Los Angeles, CA Reviews

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.

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.

Very sweet throughout the profile. Nut and semi-sweet chocolate notes in the aroma. In the cup tart coffee fruit notes make a distinct and delicate lean toward chocolate. The tart cherry tones persist in the sweet short finish, fading toward astringency in the long.

Deeply pungent, tightly complex aroma: grapefruit, earth, caramel, perhaps a hint of butter. In the cup fat bodied, sweetly pungent, with earth tones that lean toward a rich malt. The sweet-toned finish stays on the robust, rich side of astringent.

Very sweet-toned but crisp aroma: distinct lemon, floral and chocolate notes. In the cup big-bodied, with a dry, lemony chocolate simultaneously delicate yet intense. The chocolate takes on a breathtakingly sweet floral and blueberry character as the cup cools. Continued chocolate and flowers cover for a slight salty astringency in the long finish.

Lush in flavor but slightly lean in body and presence. Elegant blueberry- and chocolate-toned nose with a hint of cedar. In the small cup medium-bodied with a touch of sweet acidity and continued berry, cedar and dark chocolate notes. A bit thin-presenced in milk, though the sneakily persistent dark-chocolate, cherry-brandy opulence stays around nicely.

Quietly intense aroma, cedar and distinct butterscotch notes. Plushly heavy body in the sweet, deep-toned cup, with almost port-like red wine tones and rich hints of semi-sweet chocolate and roses anchored on a flinty, almost mineral-like base.

An exhilarating and intense blueberry and wine character dominates the profile from aroma to finish. In the aroma the blueberry and wine tones are particularly pure and sweet. In the cup things grow more complicated: the blueberry takes a chocolate turn and the wine may strike some palates as too aggressively fermented. The finish is even more ambiguous, as the blueberry fruit persists nicely but takes a slightly soapy, salty direction. There are some coffee professionals who would give this unorthodox coffee a rating of 95; others would throw it off the table at 75.

Sweet, lyric fruit in the aroma: cherry, chocolate-toned blueberry. The fruit mutes in the small cup but the underlying structure is pleasing: rich, intense, medium-bodied and silky in mouthfeel. The berry notes carry into the slightly heavy finish. The blueberry character fattens nicely in milk, though the chocolate side of the flavor complex remains a bit tight and restrained.