LATEST REVIEWS

(As produced in a Beveo concentrate coffee machine at the setting netting the second to "strongest" ratio of coffee concentrate to water): Very sweet-toned, caramelly aroma with hints of butter, earth and green apple. In the cup smooth mouthfeel and simple but agreeable flavor dominated by very sweet but pungent fruit notes - think dried pear or apple rather than fresh. Sweet, rich, gently tart finish.

Sweet, low-toned aroma: toast, banana-like fruit. In the small cup medium-bodied with a leanish, slightly rough mouthfeel and toast and gently scorched cedar notes. Simple, rich short finish with a heavy saltiness in the long. In milk simple, with little sweetness; the usual chocolate turns up dry and salty.

Toast and banana-like fruit notes dominate in the aroma, hinting at a roasty chocolate. In the small cup medium-bodied but leanish and a bit astringent in mouthfeel, sharp in structure with dominating cedar notes and continued hints of a banana-like fruit and chocolate. Rich and rather sweet in the short finish, heavily astringent in the long. Simple but solid presence in milk with the muted fruit modestly blooming as semi-sweet chocolate.

Balanced, simple aroma with muted floral and temperate fruit notes. Rather lean bodied in the small cup, gently crisp, with cedar notes and a hint of semi-sweet chocolate. Surprisingly rich, clean finish. Thin in milk, though the chocolate notes fatten and sweeten.

Crisply sweet, deeply fruity aroma: cherry, sweet orange, milk chocolate. Slightly lean and sharp in the small cup, tartly sweet, with mild cedar and continuing citrusy and cherryish fruit notes. Moderately rich but simple, rather astringent finish. In milk blooms nicely with a cherryish dark chocolate. Slightly heavy finish.

Sweet-toned aroma with an orange-toned nut character. In the small cup smooth, syrupy mouthfeel, sweetly pungent through the finish with continued orange and woody nut nuance. In milk the nut and orange notes sweeten toward chocolate but never quite bloom.

Rich, roundly pungent aroma: caramel, orange, hints of flowers and chocolate. Medium bodied, a touch rough in mouthfeel. The richly pungent, cedary character carries into the cup with continued orange, raisin and semi-sweet chocolate notes. The finish is rather astringent but rich, with good flavor persistence. The pungent character softens in milk with the orangy chocolate sweetening nicely.

Round, gently fruity in the aroma: raisin, nut, a hint of vanilla. In the small cup smooth mouthfeel on the cusp of syrupy and silky; low-toned and neutral in flavor, with cedar notes and the barest suggestion of raisin and nut. Carries with impressive resonance into a long finish. Good presence in milk, though the rich, nut-toned dark chocolate betrays a slight woody, salty side.

Lovely aroma: sweet-toned, gently pungent, with distinct floral and complex fruit (banana, plum, orange) notes. In the small cup medium-bodied with a lightly syrupy mouthfeel and crisp, cedary structure; the fruit turns darkly chocolate. Chocolate and orange carry into a slightly heavy finish. In milk balanced, crisp, though the fruit and chocolate doesn't completely soften and bloom.

As usual this famously refined espresso comes across either as elegantly refined or excessively delicate depending on taste, expectation and (despite Illy's rigorous quality assurance) slight variations in the blend itself. This time around I was impressed by the purity of the aroma and its floral, apple, lemon and milk chocolate notes. The mouthfeel certainly is not fat, but could be praised as silky. The cup could be criticized as a bit too sharp and simple, or valued (as I did) for its gentle tartness and hints of cedar, flowers and lemon. The finish could be praised for its floral and fruit persistence or criticized for a slight lean toward astringency. In short milk one could find it quietly sweet with a fine crisp chocolate (as I did) or lazy and wanting in power and fatness.

Rich, balanced but subdued aroma: pruny fruit, nut, a hint of chocolate. In the small cup fullish in body with a slightly rough mouthfeel, aromatically simple but sweetly resonant in structure with hints of cedar and chocolate. Clean, sweet finish. Comes into its own in milk, where it blooms richly with a deep, malty chocolate.

Sweet-toned aroma with a musty fruit that suggests bananas, dark chocolate and raisins. In the small cup syrupy but slightly rough mouthfeel, sweetly and richly pungent with a cedary semi-sweet chocolate that persists nicely into the finish. Impressive in milk: rich, with a sweet, mint-finishing dark chocolate.

As a straight shot extraordinarily syrupy and liqueur-like. The aroma is sweet and round with a musty ferment that reads as a sort of drunken/brandyish chocolate. In the small cup startlingly full-bodied and smoothly viscous with long-finishing, tight-knit complexity that ranges in suggestion from carnal melon to semi-sweet chocolate to sweet, pungent, molasses-toned tobacco to an earthy morel mushroom. Curiously, given its monumental body, fades and thins in milk, the chocolaty notes persisting but not blooming.

Sweet, deep aroma with chocolaty fruit and a hint of flowers. Silky mouthfeel, smooth in the cup with semi-sweet chocolate and orange peel notes. Rich and sweet in the short finish; a recurring hint of flowers and a slight astringency in the long. As the cup cools the orange-toned chocolate persists sweetly but the body thins.

Intense aroma: nut, mint, brandied cherry chocolate. In the cup rich acidity, silky body and a continuing aromatic profile so deeply and explosively complex that a world of coffee sensation can be found in it: cocoaish chocolate, raisin, flowers, lemon, brandy, orange peel. Very sweet and flavor-saturated short finish, though in the long a very slight salty astringency shadows the fine aromatic echoes.

A superb example of its type, though not a coffee for the conventional. Wood and musty earth notes in the aroma are enriched by butter and orange that together read persuasively as a sort of butterscotch. Rather lean-bodied but very sweet in the cup with orange, pipe tobacco and continued butterscotch notes. In the finish suddenly blossoms and soars, with altogether new and surprising chocolate and even some giddy floral notes.

Lushly complex aroma: flowers, honey, molasses and sweetly tart fruit notes that suggest grapefruit. In the cup moderate in acidity, medium in body, with an opulent candyish, molasses-toned floral character and continued tart fruit notes enriched by a slight, brandy-like ferment. Clean, rich finish. The cup flattens very slightly as it cools.

No hints here: The aromatics are direct, inescapable, lavish. Lushly intense blueberry, chocolate, and floral-toned honey in the aroma. In the cup the incendiary aromatics are influenced by a wine-like acidity that turns the berry and chocolate notes crisp and richly dry. The fundamental berry and floral notes linger with surprising clarity in the finish, although they are outlasted by a slight but forgivable astringency.

Deep, sweet-toned aroma with distinct floral top notes and hints of butter and cedar. Simplifies slightly in the cup, but remains deep, balanced and big-bodied, with semi-sweet chocolate notes that carry into a richly clean finish.

Opens well: Very sweet-toned, deep aroma with a hint of mustiness that merely complicates a tight-knit, delicate complexity: cedar, semi-sweet chocolate, dry berry, orange. In the cup remains sweet, but the musty character dominates, narrowing the aromatics toward a sort of rough, cedary chocolate. Rather tight, salty finish.