Reviews for Portland Roasting

Savory-sweet, rich. Dark chocolate, mesquite, dried date, a hint of lily-like flowers in aroma and cup. Crisp, low-toned acidity. Light but silky mouthfeel. Flavor consolidates in a simple but rich finish.

Juicy but bittersweet, slightly savory cup. Red grape, cantaloupe, grapefruit, lavender-like flowers in quiet aroma and crisp cup. Richly round acidity. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel turns juicy as the cup cools. Citrus and floral notes linger in a dry finish.

Classic dark-roasted Sumatra. Deep, pungent aroma: aromatic wood, molasses, raisin, a hint of earth. In the cup roast-rounded acidity, slightly leanish mouthfeel, rich bittersweet balance, with softly scorched aromatic wood notes that deepen toward baker’s chocolate. Rich and sweet in the short finish; a roasty astringency shadows the long.

Understated, rather lean-bodied cup with pleasing aromatic and flavor notes: pungent, grapefruit-like citrus, aromatic wood, and distinct floral top notes. Sweetly rich finish with some persistence from the citrus.

Quiet, balanced profile that holds up with particular grace as the cup cools. Co-cupper Jennifer Stone (90) remarks on the clean simplicity of the profile with perhaps a coffee romantic's regret at a lack of aromatic intrigue; nevertheless, both Ken (91) and Jennifer found subtleties in the aromatics and flavor, with Ken reading sweet, subdued citrus and cocoa, Jennifer spicy stone fruit, and both remarking on the distinct floral notes. Softly assertive acidity, medium body, sweet finish.

Sweet-impressioned, deep aroma with a wonderfully candied, chocolaty tone to the fruit. In the small cup medium in body but smooth in mouthfeel with a deep cedar and continued candied fruit character. Surprisingly crisp, citrusy finish. Gentle and balanced in milk, blooming with milk chocolate and flowers, quiet but complete.

Ken admired this blend (86) more than Willem (83), who was ambivalent about the aroma ("chocolate with a hint of tobacco"), critical of the small cup ("lacks sweetness and balance") though mildly approving of performance in milk ("pleasant caramel aftertaste"). For Ken, the aroma also was a bit feeble and musty in its chocolate and papaya suggestions, the cup a bit too dominated by musty and slightly fermented fruit notes, but he felt the finish "smoothed out nicely toward dry prune and chocolate," and the blend showed excellent presence in milk. He got so carried away he decided he found marzipan and mint notes in the milk finish.