Boston, MA Reviews

Sweet-toned, softly acidy aroma, with crisp, cedary fruit notes (aka black currant) complicated by hints of flowers and dark chocolate. In the cup powerfully acidy, dry, pungent but juicy. with citrusy berry and a continued nod toward a cocoaish dark chocolate. The finish stays on the rich side of astringent.

In the aroma round and balanced, with dusk flowers, orange and nut notes. In the cup continued classic balance: quiet but assertive acidity buffered by great sweetness, crisp fruity cocoa and continued nut and floral notes. Clean, sweetly rich, long finish.

Intensely floral and cherry-toned aroma with rounding hints of chocolate and pipe tobacco. In the cup balanced acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, and almost sugary berry-toned sweetness, balanced by a crisp, slightly vegetal dry edge, think cacao or (if you know it) tamarind. Long, opulently rich finish.

Symphonically rich coffee of extraordinary elegance. Crisp dry berry notes of the kind often characterized as black currant, orange, nut, dusk flowers run through the profile from aroma to cup. Powerful acidity enveloped in sweetness, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The black currant notes in particular carry into a long, pure, sweet-toned finish.

Caramelly, wine-like aroma with ripe, perhaps overripe, fruit notes. Dense, heavy presence in the cup. Both Ken (89) and co-cupper Ted Stachura (89) found bittersweet chocolate notes. Ted also noted nut, pipe tobacco, hints of leather. Long, nut-toned finish.

Intense, crisp yet sweet-toned aroma with honey, cedar and rose notes. In the cup soft acidity, medium body, and a lyric, delicate complexity: honey, sweet cherry, molasses, cedar, hints of milk chocolate and flowering grass. Clean, elegant, though rather short finish.

Deep-toned, cherryish fruit and pungent aromatic wood in the aroma. In the cup pronounced, citrus-toned acidity, full mouthfeel, bittersweet structure, with continued hints of cherry, cocoa, and a pungent wood or tomato note. The cocoa turns toward chocolate in the long, rich finish.

Balanced in the aroma: orange, night flowers, a hint of cocoaish chocolate. The cup is dominated by a grandly classic acidity, tart yet lush, complicated by continued flowers, orangy citrus and a hint of cocoa. The tart fruit notes carry into a long, opulent finish.

Crisp but juicy in the aroma, with butter, honey, flower and marmalade-like orange notes. In the cup smoothly and gently acidy, delicate in mouthfeel, with a continued tart, marmalade-like, orangy sweetness complicated by cocoa, cedar, and continued flower and honey notes. Oranges and flowers carry into a cleanly sweet finish.

Grand-gestured, complete coffee. Intense, rose-like floral notes dominate the aroma, with lush honey, molasses and coffee fruit. In the cup the mouthfeel has honeyish depth, the acidity is sweetly powerful, the flavor dominated by tart berry notes both dryly austere yet utterly and voluptuously juicy, complicated by continued honey, molasses and flowers. Smooth, balanced, flower-saturated finish.

Rich, gently pungent aroma with butter, floral and apricot-toned fruit hints. In the small cup medium body, syrupy mouthfeel, and rather sharply but sweetly cedary with continued apricot and flowers and an explicit moist, leafy earth note. At its best in milk: rich, strong-presenced but sweet with dark chocolate and sustained suggestions of moist earth and flowers.

Delicately but richly nuanced throughout the profile with cherryish fruit, flowers, honey, milk chocolate. In the cup the acidity is tart but luxuriously sweet and the mouthfeel lightly syrupy. Flavor saturated and flawless finish.

Crisp, intense, yet sweetly lyric coffee. In both aroma and cup black currant, blackberry, orange, cherry; in the cup hints of cocoaish chocolate and merlot-like red wine as well. Long, sweet finish just on the rich side of astringent.

In the aroma the fruity earth tones display an almost candied sweetness paired with a moist-leaf pungency. In the cup medium in body but silky in mouthfeel, with continued candied fruit and moist leaf notes that together hint at a host of associations ranging from chocolate to butterscotch to tartly sweet grapefruit. The flavor-saturated finish is a bit astringent when the cup is hot, but rounds nicely as it cools.

In the aroma deep-toned with moist earth and fruit tones that suggest molassy fruitcake or banana bread or a fruity dark chocolate. The candied fruit, molasses and moist earth complex carries into the cup, riding richly over a slight flatness introduced by decaffeination. Sweet, long, rich finish, very slightly astringent when hot but impressively smooth as the cup cools.

The aroma has great depth and range of sensation: flowers, butter, cherry, hints of chocolate and cedar. In the cup rich acidity, supple mouthfeel. The aromatics simplify slightly in the mouth but retain great depth and power: tartly pungent though ripe cherry, distinct honey, a continuing hint of chocolate. Clean, sweet finish.

In the aroma pungent black cherry and berry notes with lush undercurrents of orange and honey. The cedary berry notes carry richly into the cup with a continued sweet envelopment of orange and honey. Deep, long finish.

In the aroma crisp orange with hints of honey and cedar. In the small cup silky body with a continuing distinct orange note. The honey deepens toward a molasses-toned semi-sweet chocolate. Rich, chocolaty finish. In milk the orange notes complicate a delicate milk chocolate and a superb finish.

Floral-toned, intense aroma dominated by the elegantly crisp, dry berry note coffee tasters are fond of calling black currant. In the cup richly acidy. The black currant note softens toward cherry under the influence of a sweet, deeply honeyed richness. The black currant revives in the flavor-saturated finish.

Very sweet-toned aroma with hints of honey, lemon, flowers and a slight cedary pungency. In the cup the acidity is quietly soft but wine-like, the mouthfeel silky, the flavor dominated by a continued honeyed sweetness and a balancing cocoa and walnut crispness.