Seattle Reviews

Rich Kenya wine tones dominate, buoyed by shimmers of citrus and berry. A complex sweetness blooms as the cup cools and the dry wine tones soften. A fine coffee, although I missed the echoing dimension of the very best Kenyas.

Under the taste of the darkish roast style earthy, but not a sweet or inviting earth. A bit hard (no pun), without depth, bounce or resonance. A tobaccoey, salty tickle in the finish.

A wonderful nose, full of bittersweet chocolate and deep vanilla tones, but disappointing in the cup: a clean, dry, but rather hard pungency bullies nuance into submission. A hint of carbon, little sweetness.

A clean, direct dark-roast profile. The dominant pungency is free of carbon and dances rather lightly on the palate, with some spicy overtones and space for them to echo.

Liveliest and most resonant of the dark-roast samples in the cupping: Less overbearingly pungent, sweeter, with a touch of vanilla in cup as well as aroma. The entire profile deepens, smooths, and balances in the finish.

Only a touch of sweetness survives to balance the sharp tones of a very dark roast, but the sharpness is complicated (perhaps rounded) by chocolaty, pruny tones. The aroma is crisp, alive, even elegant, but the profile tends to simplify in the cup and trail off into dimensionless astringency in the aftertaste. At best medium body. Turns sweet and smooth in milk but remains underpowered.

In the demitasse this blend is complexly crisp and pungent; richly dry chocolate notes are supported by an understated sweetness. Perhaps the heavy, smoothly balanced body accounts for the splendid impact this coffee makes in milk. The dairy relaxes the crisp chocolate notes and the coffee richly suffuses the milk rather than penetrating it.

This coffee gets better as it goes, probably owing to its heavy body. The dark tones of the aroma modulate with increasing power through the cup to a complex finish.