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We have published thousands of coffee reviews and espresso reviews since 1997. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee. To search for a specific roaster, origin or coffee use the Advanced Search Function.
Classic cup: pure, lush, powerful. Molasses sweetness in the aroma with hints of nut and flowers. In the cup grandly but sweetly acidy, syrupy mouthfeel, continued molasses and night floral notes with hints of honey and nut. Long, rich finish.
Sweet and complex aromatically, combining round floral tones with stone fruit, toast and caramel. In the small cup medium-bodied and bright. The flowers persist, softening slightly, and the fruit turns toward crushed strawberry, carrying into a rich finish. The flavor profile is sustained in two parts milk, with a rounder, sweeter, chocolate-tinged version of flowers and fruit.
Dark chocolate and aromatic wood with a hint of brightness in the aroma. In the small cup light-bodied but delicately plush in mouthfeel, pungently sweet, with continued hints of aromatic wood, dark chocolate, and a complex but muted fruit. The chocolate in particular carries into a rich, rather dry finish. Flavor maintains nicely in three parts hot milk, the chocolate rounding and softening predictably while the aromatic wood notes retain some crisp authority.
Rich aroma: flowers, nut, a hint of citrus. In the cup crisply sweet acidity, silky mouthfeel, deep floral flavor complicated by pungent dry berry and grapefruit-like citrus. Pure finish: very sweet, very long.
Price: $17.95 / 12 oz.
Sweet, round aroma with muted notes of nut and chocolate. In the cup restrained acidity and a soft, fruit-toned flavor that with patience yields suggestions of bittersweet chocolate, honey and cedar. The bittersweet chocolate note carries into a pleasant though short finish.
Sweet-toned, fresh aroma, with hints of orangy fruit, dry berry, dark chocolate. In the cup very soft acidity, plush mouthfeel, and an almost sugary sweetness with continued hints of dry berry. The sweetness carries into the finish, where a suggestion of the chocolate revives.
Sweet-toned aroma with notes of toast, aromatic wood, nut, and a mild fruitiness. The fruit note becomes more pronounced in the cup, reading as stone fruit, along with continued sweetness and hints of chocolate and continued aromatic wood. The finish settles just on the bracingly rich side of astringent.
Deeply chocolaty and toasty aroma, with a faint hint of flowers. Simplifies in the small cup, with flavor notes settling toward aromatic wood and a mild smokiness. Aromatic wood and bittersweet chocolate in the finish. Rounds, sweetens and develops impressive complexity in two parts milk: milk chocolate, caramel, toast, a suggestion of cinnamon.
A rather original espresso. In the small cup full, syrupy mouthfeel and very complex flavor balancing savory and sweet tendencies: aromatic wood and butter on the savory side, hints of dark chocolate, dried fruit, flowers, banana on the sweet. The complexity carries into a rich finish. Two parts hot milk predictably fattens and sweetens the dark chocolate, but the aromatic wood and butter suggestions maintain their complicating presence.
Intense floral aroma with suggestions of blueberry, grapefruit, orange, honey and sweet pipe tobacco. Bright-toned acidity, medium body, silky mouthfeel and big flowery and fruit flavors carrying from aroma into cup: lemon fading to dried apricot, tangerine, dried plum, milky chocolate. Flavors soften in the finish but linger deeply and sweetly.
Straightforward aroma with good intensity, exhibiting aromatic pine wood and a soft but pungent suggestion of smokiness. In the cup soft acidity, full body, smooth mouthfeel and round sweet flavors of toasted nut, mild roastiness and caramelized sugars. The roasty note turns toward pungency in the finish, distracting slightly from the sweetness.
Tart, grapefruity pungency, hints of sweet cocoa and nut in both aroma and cup. Subdued acidity, lean but silky mouthfeel, good flavor persistence into the finish. A very slight salty astringency shadows an otherwise impressive cup.
Sweetly rounded aroma with hints of flowers, chocolate, nut. In the cup a low-toned, subdued acidity, medium body, continued sweet chocolate and nut notes, with a hint of malty mustiness. Clean, simple finish with some carryover of the chocolate nuance.
A difficult coffee to evaluate. On the upside deep-toned, rich, syrupy in mouthfeel, with a sweetly pungent fruit that suggests pineapple or butterscotch with perhaps a hint of dark chocolate. A very mild but distinct earthy mildew shadows and partly contributes to the richness.
An agreeable, easy-drinking coffee. Hints of fruit and flowers in the aroma; the fruit develops an orangy character in the cup, supported by a caramel-like sweetness and balanced acidity. Simple, gently sweet short finish; a slightly distracting pungent tone develops in the long.
Price: $11.99 / 16 oz.
Sweet, richly roasty, cocoa-toned aroma. In the cup smooth mouthfeel, soft acidity and roasty pungency with suggestions of nut and toasted grain and, as the cup cools, black currant and butterscotch. The dominant flavor notes linger in a long, dry finish.
Price: $14.95 / 16 oz.
Soft, floral-toned aroma with round citrus notes and honey-like sweetness. In the cup, delicately silky mouthfeel and subtle yet complex flavors suggesting citrus, plum, nut, and more flowers with hints of caramel and toast that linger quietly into the long finish.
Complications of fruit ferment are rich and complex in both aroma and cup: Deep, sweet, chocolaty molasses and moist pipe tobacco, a round apricot-like fruit, and a powerful suggestion of dusk flowers extend from aroma through a deeply flavor-saturated finish. The richness fades a bit as the cup cools, revealing a shadow composty edge to the ferment, but the main impression of opulence persists.
Sweetly and gently bright in aroma and cup. A soft, lemony citrus dominates the aroma. In the cup delicate floral-toned acidity, silky mouthfeel, continued lemony character complicated by flowers and a shadow chocolaty richness. Very sweet finish; the floral note in particular lingers.
Intense aromatically; notes suggesting baking bread, blueberry, sour cherry, prune. In the cup tangy bright-toned acidity, silky mouthfeel and elegantly round, sugary sweet suggestions of flowers, complex fruit, honey, toast. The sweet toast note lingers long into the finish.