Top-Rated Coffees (94+ points)
We found 2222 coffees and espressos that earned an outstanding score of 94 points or higher. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
No hints here: The aromatics are direct, inescapable, lavish. Lushly intense blueberry, chocolate, and floral-toned honey in the aroma. In the cup the incendiary aromatics are influenced by a wine-like acidity that turns the berry and chocolate notes crisp and richly dry. The fundamental berry and floral notes linger with surprising clarity in the finish, although they are outlasted by a slight but forgivable astringency.
In the aroma delicately complex: berries, flowers, sweet lemon, honey. In the cup opulent: syrupy mouthfeel, sweet acidity, crisply powerful berry notes, continued hints of honey and flowers. Only a rich but simple finish prevents this coffee from rating in the high 90s.
Intense, sweet-toned, chocolate and blueberry aroma with a slight pungent edge. In the cup sweetly acidy, with a full, syrupy mouthfeel and lavish red wine and blueberry notes. The finish is rich, berry-toned and extraordinarily clean for this style of coffee.
An extraordinarily pure coffee in a dramatically light roast style. Sweet nut, fresh-cut cedar and orangy citrus in the aroma. Medium-bodied and giddily sweet in the cup, delicate but rich, with low, wine-toned acidity, an orange-toned fruit and hints of nut, flowers and chocolate. The complex fruit notes carry into a quietly rich, clean finish.
A deeply floral-toned coffee. The floral tones are rich and rose-like in both aroma and cup, with caramelly, almost custard-like support and hints of cedar and cocoa. The finish is sweet, deep and long.
Delicate, gently bright coffee with distinct, cedar-toned dry berry notes (the kind often called black currant) carrying from aroma to cup, support by cocoa, orange (perhaps better, tangerine) and floral nuance. The body is rather light, but the mouthfeel is gently lively, almost effervescent. Clean, rich finish with impressive flavor persistence, particularly of the orange/cocoa notes.
A powerful, fruitily complex, syrupy-bodied espresso. Candied fruit and distinct chocolate in the aroma. In the small cup heavy bodied; cedar and orangy fruit notes dominate, with a hint of semi-sweet chocolate. At its best in milk, where it is rich, smooth-bodied and balanced, while maintaining a remarkable complexity and a distinct chocolate and spicy orange fruit character.
A fine, versatile decaffeinated espresso particularly remarkable for its persistent floral top notes. In the aroma flowers, chocolate and apricot-toned fruit. In the small cup full body with perhaps a slightly rough mouthfeel, pungent, rich and balanced, with continuing semi-sweet chocolate and floral notes that carry into the finish. Blooms nicely in milk with minty chocolate sweetness while still maintaining the attractive floral and fruit complication.
Sweet-toned, quietly complex aroma: cherryish, chocolate-toned fruit with a hint of herby cedar. In the cup softly acidy and richly and exquisitely balanced, with the fruit taking on a distinct black cherry character. A coffee whose excellence ultimately lies in its suave authority and completeness.
An aromatically rather simple coffee with a tremendous relaxed and almost voluptuous structure. In the aroma low-toned and round with hints of flowers and cherry-toned fruit. Softly acidy and sweetly and deeply rich in the cup. Sweet, almost sugary finish.
A classic cup: pure, simple, intense, refined. Sweet-toned but crisp aroma: tomato, cedar, cardamom, chocolate. Richly and sweetly acidy in the cup with the classic complex of flowers and fresh coffee fruit with rounding hints of chocolate.
Exhilaratingly intense but roundly sweet-toned aroma: black cherry, flowers, milk chocolate, with an underlying cedar-toned crispness. Sweet flowers and cherry dominate in the cup with an almost symphonic richness of tone. Medium bodied but silky mouthfeel. The floral notes linger into the farthest reaches of the finish.
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.
A coffee at once voluptuous and austere. Delicately complex aroma: flowers, chocolate, tobacco leaf, lemon grass. In the cup an amazingly rich, wine-like acidity, sweet flowers, and a gently crisp, dry berry fruit. Hints of chocolate re-emerge in the cleanly long, almost perfect finish.
Chocolate and citrus on the break. Regal acidity, complex flavors of chocolate, citrus and herbs. A powerful, intense and demanding cup. Haunting, persistent finish. Perfect roast of this especially challenging bean. What great coffee is all about.
Cocoa laced with citrus in the aroma. Flavors are as complex and sculpted as a top Alsatian Riesling, with intense lemon and orange acidity, chocolate, and a suggestion of fresh chive or tarragon always associated with this variety. A powerful, aristocratic grand cru. This fragile, low-density variety is a major challenge to roast (and cannot handle dark roasting); this is a particularly masterful roasting job.
Spectacularly aromatic in both dry and infused aroma: candied lemon peel, bergamot, hints of jasmine. Medium bodied and sweet, with superb acidity and flavors that suggest both the mentholated citrus of a Yirgacheffe and the blueberry notes of a Harrar, but without a trace of ferment or earthiness. Perfumed perfection.
Cocoa and dark chocolate aroma, vigorous flavors of dark chocolate laced with cherry, medium-full body, intense, focused acidity, great purity. Ideally roasted.
Vividly lively yet elegantly smooth coffee. Intense aroma with tart cherry and round, low-acid fruit notes, banana perhaps, with hints of fresh leather. In the cup sweet, lyric acidity, light but silky mouthfeel, cherry and cocoa notes. Rich, sweet, deeply long finish.
Tartly sweet fruit notes suggest pineapple, grapefruit or perhaps black currant in the aroma, with delicate undercurrents of caramel and earth. In the cup the musty/malty earth notes move richly forward, backgrounding the continuing crisp, pineapply fruit. A slight astringency in the short finish gives way to sweetness and pineapple in the long.
