Over the past couple years, Coffee Review’s annual “Top 30” ranking of the year’s most noteworthy coffees has attracted considerable attention. As many readers have noted, our rankings tended to favor high-scoring coffees produced from botanical varieties of Arabica with striking sensory properties: coffees of the Gesha/Geisha variety, coffees from the distinctive traditional Ethiopian varieties, Kenyan coffees, and so on.
For 2015, we decided to create additional categories that will focus attention on fine coffees from other parts of the world and/or produced from less celebrated botanical varieties. The coffees below may not have attracted superlative ratings of 95 points or more but we believe they merit recognition for their excellence nonetheless.
With some exceptions, coffees that appear in the Top 30 are not recognized in the expanded category lists. For more information, visit our expanded rankings post.
Certified Coffees
Central America (Non-Gesha)
Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, El Salvador Finca Loma La Gloria – 94 points
Single Origin Espressos
Paradise Roasters, Brazil Fazenda Santa Ines S.O. Espresso – 94 points
Alternative Africas
Red Rooster Coffee, FTO Congo Sopacdi Cooperative – 92 points (Top 30 No. 30)
Best Values (still available for sale as of December 7, 2015)
Ghost Town Coffee, Holiday Blend, $15.25/12 oz. – 95 points
Espresso Blends
Non-Espresso Blends
South America
Lexington Coffee Roasters, Huila Colombia – 93 points
Decaf
Darker Roasts
Asia
