LATEST REVIEWS

Sweet, caramelly and resonant in the nose, but a smoky pungency dominates the cup and turns unpleasantly rubbery as the cup cools. Blue de Brasil is an organically grown estate coffee. A ‘Roma Roasters is a quality-oriented, small-batch roaster located just north of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Flat, dull, with a heavy, tongue-coating bitterness. The only identifiable flavor note is rubber. Beans are coated after roasting with acid-neutralizing agents, including potassium (but not including aluminum). “Full flavor — less acid!” exclaims the bag copy.

Balanced, round, smooth, full-bodied, with a dry, pruny heaviness to the fruit and a seductive cocoa finish. A bit more sweetness would make this mouthfilling coffee a very impressive entrant in the low-acid sweepstakes. Mysore Plantation is a wet-processed coffee (the fruit is removed before the beans are dried) from the district where, in around […]

Not acidy, but definitely dry, with a pleasantly malty, cocoaish finish and a rich little tickle of balancing sweetness. Quite agreeable, but haunted by a hint of rubbery flatness. A blend from Café La Semeuse, a much admired Swiss roaster. Roasted in Switzerland. A sticker on the bag reads “Never Bitter.”

A touch of sweet but acidy brightness survives the steam treatment, together with restrained floral and dry, wine-toned fruit notes. The understated but brisk cup is marred by a dull, salty sensation that intensifies as the coffee cools. Treated to remove acidity by a “patented, natural steaming process involving no harmful chemical solvents.” Trader Joe […]

Just enough sweetness and caramel softness survive the dark roast to balance its charred pungency. A hint of something fruity shimmers toward the top of the profile — I want to call it pineapple. The motto of Silver Canyon Coffee, a small-batch wholesale roaster founded in 1985, is “Pure Quality.”

The acidity is definitely flattened. Unfortunately, everything else except body is flattened too, including sweetness. Pleasant tickles of flowers and spicy fruit survive, echoing in a Tums-toned emptiness. I treated each cup of an acidy, explosively floral- and fruit-toned Guatemala (originally rated over 90) with a little pre-measured packet of Coffee Tamer acid-buffering agent. The […]

Subdued, low-toned, smooth, full, round. Very little at the top of the profile, but a rich, fat fruitiness in the middle. Giddy suggestions of guava darkened toward cocoa and cherry as the cup cooled.

Powerfully, richly, uncompromisingly acidy. Some cocoa or chocolate tones in the finish, but otherwise simply big, dry, and robust.

Light-footed but discreetly smooth, almost creamy, with a lovely balance of acidy and sweet tones. Hints of fruit turn cocoaish toward the finish. Limited but elegant.

Medium bodied but light-footed; smooth, sweet, and buoyant with exhilarating lemon and chocolate tones. A slight pungency balances the cup.

Rich, grapy fruit lifts off pleasantly from a smoke-toned, rather sharply bitter base. Wonderful aspiration in this blend, but to my palate the bitterness contradicts rather than complements the luxury of the fruit.

Pleasantly dry, brisk, slightly pungent, with an intriguing twist to the fruit -- spice perhaps, cocoa definitely.

Balanced but subdued. Acidy brightness and hints of fruit and chocolate are dampened by a bitter pungency. For the patient, a hint of lavender in the finish.

Gritty, smoky, low-toned and ponderous. Some sweetness peers out from under the rather bitter heaviness.

Light, dryly fruity, complicated by pleasant cocoa tones. Simple, ingenuous, agreeable. Not sweet, but stays on the gentle side of bitter.

A dominating roast flushes out most nuance, but imparts a pleasantly dry, cocoaish character to an elegantly crisp cup. Gently austere.

Impressive complexity: high, sweet notes, caramel in the middle, crisp, edge-of-burned tones, a touch of floral acidity. Excellent body. Pungent, bitter tones propose sugar for the demitasse, but give this blend tremendous staying power in milk, where it blossoms with little loss of range or complexity.

The aroma is clean and high-toned with innuendo of fresh leather. The demitasse is complex but controlled, with a classic balance of sweetness and bitterness embellished by cocoa and nut notes and a crisp shimmer of acidity. In discreet amounts of milk seductive with caramel and cocoa tones.

Clean, elegant, balanced. Fragrant with toast, nut, and caramel notes in aroma, suave in body. The straightforward balance of bitter and sweet tones in the demitasse is complicated by the slightest edge of floral acidity and dry fruit. Light, bright and sweet in milk.