Reviews for Simon Hsieh's Aroma Roast Coffees

In structure sugary sweet yet dry in the mouthfeel. Aromatics are shifting and complex: cedar, raspberry, pineapple, spicy rose, unsweetened cocoa. Brisk, gentle acidity; silky to lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Sweetness prevails in a fruit- and spice-toned finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Richly and sweetly tart in aroma and small cup: fresh-cut cedar, dark chocolate, zesty orange, hints of flowers and pipe tobacco. Full yet buoyant, lively mouthfeel. Flavor carries into a long, deep finish. Tart fruit, softened by a backgrounded chocolaty sweetness, continues to dominate in two parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Impressive range and complexity. Pungently sweet grapefruit, blackberry, rose-like flowers, fresh-cut fir in aroma and small cup. Full, buttery mouthfeel. Rich, flavor-saturated finish; a hint of astringency in the short smoothes out to cocoaish chocolate in the long. Delicate, berryish fruit and sweet milk chocolate dominate in two parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweet, pungent citrus – grapefruit, orange – and crisp cocoaish chocolate in aroma and small cup. A hint of roses. Full, buttery mouthfeel. The cocoa and sweet, ripe citrus carry into the finish and persist with graceful softness in two parts milk.

Deep, sweet night flowers, lemon and grapefruit and backgrounded cocoaish dark chocolate in aroma and cup. In the cup a savory hint emerges: bay leaf perhaps. Rich, resonant acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Rather dry but intensely flavor-saturated finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Ken, at 92, liked this unusual sample better than co-taster Sean Kohmescher (90) did, perhaps because Ken read more depth in the aromatics and flavor. Sean stopped at citrus, honey and caramel in aroma and small cup whereas Ken added dark chocolate and pungent fir. Ken also found a bit more going on in the finish, with flowers complicating a deep, bananaish chocolate. In two parts milk Ken and Sean read the cup about the same although applying slightly different language, with Sean citing lemon and ”light caramel” and Ken a “lemony chocolate.”

Orange, bittersweet lemon, nut, aromatic wood in aroma and cup, with complicating floral top notes. Balanced, crisp acidity; silky mouthfeel. The citrus notes in particular carry into a rich, sweet finish.

Rich aroma with layered nuances of sweet cherry, stone fruit, nut and chocolate. In the cup, gentle but sustained acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel and softer fruit flavors, tending toward tarter cherry and sweet citrus. Chocolate remerges in the finish along with a note of aromatic wood.

Startlingly intense, sweet-toned notes of ripe lemon, baker's chocolate and night flowers runs through the profile aroma through finish. Roundly rich acidity, plush mouthfeel. The baker's chocolate sweetens toward a crisp bittersweet chocolate in the cup and finish.

Deep and penetrating floral aroma: orangy sweetness and blackberries. Gentle acidity, smooth mouthfeel, and an intense, flavor-saturated character in the cup: classic black currant notes mingle forcefully with the concentrated sweetness of dried berries and flowers. Long, intensely sweet finish with the flavor notes delicately lingering and softening toward a fruit-toned chocolate.