LATEST REVIEWS

A wonderfully deeply dimensioned coffee. Low-toned, resonant aroma complicated by vanilla, caramel and chocolate notes. In the cup roundly bittersweet, big-bodied, simple but lush. With patience vanilla and dark chocolate notes re-emerge. The finish is sweet and rich, though marred by a mild but distinct astringency. Reader Steve Prenzlauer nominated The Groovy Mind roasting company generally for its coffee quality and devotion to organic and Fair-Trade principles.

In the aroma the earthy scent of moist fallen leaves and sweet grapefruit, with a hint of semi-sweet chocolate. In the cup I couldn't find the chocolate, but the fresh-turned, leafy earth tones and the sweet grapefruit intensified. The earth tones remain soft and free of hardness in the long, sweet finish. This is one of several Van Houtte coffees cited by reader Carolyn Jones, who simply testifies that Van Houtte has "awesome coffee!"

A big, deep, simple gesture of a coffee. Roundly resonant aroma with fresh-cut cedar and semi-sweet chocolate notes. Reveals a slight bitter edge in the cup, but remains fundamentally deep, rich and full-bodied, complicated by continuing cedar and raisin-toned dark chocolate notes.

Pure yet extravagant notes of coffee fruit and flowers themselves carry with breathtaking simplicity from aroma into the sweetly acidy cup. I don't recall having experienced the taste of the coffee fruit (think sweetly tart cherries) and the voluptuous scent of the coffee flower (jasmine) so distinctly and so intensely. The slightly astringent finish and turn toward ripe tomato as the cup cools reveals that, at this writing, the coffee is perhaps a bit young, but drink it now because tomorrow it will be out the roaster door. Nominated by reader Herman Reichold who calls it "one of - if not the - best coffees I have had the pleasure to drink."

The scent of blueberry fills the room simply in the act of grinding this explosively fragrant coffee. Blueberry continues richly to dominate the wet aroma, nuanced by hints of other low-acid fruit - peach perhaps, and chocolate. In the cup the fruit inclines more toward wine and a lush, minty chocolate, but the blueberry reasserts itself in the finish. Only in the long finish is there a hint of the serendipitous ferment responsible for much of this aromatic excitement. Probably as close to a perfect example of this coffee type as this imperfect world allows, tactfully roasted.

(Tasted as produced by the Melitta One:One single-serve brewing device using a Melitta 44mm pod at a cup volume of 8 ounces): Soft, shallow aroma with vanilla- and peach-toned fruit notes. In the cup this coffee landed on the palate like a liquid brick: bitter, hard and monotoned. Some sweetness and vague suggestions of vanilla and caramel were quite overwhelmed by bitterness in the cup and a soapy astringency in the finish.

(As brewed in a Juan Valdez Pod Coffee Maker in a Juan Valdez 55mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Shallow, sweet, smoky aroma, with some peach-toned fruit and a hint of cardboard. In the cup simple and bittersweet with a possibility of reading the bitter side as walnut. The cardboard tones hinted in the aroma turn disturbingly old-board woody.

(As brewed in a Krups 1010 single-serve brewing device in a Podhead Sensation 62mm pod at a cup volume of 6 ounces): Simple, sweet, subdued, vaguely fruity aroma, with a slight hint of smoke. Bitterish, simple and shallow in the cup, with the only complication the same remote hints of fruit and smoke.

(As brewed in a Black & Decker single-serve brewing device in a Podhead Sensation 62mm pod at a cup volume of 7 ounces): Good complexity in the aroma -- caramel, sweet floral grass, hints of fresh leather and semi-sweet chocolate ? although the general impression remains shallow and thin. In the cup watery, half-heartedly bittersweet, with vague hints of fruit and chocolate. Simple but surprisingly rich finish.

(As brewed in a Flavia Fusion Drink Station using a Flavia proprietary single-serve pouch at a cup volume of 7 ounces): Subdued, delicate, vanilla-toned aroma. In the cup excellent body and mouthfeel, good sweetness, but very flat and monotoned in flavor, with a hint of fruit and cardboardy stale notes. No flavor whatsoever persists in the simple, slightly astringent finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 7.25 ounces): Sweet, simple, caramelly aroma. In the cup medium-bodied but lean in mouthfeel, with a thinly pungent, musty/malty character and hints of cherryish fruit. A mild musty astringency in the finish leans toward rich.

(As brewed in a Senseo HD7810 single-serve brewing device in a Senseo brand 62mm pod at a cup volume of 8 ounces): Ingratiatingly sweet and caramelly aroma with remote suggestions of low-acid fruit: banana perhaps. In the cup thin bodied and lean. The sweet, mildly fermented fruit reads as a sort of dilute, wine-toned chocolate. The sweet chocolate persists rather richly in the short finish, but seems to grow a bit cloying in the long. (Same coffee, same pod as brewed in a Black & Decker One-Cup Coffee Maker at a cup volume of 7 ounces): The musty-fermented notes that read as caramelly and chocolaty in the Senseo cup come across here as, well, musty and fermented, although they charitably can be read as a sort of twisted semi-sweet chocolate, think chocolate crossed with fresh tobacco. Rated 78 as brewed in the Black & Decker.

(As brewed in a Juan Valdez Pod Coffee Maker in a Podhead Sensation 62mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Flowers edging on sweet grass in the delicate, rather shallow aroma. In the cup softly and gently acidy, with tart but sweet cherry notes and a light (rather than thin) body and smooth mouthfeel. Short, clean, simple finish.

(As brewed in a Flavia Fusion Drink Station using a Flavia proprietary single-serve pouch at a cup volume of 7 ounces): Simple, smoky aroma with hints of flowers and fruit. In the cup shallow and sharply smoky, with muted complications of walnut and chocolate. The finish is heavy and rather astringent but rich, with continued hints of walnut and chocolate.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 7.25 ounces): Distinct vanilla and caramel aroma with a hint of sweetly acidy fruit, orange perhaps. In the cup light in body and delicate in mouthfeel, soft and simple in flavor with dilute hints of caramel and orange. Moderately rich in the short finish, very slightly astringent in the long.

(As brewed in a Melitta One:One single-serve brewing device in a Podhead Arabica Express brand 44mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Subdued, faintly rich aroma, with wine and walnut notes and regrettable hints of cardboard. In the cup medium bodied with a roundly acidy, wine-like character and a touch of lush sweetness, though the cardboard still lurks. Rich in the short finish, mildly astringent in the long.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Sweet, round aroma complicated by cherry-toned fruit notes. Rather rich in the cup, with decent body and sweet, wine-toned acidity but little else in the way of nuance. Clean, round short finish, slight bitterness in the long.

(As brewed in a Bunn My Cafe single-serve brewing device using a 62mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Lovely aroma: balanced, delicately sweet, floral, with orange-toned citrus notes. Radically simplifies in the cup: turns ordinary, sweetly shallow, gently acidy, lean-bodied. The orange notes resurface in the thin but cleanly refreshing finish. (Same pod as brewed in the Krups 1010 at a cup volume of 6 ounces: Watery, shallow, delicately sweet acidity, remote suggestions of caramel and fruit, basically underextracted. Rating 79.)

(Tasted as produced by a Braun Tassimo Single Serve Coffee Maker brewing a Tassimo T-Disc at a cup volume determined by the coding on the capsule, in this case 3.5 ounces): Simple, sweetly smoky aroma, with some depth of sensation and floral and fruit hints. As would be expected given the short serving size, full-bodied in the cup, with a fermented musty fruit that reads as walnut and bitterish semi-sweet chocolate. Cardboardy undertones, perhaps owing to staling. Simple but surprisingly clean short finish, with some mild astringency in the long.

(As brewed in a Senseo single-serve brewing device in a Podhead Sensation 62mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Sweet, round, fairly deep aroma with hunts of chocolate and cherry. In the cup the chocolate and tart cherry notes grow more distinct, complicating a rather rich, sweetly balanced cup and carrying into the clean, round finish.