertive acidity; light, leanish mouthfeel. Flavor rounds toward cocoa in a finish that some may find bracing and others too astringently drying.

Richly floral, gently pungent. The floral notes are spicy and rose-like. Complicating hints of fir, citrus, cocoa, raisin. Bright but balanced acidity, syrupy mouthfeel. Very sweet, gently flavor-saturated finish.

Both co-cupper Wendy De Jong (89) and Ken (90) found pleasingly and sweetly tart notes (coffee cherry for Wendy, ripe lemon for Ken) complemented by apricot-like stone fruit and a rounding milk chocolate in aroma and cup. Both cuppers were impressed by a “lightly syrupy” (Ken) mouthfeel and a sweet, cocoa-toned finish.

Balanced, complete coffee with a straightforward aromatic complex persisting from aroma through finish: peach, citrus, flowers, complimented by a delicately sweet chocolate. Rich acidity, syrupy body.

Very complex espresso in which forceful blend components were allowed full, if rather competitive expression. Co-taster Byron Holcomb (90) read the earthy and mildly musty side of the blend: earth and molasses in the aroma, "musty, cedar - a little confused" in the small cup. Ken (92) on the other hand, read the confusion as complexity and emphasized the Ethiopian elements, particularly the flowers and fruit, which for him gave the cedar and earth tendencies an anise-like liveliness. Both admired the mouthfeel, which Byron described as "the same weight as whole milk: buttery and round without heaviness." Impressive in four parts milk: "deeply, richly and cleanly chocolaty" for Ken; toffee-like for Byron, though his reservation persisted: "still a bit dirty."

Sweet tangerine and jasmine aroma, balanced acidity and a soft, smooth mouthfeel. Tangerine and flowers carry into the cup along with notes of berries, apricot and mandarin. Finishes cleanly with soft fruit notes continuing in the long.

Improves as it moves along. The aroma is delicate, almost too delicate, with only slight hints of chocolate and flowers. Picks up energy in the cup: soft but vibrant acidity, silky mouthfeel. The dark chocolate and night flowers retain their delicacy but turn distinct and rich, carrying into a long, sweet-toned finish.

Both Ken (89) and co-taster Heather Perry (87) admired the aroma: "creamy berry" for Heather, "bananaish fruit with floral top notes" for Ken. But for both the mouthfeel was a bit lean in the small cup and the flavor a bit sharp, though Ken admired the continued floral notes. For both tasters the profile smoothed in the long finish, with a sweet flavor persistence that suggested chocolate for Ken, "blackberry pie" for Heather. Heather found it lost sweetness in milk but Ken was pleased, finding it crisp with "true chocolate" notes.

A light-roasted coffee rather too bright and lean-bodied to fulfill conventional expectations for espresso, though shimmeringly floral and citrusy throughout the profile. "Very clean and floral in the aroma" for co-taster Heather Perry (87). In the small cup refreshingly if rather sharply citrus, with "delicate butter and floral notes" (Ken, 87) that carry into an impressive, sweetly dry finish. The delicate floral and citrus profile fades in milk, however, retaining a tart sweetness but quite lean in mouthfeel.

High-toned, simple, classic aroma: orange, sweet tomato, hints of cedar and milk chocolate. In the cup a rich, roundly sweet-toned acidity dominates, with continued orange and milk chocolate notes that grow more distinct as the cup cools and the acidity softens. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Long, tartly sweet finish.

A quiet, very soft coffee with delicate but lush aromatics. In the nose distinct flowers, lemon, butter. The cup displays a gently bright acidity, silky, buttery mouthfeel, and a finely balanced bouquet of coffee fruit, cocoa and lemon. The cocoa softens toward chocolate in the long finish.

Rather simple aromatically, but sweet-toned, balanced and rich. In the aroma butter, cedar and a hint of white wine. In the cup gentle, deep acidity, round mouthfeel, continued cedar and white wine notes with a hint of flowers.

A slight musty fruit ferment serendipitously complicates this richly low-key coffee, reading as cocoa and cedar-toned ripe orange in both aroma and cup. A very slight astringency smoothes out in the long, sweet finish.

A slight, serendipitous hint of sweet ferment complicates the rich fruit, turning it toward a chocolaty, brandyish cherry or orange with a hint of blueberry. The chocolate takes on an almost minty character in the sweet, very low-acid cup. As the cup cools a bare suggestion of bitterness surfaces, the shadow side perhaps of the rich, fermenty sweetness.

A quietly exotic, complex blend of impressive originality. Smoothly midtoned, gently pungent aroma. In the cup displays lively, almost peppery acidity and full body with some tingle in the mouthfeel. Lyrically and richly sweet, with a wine-like, black grapey hint of ferment and a slight musty-malty edge. A surprising shimmer of flowers in the long finish.

Pungent but sweet throughout the profile. In the aroma caramel, fruit-toned, slightly smoky cedar, orange. In the cup the pungent, smoky fruit notes read as a tartly sweet grapefruit, perhaps dry berry, with continuing undercurrents of caramel sweetness. Distinct orange notes resurface in the rich finish.

In the aroma distinct semi-sweet chocolate notes and cherryish or raisiny fruit with a lush twist of ferment. Crisp cedar and toast notes complicate the cherry-toned chocolate in the small cup. The fruity chocolate persists in the splendid short finish, though a shadow astringency barely implied in the cup eventually dominates in the long. In milk a slightly lean body is more than made up for by crisp toasted rice notes and a voluptuous, milk-softened version of the fruity-fermented chocolate.

Chocolate and toast show in the rather subdued aroma. In the small cup the body is medium and the mouthfeel slightly lean, with a simple but attractive pungent/sweet character complicated by a cocoa or dry chocolate. Rich, semi-sweet chocolate finish. In milk balanced and crisply sweet, with the chocolate retaining its dry authority.