Reviews for Wonderstate Coffee

Amazingly and giddily sweet. Honey, lush night-blooming flowers and ripe orange in aroma and cup. Juicy, lyric acidity; syrupy mouthfeel. Flavor consolidates more than fades in a remarkably rich, honey-toned finish.

Intense, gently but sweetly tart. Lemony peach, almond, fresh-cut fir, brown sugar in aroma and cup. Delicate, lively acidity; leanish but silky mouthfeel. Long, almost sugary sweet short finish, drying in the long.

The dry, tartly sweet fruit sensation characteristic of the best Kenya coffees unfurls with pleasing, shape-shifting complexity: Melon, black currant, blackberry, tart orange, with floral and fresh-cut fir complications. Assertive but balanced acidity; lean mouthfeel. Smoothes out in a decidedly sweet, mango-toned finish.

Deeply and dramatically complex aroma and flavor: Pineapple- and berry-like fruit, milk chocolate, hints of brandy and mint. Richly bright acidity; very smooth, silky/syrupy mouthfeel. The finish is saturated with flavor, particularly with the minty brandy notes. Turns savory as the cup cools, perhaps a bit bitter; otherwise this would be a 94-rated coffee.

Gently pungent in aroma and cup: cedar, grapefruit, lemon, with rounding hints of dark chocolate. Round, rich acidity; lively, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Flavor carries deeply into a long, sweet finish.

Intense, exhilaratingly complex citrus character, simultaneously suggesting bitterish lemon zest, sweet ripe lemon, pungent grapefruit with a heady hint of citrus blossom. Lightly syrupy body; clean but tartly dry finish.

Flowers, stone fruit and honey in the aroma. In the cup bright acidity and flavor that balances tart citrus with sweetness, more flowers and a hint of black currant as the cup cools. Fruit and flowers sustain in the rich, softly astringent finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Rich, concentrated fruit flavors in aroma and small cup: sweetly tart cranberry and pie cherry, floral top notes with a deepening hint of dark chocolate. Resonant, long, fruit-toned finish. Light-bodied. Balanced in two parts milk: The fruit softens toward milk chocolate but retains a pleasingly tart edge.

Ripe lemon dominates, with rounding complications of apricot and nut-toned chocolate and a crisp hint of fresh-cut fir. Rich, dry acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel; deeply lemony finish.

Complex aroma combining suggestions of orangy citrus and dried lavender with hints of honey and baking spices. In the cup rich, fruity acidy, medium body with a lightly silky mouthfeel and broad, juicy, floral-toned flavor notes with more citrus and complicating hints of chocolate and crisp white wine. Finishes cleanly with fruit and chocolate lingering and sweetening in the long.

Nut, flowers and blackberryish fruit in the balanced though slightly muted aroma. In the cup rich wine-toned acidity, silky mouthfeel, sweetly tart lemon and blackberry notes soften toward chocolate as the cup cools. The blackberry fruit nuance carries into a long, rich finish.

Balanced, pungent character - "smoky and nutty" for co-cupper Jim Reynolds (89), "prune, nut, aromatic wood" for Ken (90) with rich floral hints. Smooth mouthfeel, round, rich finish.

Bright-toned lemony aroma, with hints of blackberry, flowers and butter. Tartly sweet acidity in the cup, with medium body and a smoothly juicy mouthfeel. Lemon-like flavors are balanced with floral and cocoaish chocolate notes. Finishes cleanly, developing sweetness in the long.

Soft, sweet-toned aroma: crisp black cherry, honey, a hint of flowers. In the cup rich acidity, syrupy mouthfeel, pungent but lush: dry berry, hints of flowers, flowering grass, herb. The dry finish remains on the rich side of astringent.

Sweet-toned, delicately complex aroma: flowers, hints of honey, cedar and tart cherry, perhaps chocolate. In the cup very gently acidy, light in body but buoyant and silky in mouthfeel, and giddily floral- and honey-toned with complicating hints of chocolate, tart coffee fruit and Riesling-like white wine. Fades rather quickly in the finish but exquisitely clean with memories of chocolate and flowers. An exceptionally pure and balanced coffee.

Both co-cupper Miguel Meza (88) and Ken (89) agreed that this coffee was low-toned, but for Ken it displayed a quietly resonant depth whereas apparently for Miguel it was simply quiet. Miguel found chocolate and citrus in the aroma, Ken chocolate and a distinct ginger note. Miguel read "blueberry, over-ripe fruit and toast" in the crisply fruity cup, Ken dry chocolate, brandy, blueberries, apricot, flowers. Both noted a persistence of berryish fruit in an otherwise rather thinnish finish.

Very sweet-toned aroma with distinct floral and fresh coffee fruit notes. In the cup sustains its sweetness with a delicate intensity and continued floral and fresh coffee fruit (tart cherry) notes that carry into a long, richly bright finish.