Boston Reviews

A grandly classic coffee, very sweet and deep in the aroma, with berry- and cherry-toned fruit and a balancing hint of crisp lemon and cedar. The cup is dominated by a full, lush acidity: gently tart yet almost sugary sweet. The dry berry and cherry notes persist in the rich finish.

In the aroma delicately complex: berries, flowers, sweet lemon, honey. In the cup opulent: syrupy mouthfeel, sweet acidity, crisply powerful berry notes, continued hints of honey and flowers. Only a rich but simple finish prevents this coffee from rating in the high 90s.

Almost sugary sweet throughout the profile. Flowers and cedar in the aroma; the floral notes give way to a more pungent, tomatoey fruit and hints of cocoa in the cup. The sweetness carries straight into a rich short finish, fading to a mild astringency in the long.

Deeply rich aroma with fruity chocolate and cedar complication. In the small cup the cedar notes dominate, backgrounding the chocolate and fruit. Full body but slightly rough mouthfeel; rich and slightly sharp in the short finish, but in the long smoothes out nicely with a final memory of chocolate. The cedar and chocolate carry into milk, the cedar dominating but the chocolate-fruit side blooming nicely.

Crisp, elegant espresso with dry berry and floral notes. Shows a hint of sweet, tomato-toned acidity in the aroma along with caramel and flowers. In the small cup surprisingly full-bodied with cedar, dry berry and a continuing shimmer of flowers. Clean, rich finish. Masters milk with a delicate, dry-chocolate-toned authority. The floral notes survive with startling clarity in milk, persisting far into the finish.

A classic cup: pure, simple, intense, refined. Sweet-toned but crisp aroma: tomato, cedar, cardamom, chocolate. Richly and sweetly acidy in the cup with the classic complex of flowers and fresh coffee fruit with rounding hints of chocolate.

Sweet-toned and alive with a dense, shifting complexity. Cedar, orange, distinct butterscotch, tomato, perhaps chocolate in the aroma. In the cup low-toned acidity and lightly syrupy in mouthfeel, with an almost sugary sweetness and tight-knit notes of butterscotch, caramel, honey, ripe but slightly tart orange. Rich and sweet in the short finish, though a slight hint of astringency surfaces in the long.

Vividly lively yet elegantly smooth coffee. Intense aroma with tart cherry and round, low-acid fruit notes, banana perhaps, with hints of fresh leather. In the cup sweet, lyric acidity, light but silky mouthfeel, cherry and cocoa notes. Rich, sweet, deeply long finish.

An intense coffee dominated from aroma through finish by a rich, tartly sweet acidity and high-toned lemon and dry berry notes. The finish, like the entire profile, is as deeply sweet as it is uncompromisingly dry.

A delicate but intense lemony chocolate dominates from aroma through demitasse to milk. The lemon-toned chocolate is lavish and sweet in the aroma; in the small cup tartly sweet; in finish pleasantly persistent despite a slight astringency. In milk the lemon mutes while the chocolate rounds out lushly.

Intense, lyrically sweet coffee: honey, flowers and the pure notes of coffee fruit carry from aroma to cup; the acidity is tart but caramelly, even buttery. Impeccably clean, delicately rich finish.

A whisper of an aroma, but a complex one: flowering grass, caramel, honey, a hint of chocolate. Amazingly sweet and delicately lush in the cup, with the honey notes intensifying and the floral notes declaring as spicy tea rose. The honey and floral notes persist in the surprisingly long, resonant finish.

Delicate but deep aroma: flowers, orange, peach, with a suggestion of chocolate. In the small cup smooth, substantial mouthfeel, sweetly crisp in flavor with hints of cedar, lemon, and dry-toned peach. Resonant, impeccably clean finish. Chocolate and fresh leather in milk, with continued complicating hints of peach and orange.

Most cups of this sample were very sweet in aroma and flavor, with soft earth tones (think the odor of freshly fallen, moist leaves that have just begun to compost), and pleasingly round cherry, cocoa and caramel notes. Unfortunately one cup of five was very, very foul tasting, probably owing to a bad bean called a "stinker," so we deducted 4 points from a coffee that otherwise might merit a 90.

High-toned, delicate aroma, with sweet flowering grass and cherryish coffee fruit notes, hints of flowers, milk chocolate, apple-toned pipe tobacco. In the cup rich but still delicate with flower and apple notes and a wine-like, or perhaps apple cider-like, character, crisp yet lush. Clean, sweetly tart finish.

An extraordinary coffee in the earth and fruit style of traditional Indonesias. In the aroma moist leaves turning toward fresh earth, together with buttery, candyish top notes. In the cup full-bodied, with pungent, moist earth tones and crisp, low-acid fruit notes suggesting pear and cherry. The pungent tones smooth out in a sweetly rich finish.

Elegantly high-toned aroma: lemon, peach, berry, a delicate hint of walnut. In the cup medium in body but silky in mouthfeel, with crisply sweet, delicately acidy dry berry and Meyer lemon notes. The finish hovers on the edge of astringency but stays on the rich, bracing side of the sensation.

This light-to-medium-roasted coffee is gently acidy with a floral and high-toned fruit character that quite simply represents the fresh, delicate taste of the coffee flower and fruit itself, carried with a roastmaster's tact from coffee to cup. The downside of this respectful roast is a slight, residual vegetal or tea-like character that some palates will find elegant and refreshing and others, well, too tea-like.

Deep aroma with dry floral and tart berry and chocolate notes. Sweetly high-toned and acidy in the cup, delicately rich, hints of dry berry, sweet herb, flowers. Lightly astringent but refreshing finish.

Extraordinary aroma: high-toned, delicate but intense, lilac and a chocolaty lemon. The chocolate-lemon and floral notes carry into the cup, but are backgrounded by a sweet but intense acidity. Clean, sweet finish.