Los Angeles, CA Reviews

Subtle flower-toned aroma with distinct notes of tangerine. Brightly balanced acidity, smooth mouthfeel with delicate yet sustained flavors: more flowers, milky chocolate, and fruit suggesting cherry and black currant. Clean finish with the sweet fruit character gently carrying into the long.

Big, fruity sweetness and underlying bouillon-like savory notes carry from aroma through finish in this nicely balanced natural or dried-in-the-fruit coffee. Impressively syrupy body, rich acidity, crisp chocolate and a dry cherryish, slightly salty fruit complicate cup and finish.

Raisiny cocoa and a hint of night flowers in the soft, understated aroma. In the cup round and delicately melodic: gently rich acidity, silky to lightly syrupy mouthfeel, cherryish fruit with continued hints of cedar and night flowers. Balanced, slightly dry finish.

A rather wild fruit ferment reads in the aroma as deep-toned cherryish fruit with complicating hints of lemon and aromatic wood. In the cup muted acidity, fullish body, and a complexly savory-sweet fruit character suggesting brandy, cherry, and a slightly salty chocolate. Softens in a long, salty-sweet finish.

For Ken (90) and co-cupper Andy Newbom (88) "A classic and lovely El Salvador Bourbon with an intriguing twist at the end" (Andy). Pre-twist, Ken's more general descriptions emphasize dry raisiny fruit, nut, and flowers, whereas Andy's descriptors are more specific, not to mention more extravagant: "sweet dried nectarines and hibiscus" in the aroma, "flavors of stone fruits with apricot leading, hints of yellow pear and apple, a touch of soft lemonosity" in the cup, "honey ... chocolate ... peach" in the finish. As the cup cooled the twist at the end emerged. The hints of nut that Ken cited blossomed into a very explicit, dominating nut character with notes that Andy identified as "cashew and almond."

Rich, low-toned, deceptively simple coffee. Co-cupper Jim Reynolds (89) found it a quietly complete cup, though "somewhat shy" in acidity. Both Jim and Ken (90) wrestled with a very slight hint of what cuppers call "bagginess," a faint mildewed note that appears in coffees that have suffered exposure to too much moisture during shipment or storage. The coffee's essential richness and floral cocoa tendencies overcame this shadow note, however, allowing the underlying beauty of the coffee to resonate in cup and long, flavor-saturated finish.

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.

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.

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.

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.