Top-Rated Coffees (94+ points)

Delicately but richly nuanced throughout the profile with cherryish fruit, flowers, honey, milk chocolate. In the cup the acidity is tart but luxuriously sweet and the mouthfeel lightly syrupy. Flavor saturated and flawless finish.

Crisp, intense, yet sweetly lyric coffee. In both aroma and cup black currant, blackberry, orange, cherry; in the cup hints of cocoaish chocolate and merlot-like red wine as well. Long, sweet finish just on the rich side of astringent.

Sweet-toned, quietly intense aroma: jasmine, sweet citrus, cocoa. In the cup the mouthfeel is silky, almost syrupy, the acidity intense but delicate with shimmers of white wine. Orange, lemon, cocoaish chocolate, floral notes. Long, deep, flavor-saturated finish.

Intense, exuberantly complex aroma: orange, grapefruit, honey, cedar, black currant. In the cup the acidity is intense and sweet, the mouthfeel syrupy, the flavor continuingly complex, dry yet lush: black currant, grapefruit, wine, a hint of milk chocolate. The finish is superb: saturated with grapefruit and chocolate, sweet, rich, long.

Intense, sweetly tart aroma: flowers, cherry, lemon. In the cup the acidity is lyrically sweet, the mouthfeel silky, the flavor vivid with grapefruit, dry berry and floral notes that soften toward a raisiny chocolate as the cup cools. Superb finish: cleanly bright, long, sweet to the far end of sensation.

The aroma is very deep and sweet-toned with lush references to banana, coconut, dusk flowers. In the cup the acidity is extraordinarily rich and round-toned, the mouthfeel supple, the nuance opulent with coconut, red wine, chocolate and floral notes. Rich, long, flavor-saturated finish.

Lush, deeply fruity aroma: chocolate and red-wine-toned cherry. In the cup silky mouthfeel, richly balanced acidity, lavish cocoa, candied lemon, red wine, brandied cherry notes. Deep, flavor-saturated 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.

Intense, high-toned aroma: flowers, butterscotch, orange. In the cup wine-like acidity, deep body and a continued buttery, honeyed, giddily floral character complicated by tart cherry, orange and pipe tobacco notes. Long, rich, flavor-saturated finish.

Floral-toned, intense aroma dominated by the elegantly crisp, dry berry note coffee tasters are fond of calling black currant. In the cup richly acidy. The black currant note softens toward cherry under the influence of a sweet, deeply honeyed richness. The black currant revives in the flavor-saturated finish.

Tart but lushly sweet aroma: Floral-saturated cherryish fruit and a cedary milk chocolate. In the cup the acidity is big, round, and deeply sweet, the general structure dry but opulent with a basket of berry/cherry notes, honey, flowers, chocolate. Rich, resonant finish with impressive flavor persistence.

Sweet-toned aroma dominated by a distinct honey character. In the cup syrupy mouthfeel, giddily and complexly lush with cherryish fruit, floral, and dry, brandyish chocolate notes. The finish is deep, honeyish sweet, and long.

In the aroma delicate but deep, floral, with Riesling-like wine tones and a hint of honey. In the cup surprisingly full in body, with a delicately syrupy mouthfeel and a deeply lush, floral-saturated honey character with a hint of dry berry. Rich finish with good flavor persistence. Slightly astringent, but the sweetness lingers to the far edge of possibility.

Intense aroma: nut, mint, brandied cherry chocolate. In the cup rich acidity, silky body and a continuing aromatic profile so deeply and explosively complex that a world of coffee sensation can be found in it: cocoaish chocolate, raisin, flowers, lemon, brandy, orange peel. Very sweet and flavor-saturated short finish, though in the long a very slight salty astringency shadows the fine aromatic echoes.

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.