Boston Reviews

Soft, round aroma: muted notes of lemon and flowers. In the cup balanced, gently tart acidity, lightish body, silky mouthfeel, continuing lemon and flowers. Some flavor carries into a clean, simple finish.

Pungently sweet aroma: ripe lemony citrus, backgrounded nut. Round, soft acidity, medium body, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Nut moves forward in the cup, complicated pleasingly by dry berry, lemon, flowers, fir. Sweet-toned finish, with some flavor persistence.

Round notes of butter, caramel, molasses and a hint of citrus in the aroma. Silky to lightly syrupy mouthfeel, softly tart acidity. Fruit moves forward in the cup – apricot, a more distinct lemon – with continued suggestions of caramel and molasses. Flavor simplifies a bit in the quiet finish.

Delicate, sweet-toned, giddily bright. Honey and rose-like flowers dominate in aroma in cup, with hints of ripe orange and moist pipe tobacco. Fruit-saturated acidity, light but very smooth mouthfeel, richly resonant finish in which the honey and floral notes turn vaguely but pleasingly toward milk chocolate.

Elegant, sweet-toned, balanced. Buttery dark chocolate, flowers, crisp hints of nut and orange. Well-integrated acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, cleanly rich finish.

Grandly pure and sweetly acidy. Symphonic citrus notes range from ripe orange to tart lemon to pungent bergamot, with a softening hint of flowers and a rounding hint of cocoaish nut. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The cocoa note turns decisively chocolate in a richly dry finish.

Depth and syrupy opulence in an extravagant aromatic profile: heavy-scented dusk flowers, rich, almost carnal fruit (apricot, plum, cherry), a brightening hint of lemon, crisp cocoa intensifying toward a resonantly flavor-saturated finish.

A sweet, well rounded cup. Cherry and citrus mix with chocolate, nut and cedar in aroma and cup, along with a distant hint of lavender. Perfectly balanced, sweet-toned and smooth acidity. Fruit diminishes in the finish focusing the flavor on unsweetened chocolate.

Soft, sweet fruit tone in the aroma broadens in the cup, displaying distinct notes of blackberry, black currant and apricot. Bright-toned, fruit laden acidity and silky mouthfeel. Long lasting honeyed fruit flavors simplify only slightly in the finish.

Evaluated as espresso. High-toned aroma combining flowers and very ripe orange with a distant hint of fresh-cut grass. In the small cup smooth, lightly syrupy mouthfeel and a complex range of flavors that maintain the floral and ripe citrus theme with complications of black cherry and sweet nut. The flavors carry into a sweet short finish and linger delicately in the long. The flavor complex carries intact into two parts milk cushioned by a rich, caramel-like sweetness.

Pure, intense aroma: flowers, orange, apricot, a hint of aromatic wood. In the cup big sweet-toned acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, continued floral and fruit notes that round toward blackberry and a nut-toned baker's chocolate. Flowers in particular carry into a sweet-toned, rich finish.

Classic cup: pure, lush, powerful. Molasses sweetness in the aroma with hints of nut and flowers. In the cup grandly but sweetly acidy, syrupy mouthfeel, continued molasses and night floral notes with hints of honey and nut. Long, rich finish.

Crisp walnut and cherryish chocolate in the aroma, together with spicy aromatic wood. Sweet, deep, powerful acidity, rich and lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The spicy aromatic wood and walnut notes carry into the cup, taking on a caramel-like sweetness complicated by hints of fruit and layers of dark and milk chocolate. Rich in the short finish with lingering chocolate tones and a slight astringency in the long.

Evaluated as espresso. Simple, sweet and rich in the aroma; caramel with a hint of flowers. In the small cup deep, balanced, complex: peach-toned fruit, dark chocolate, orangy citrus, continued floral top notes. The flowers and chocolate in particular persist into a long finish. Dense mouthfeel. In two parts milk, muted hints of the flowers and peach-toned fruit survive to complicate the predictable chocolate-caramel bloom.

Evaluated as espresso. Deeply sweet aroma displaying elements of flowers, strawberry and honey. The aromatic notes carry into the small cup with complications of cherry, berry and a fruit-toned chocolate that persist into the long sweet finish. In two parts milk the fruit and floral notes gracefully survive and the chocolate mellows and rounds.

Intense cocoa, lemon and floral notes in the aroma. In the cup rich acidity, lightly syrupy body, dry lemony cocoa, lush night flowers, and a distinct spice note suggesting nutmeg, all carrying majestically into the long, deeply flavor-saturated finish.

Pure, flawless coffee, classic in its simplicity and directness. Tart, cherryish coffee fruit with a crisp, distinct cocoa complication runs through the profile from aroma to finish. Sweetly bright acidity, silky mouthfeel, balanced structure, rich, long, flavor-saturated finish.

A very slight fruit ferment both complicates and shadows the profile. A distinct orange-toned citrus and nut character dominates the aroma. In the cup round-toned acidity, syrupy mouthfeel, continued orange and nut notes sweeten and add a cocoa crispness. The finish is long and resonant, though the flavor fades rather quickly.

Rich, complex fruit aroma, intensely sweet and full. Roundly balanced acidity, smooth body, with a hint of floral and fruit tones expanding in the cup: sweet citrus, berries, currants. A mildly astringent mouthfeel carries into the lightly bittersweet chocolate-toned finish.

Ken (93) favored this coffee considerably more than did co-cupper Jim Reynolds (89) despite the fact that both described it in similar terms. Ken was taken by floral qualities in aroma and cup, an essential sweetness, and what he called a complimentary "cocoaish dry fruit," doubtless the same sensation as Jim describes positively as "pungent" and "spicy and nutty." Both agreed that the acidity was gentle, though Ken scored it higher and described it as "crisp and sweet." Both found the mouthfeel attractively smooth and the finish long and flavor-saturated.