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.
A very sweet, gently rich coffee. Spicy, perhaps slightly musty notes in the aroma lean toward a cocoaish, cedar-toned chocolate in a cup that grows more nuanced and quietly complex as it cools.
A showcase for the intense, sweetly tart sensation coffee people call acidity. The acidity is nuanced by tomato and orange notes in the aroma, softening toward chocolate and cedar in the cup. The acidity leaves a rich astringency behind in the short finish, but delicate orange notes outlast it in the long.
Subdued but rich aroma, complicated by cedar, leather and a shifty low-acid fruit, pumpkin one moment and pear the next. Simple in the cup but still rich, with a rather opulent mouthfeel and sweet dried fruit notes - raisin, apricot - leaning toward chocolate.
Deeply dimensioned, low-toned, quietly complex coffee. Semi-sweet chocolate, floral top notes, and a crisp temperate fruit that I read as pear carry from aroma into the cup, consolidating on chocolate in the finish.
The aroma, sweetly pungent with a hint of chocolaty fruit, provided only a hint of the intensity displayed by the cup - high-toned and richly acidy, with a simple but powerful flavor complex: dry berry (aka black current), a hint of grapefruit, and rich, dry chocolate.
The aroma is sweet-toned and intense: cedar, semi-sweet chocolate, raisins. In the cup, dry, spicy berry, grapefruit, Bordeaux-like wine notes. The flavor notes persist in the slightly but pleasantly astringent finish.
The aroma is very sweet in impression, gingery and orange-toned, the acidity gentle, the cup delicate but rich with a ginger-toned fruit that rounds and settles toward chocolate as the cup cools. Clean, chocolate-toned finish.
Smooth, rich with a sweet complex of low-acid fruit-related tones: banana, chocolate, raisin, honey, flowers. In the cup the mouthfeel is full and supple; honey, raisin and flowers dominate and carry into a cleanly resonant finish.
An essay in the difference between acidic and acidy, this commandingly dry coffee does not display a glimmer of sharpness. Tremendous range and complexity in the aroma: dry berry, high-toned cedar, orange, chocolate. The dry berry, orange and chocolate notes carry into the cup with crisp richness and fade into the finish without a hint of astringency.
Complex, smoky/toasty aroma with chocolate and vanilla suggestions. Medium body with a roundly smooth mouthfeel. Crisply elegant in the small cup: apricot and semi-sweet chocolate. Rich, chocolate-toned short finish, slight astringency in the long, but the chocolate well outlasts it. Superb in milk: good presence, sweet, with distinct milk chocolate and vanilla tones and a long, (once more) chocolate-toned finish.
A profile so delicate it has difficulty asserting itself. Gentle and lyric in the aroma, with sweet nut and a cherryish fruit that carry into the cup but remain subdued and without authority, a charming but distant warble in the woods.
The aroma is rather flat, though complicated by an interesting walnut- or maple-toned caramel character, perhaps with a hint of anise. The maple-nut-caramel character carries into the simple but balanced cup.
A very heavy-bodied coffee, roasty but not burned, low-toned to the point of bluntness, with pungent cedar notes that approach semi-sweet chocolate and a hint of Mediterranean herb.
Pungent and smoky throughout the profile, with some suggestions of semi-sweet chocolate, cedar and rosemary. In the cup the mouthfeel is lightly and pleasantly astringent, bracing rather than bitter or heavy.
A light-bodied, sweetly crisp coffee. Suggestions of leather, spice and a dry, fruity chocolate in the aroma. Melodic in the cup, with sweet citrus top notes and a hint of chocolate balanced by a slight tart sharpness.
Lively aroma, with fresh-cut cedar and cherry-chocolate notes. In the cup simple but deeply resonant, with hints of flowers, chocolate and cherry-leaning fruit shimmering through the gentle roastiness.
An intense, high-toned coffee with almost African character: distinct orange notes and hints of sweet spice, chocolate and flowers, lavender perhaps, in the aroma. The citrus, chocolate and lavender tones are sharper and simpler in the cup, though still intense. A tingle of astringency persists, not unpleasantly, into the finish.
Dominated by a low-toned but richly intense fruit complex that in the aroma clearly and pleasurably reads as semi-sweet chocolate. In the cup turns toward something less chocolate and more cherry perhaps, with a little pungent lean toward Mediterranean herbs. Full-bodied and deeply dimensioned throughout.
Mid-toned but rich, deep aroma, with fresh leather, pear, peach and milk chocolate suggestions. Simplifies a bit in the cup, undercurrents of pipe tobacco and a tartly refreshing, sweet fruit, pie cherries perhaps or kiwi.
A lush and coherent cup. Caramel and chocolate in the aroma. The caramel sweetness deepens in the cup, complicated by a wine- or apple-cider-toned fruit and continued hints of chocolate. Full, round mouthfeel.
