LATEST REVIEWS
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.
In the aroma sweetly deep-toned, slightly smoky, with suggestions of cinnamon, caramel and a round banana-like fruit. In the cup quite caramelly and sweet, gently roasty, with a slight mildewy ferment that gives the cup an earthy, cocoa-toned character. Rich, complexly cocoa-toned finish.
Sweet-toned, deeply roasty aroma, with cedar, chocolate, sweet orange and floral complication. Simplifies a bit in the cup, but displays a simple, powerful richness with muted, tight-knit complexity: chocolate, cedar, pruny dry plum. Cleanly rich in the finish.
Delicately complex, high-toned aromatics are the glory here. Giddily fruity aroma, with distinct vanilla notes and suggestions of white wine, custardy caramel, flowers, chocolate. In the cup delicate and very sweet, with continuing floral, wine (Riesling) and semi-sweet chocolate notes. The floral delicacy carries into the slightly astringent finish. Too delicate for this world: loses some of its refreshing complexity as the cup cools.
A classic, cherryish sweet ferment runs lushly from aroma through finish. In the aroma the sweet ferment reads as an expansive cherry-toned milk chocolate; in the cup it takes on a Cabernet character, though still chocolaty. The short finish is superb: rich, deep, sweet, chocolaty. Slight astringency in the long finish. The ferment tones remain sound and sweet as the cup cools.
Flowers dominate in the lush, buttery, apple- and cherry-toned aroma. Gently and sweetly acidy in the cup, light-bodied, delicately rich, with more giddy floral notes, a sweet, orangy citrus, and an underlying roundly chocolaty fruit. Richly delicate finish.
A soft, opulently ingratiating coffee. Sweet-toned aroma with distinct banana/peach notes and a hint of milk chocolate. In the cup medium-bodied but silky in mouthfeel, with a lush, sweet acidity, floral top notes and chocolate, peach and ripe tomato tones influenced by a slight smokiness.
Musty earth tones of the kind typical of Sumatras rather than Colombias complicate an otherwise sweet, richly acidy cup. The musty tones read as a cedary spice, perhaps black pepper, and are enveloped in a deep chocolate richness with some slight, vanilla-toned top notes. Sweet finish with a gentle balancing astringency.
Very deep, resonant aroma, with distinct floral and cherry-toned coffee fruit notes, buttery chocolate, and a slight, bracing suggestion of fresh-cut cedar. In the cup giddily and sweetly acidy, with continued clear, intense floral notes and a Chardonnay-like fruit. A hint of butter and, as the cup cools, ripe tomato. The cleanly rich finish stiffens just slightly as the cup cools.
A contradictory but balanced profile: The sweetly winy acidity is rounded by a cedar-toned roastiness, with raisin, apple, semi-sweet chocolate and caramel complications. Raisin is particularly prominent in the deep, gently roasty aroma, chocolate in the finish.
Very sweet-toned, intense aroma with distinctly buttery vanilla notes and hints of chocolate, honey and flowers. In the cup sweetly and richly acidy. The fundamental flavor complex is a chocolaty coffee fruit with heady complications of vanilla, flowers and honey.
In the aroma distinct semi-sweet chocolate, caramel and floral notes, with a hint of ripe tomato. Quiet but lush in the cup, with floral notes enveloped in a voluptuous milk- chocolate- and caramel-toned fruit that persists in the gently rich finish.
High-toned, delicate aroma, with sweet flowering grass and cherryish coffee fruit notes, hints of flowers, milk chocolate, apple-toned pipe tobacco. In the cup rich but still delicate with flower and apple notes and a wine-like, or perhaps apple cider-like, character, crisp yet lush. Clean, sweetly tart finish.
A classically lyric coffee. The aroma is intense and enveloping, with spicy ripe tomato, bittersweet chocolate, caramel, and banana-like fruit notes. The ripe tomato and dark chocolate notes carry into a cup shimmering with sweet, wine-toned acidity and the unusual banana-like fruit notes, which even seem reflected in the pleasant viscosity of the mouthfeel.
Delicate but intense aroma: sandalwood, hints of cherryish fruit. In the cup lean in mouthfeel; the aromatic wood notes settle toward chocolate while the fruit displays a distinct and pleasant grapefruit twist. The chocolate and fruit persist only momentarily in the finish before they are lost in astringency. Reader Frank Baker nominated this coffee as "a quintessential Sumatra, absolutely the best I have ever tasted."
Intense aroma, very sweet in impression, with round blueberry, fresh leather and cedar notes. In the cup the roast turns the blueberry toward a rich chocolate, but also seems to develop an astringent edge to the cup. In the finish the lovely blueberry chocolate barely makes itself heard above the persistent astringency.
A coffee whose uncompromisingly earthy character requires the same reorientation of conventional taste as do peaty malt whiskies. Distinct moist fallen leaf notes in the aroma with hints of sweet fruit ferment that with some imagination read as chocolate. In the cup the fallen leaf tones turn distinctly humus-like with continued hints of a sort of fermented chocolate. Medium body, syrupy mouthfeel. The chocolate notes persist in the finish, softening and complicating a hardish astringency.
I found myself using the term "delicate" several times in describing this coffee: delicate coffee fruit tones in the aroma, delicate but smooth mouthfeel, and a delicately complex flavor: nuts, dried fruit (raisins perhaps) with hints of wine and semi-sweet chocolate. Roaster Bob Baker nominated this coffee, citing its "sweet, honey laden cup."
Delicately fruity aroma, sweet cherry with a hint of chocolate. In the cup sweet, rich, surprisingly full-bodied, with a dry, wine-toned black currant fruit and a slight burned undercurrent. Sweetly rich short finish, but a hint of burned astringency shadows the long. This was the highest rated of three Starbucks coffees nominated and reviewed for this article.
Impressively round, deep aroma with semi-sweet chocolate and hints of blueberry and fresh-cup cedar. Quiets in the cup, but the pleasing complex of semi-sweet chocolate, cedar and blueberry persists. Blueberry dominates the in the richly sweet though slightly astringent finish.
Richly mid-toned aroma with sweet earth notes complicated by hints of caramel, chocolate and Mediterranean herbs. In the cup a lush sweetness envelopes intensified chocolate and caramel notes and continuing sweet earth and pungent herb tones, with a hint of grapefruity citrus. This complexity fades rather quickly in an otherwise pleasant finish. Nominating reader Al Welker cites this coffee as "very special giving a mellow low acid cup when roasted medium."
