San Francisco Reviews

Lush, ripe cherry and table grape in aroma and cup, complemented by a dry, savory cedar note, particularly in the cup. Crisp, delicately balanced acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Simple but rich finish.

Richly and roundly tart. The taste of fresh coffee fruit -- think tart cherry -- and pungent grapefruit dominate in aroma and cup, with softening suggestions of cocoa, almond and caramel. Sweet-toned acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Dry, resonant finish.

Honey and sweet night flowers balanced by a gently lemony tartness and pungent, fresh-cut cedar. Pronounced but roundly balanced acidity; syrupy mouthfeel. Rich, resonant short finish simplifies very slightly in the long.

Crisply lush with floral notes of startling complexity. Ripe lemon, cocoa, moist pipe tobacco, and floral notes that range from dry lavender through a spicy rose to a heavy-scented honeysuckle. Balanced acidity; buoyant, silky mouthfeel. Rich, deep, flower-saturated finish.

Balanced, sweetly crisp. Floral-toned peach and a tart, mandarin orange dominate, rounded by a backgrounded nut-toned chocolate. Brisk, sweet-toned acidity; silky mouthfeel. The chocolate suggestion carries into a clean finish.

Rich, wine-like acidity drives an orangy cedar and night-floral aromatic in aroma and cup. In the cup additional suggestions surface: peach, chocolate. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Tart but deeply rich, fruit-saturated finish.

Complex layers of fruit in aroma and cup: strawberry, cherry, orange, deepened and complicated by a pungent cedar. Rich, round acidity; soft, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Some flavor carries into a long, resonantly sweet finish.

Sweet-toned, round, deep. Roasted nut, grapy fruit, dark chocolate, a brightening hint of lemon. Soft, muted acidity; syrupy mouthfeel; smooth finish.

Tart, zesty, complex: lemon, fir, spicy tea rose, a hint of nut-toned cocoa in both aroma and cup. Sweet but tartly assertive acidity; light, leanish mouthfeel. Flavor rounds toward cocoa in a finish that some may find bracing and others too astringently drying.

Delicately sweet aroma highlighted by a complex range of fruit: ripe berry, spicy citrus, with a backgrounded nut and fir. Gently tart acidity, medium body, silky mouthfeel. In the cup flavor smoothes and rounds, with the nut and fir moving forward and the fruit softening toward chocolate. Flavor persists in the short finish but fades toward a mild astringency in the long.

Richly floral, gently pungent. The floral notes are spicy and rose-like. Complicating hints of fir, citrus, cocoa, raisin. Bright but balanced acidity, syrupy mouthfeel. Very sweet, gently flavor-saturated finish.

Both co-cupper Wendy De Jong (89) and Ken (90) found pleasingly and sweetly tart notes (coffee cherry for Wendy, ripe lemon for Ken) complemented by apricot-like stone fruit and a rounding milk chocolate in aroma and cup. Both cuppers were impressed by a “lightly syrupy” (Ken) mouthfeel and a sweet, cocoa-toned finish.

Balanced, complete coffee with a straightforward aromatic complex persisting from aroma through finish: peach, citrus, flowers, complimented by a delicately sweet chocolate. Rich acidity, syrupy body.

A darkish roast turns an apricot-like fruit toward a deep, raisiny dark chocolate in aroma and cup. Round, muted acidity, smooth mouthfeel, resonant finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Particularly impressive aroma: sweet-toned and delicate: "flowers, orangy chocolate" (Ken, 89). Smooth, buttery mouthfeel. In flavor, lively but rather "tangy and sharp" (co-cupper Andy Newbom, 88); a little too much unripe lemon and licorice sensation perhaps. Chocolaty but simple in milk.

Sweet, rich, almost fermenty fruit character. In the aroma dark chocolate, molasses, raisin and a hint of fresh-cut fir. In the cup backgrounded acidity, syrupy mouthfeel, continued raisiny chocolate and pungent fir notes. Simplifies as the cup cools.

Lemon-toned apricot in the aroma supported by flowers and a crisply sweet, cocoaish chocolate. All are sustained in the cup, supported by clear fruit-toned acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel and fine balance. The finish is flavor-saturated with a slight, bracing astringency.

A light roast encourages full expression of intense, sweet-fermented fruit notes. A lush brandyish cherry is complicated in aroma by a slight edge of herb - rosemary or mint - and a lemony cocoa in the cup. Delicately crisp acidity, silky mouthfeel, surprisingly rich, long, flavor-saturated finish.

Sweet, round-toned aroma with distinct cherryish fruit and aromatic wood notes. Intense and complex in the cup; the cherry tones deepen and sweeten to dessert-wine complexity with complicating suggestions of dark chocolate, herb and flowers. The chocolate carries into a long, dry finish with continued hints of wood and Mediterranean herbs.

Sweet-toned floral, apricot and marmalade notes in the aroma. Bright fruity acidity and continued flavors of apricot and flowers in the cup supported by concentrated chocolate-toned, dried fruit sweetness. The fruity chocolate character deepens in the finish.