Los Angeles Reviews

Full floral aroma with hints of cherry, syrupy berries and grapefruit. Sweet, yet pungent acidity, creamy mouthfeel. Flavors of tart lemonade, flowers and sweet fruit. Clean, sweet citrus finish with a slight shimmer of acidity in the long.

Intense aroma: sweet cherry and blueberry notes ride a pungent, fresh-cut cedar. In the cup the berry and cedar notes turn toward red wine and crisp cocoa. Sweet, rich, cocoa- and berry-saturated finish.

Deep floral and sweet citrus aroma with hints of toast. Well-integrated acidity, with medium body and a silky mouthfeel. Complex yet delicate flavor notes include cherry, citrus, flowers and muted nut, with a long syrupy sweet finish.

Delicate, sweet-toned aroma: molasses, flowers, flowering grass. In the cup intense but sweetly balanced acidity, silky mouthfeel, lush floral and milk chocolate notes. Long, rich, chocolate-toned finish.

A simple but poised and elegant coffee. Crisp nut notes with a lean toward chocolate dominate the aroma. In the cup round, sweet acidity, medium body with a lightly syrupy mouthfeel, and continued nut notes with a ripe cherryish fruit and perhaps a drying hint of lemon. Simple, rich, long finish.

Sweetly bright aroma, with tight-knit complexity: flowers, cocoa, honey, aromatic wood. In the cup lightly syrupy in mouthfeel, sweetly and lushly acidy but superbly balanced, with deep-toned night floral notes, orangy citrus and continued hints of cocoa and aromatic wood. Rich, flavor-saturated finish with a very slight astringency essentially lost in flowers.

A complex aromatic profile with hints of caramel, honey, fruit, toasted grains and chocolate. Bright, tangy acidity, with a full, elegant mouthfeel. A well balanced cup, tangy Key lime and juicy orange-like tones fade toward a round, satisfying sweetness. A clean aftertaste overall, with slight hints of melted milk chocolate lingering in the long finish.

Crisp, gently bright aroma: fir, blackberry. Gentle but rich in the cup: delicate acidity, medium to light body, dry yet juicy berry notes, flowers, a hint of chocolate. Berry notes saturate the dry, elegant finish.

Sweetly and lavishly tart aroma: orange, butterscotch, hints of nut and cherry. In the cup quiet, vibrant acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, continued orange and cherry notes with suggestions of dry berry and chocolate. Simple but rich finish.

Deep, rich, sweet-toned aroma: aromatic wood, hints of nut and cocoa. Fat and full bodied with a slightly rough mouthfeel. In the cup, more cedar-like wood tones and subtle sweet fruit notes that read as dried cumquat, berry and apricot. A pleasant dryness in the short finish, with a hint of astringency in the long.

Pleasantly sweet aroma: black current and mandarin orange. Bright floral acidity, with medium to full, though slightly lean, body. The elegantly pungent fruit note cuppers call black currant is evident in the cup, along with a tangy yet sweet berry-like note. A clean finish with some lingering hints of sweet berries.

Rich, sweetly bright and perfectly balanced throughout the profile. Cherry, molasses and nut notes in the aroma; in the cup full body and lightly syrupy mouthfeel, with dusk flower notes and continued hints of cherry, nut, and a perhaps chocolate-inclined molasses. Simple but long, sweetly rich finish.

Balanced, complex, complete. The quiet but assertive acidity was praised as "balanced" by co-cupper Ted Stachura (93) and "sweet, rich, integrated" by Ken (94). The mouthfeel was "juicy" (Ted), the aroma and cup showed a crisply sweet complex of dry berry, cocoa, flowers, citrus, nut. Long, deep, chocolate-toned finish.

Sweet-toned aroma with fruit notes that Ken (88) read as banana and co-cupper Ted Stachura (88) as blackberry. In the cup fresh, delicate, with nut and continued fruit notes complicated by floral hints that Ken found just a touch grassy, a fault that for him carried into the otherwise clean, floral-toned finish.

Explosive aromatics: In the break deep, rich, buttery and honey-like with suggestions of flowers, coffee fruit, fresh-tanned leather. In the cup the butter notes turn rather pungent, toward butterscotch with continued flowers and a fruit that softens toward milk chocolate. Medium bodied, slightly underpowered and short in the finish but intense and intriguing aromatics throughout.

Richly sweet-toned aroma: orange, cocoa, butterscotch. In the cup big, simple, authoritative but ingratiating, with round, ringing acidity and the pure expression of coffee fruit, a tart cherry sensation. Clean, deep, cherryish finish.

Miguel Meza (93): "An intense but slightly flawed cup. The coffee is so luscious and passionate[, however,] that such misgivings are easily forgotten. A dizzying array of ripe and dried berry flavors mingles with banana, lime and chocolate." Ken (93) agrees, finding a rich mix of "brandyish cherry, crisp cocoa/chocolate and ripe orange" notes. He is more specific about the flaw, which for him is a slight salty astringency that "softens as the cup cools, allowing the ripe fruit notes to fully bloom."

Co-cupper Miguel Meza (91) calls this coffee "juicy and refreshing," Ken (91) "sweet and deep." Both were impressed by a crisp, complex aroma (for Miguel "lemon-lime, cantaloupe and peach") and as the cup cooled distinct cocoa and sweet ferment notes that Ken read as "brandied cherry" and Miguel (with more ambition to precision) as "distilled agave."

Very deep-toned, naturally sweet coffee. Chocolate- and cedar-toned fruit in the aroma. In the cup softly and richly acidy, syrupy in mouthfeel, with low-toned fruit that suggests chocolate, cherry, raisin. A hint of flowers as the cup cools. Round, sweet finish.

High-toned, intense aroma with striking lemon, chocolate and menthol notes and a hint of flowers. In the cup softly and sweetly acidy with a lovely balance and distinct bittersweet chocolate and lemon notes. Superb finish: rich, crisp, saturated with a dry chocolate.