Top-Rated Coffees (94+ points)
We found 2296 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In the aroma intense, pungent with grapefruit and cedar notes. In the cup full-bodied, with the dominating earthy pungency enveloped in deep sweetness. Continued grapefruit, pineapple and cedar notes settle toward honey and chocolate. Sweet, resonant, rich finish, totally free of astringency.
Intense aroma: brandy, chocolate, caramel. In the small cup medium in body but smooth in mouthfeel, crisply pungent yet caramelly sweet, with a tightly knit, understated complexity: brandy, caramel, cedar and flowers, hints of which persist in the roundly rich finish. Masters milk with a gentle, brandied chocolate authority.
Deep, very sweet-toned aroma, with chocolate, flowers, walnut, and a hint of carnal fruit - peach or papaya. In the small cup very full body, but not heavy - the mouthfeel is lively, almost effervescent. In flavor very sweet, very deep, with cedar and a gently spicy semi-sweet chocolate. Superb finish: long, caramelly, rich. Exerts a simple but powerful presence in milk: sweet milk chocolate with perhaps a shimmer of flowers.
A classically lyric coffee. The aroma is intense and enveloping, with spicy ripe tomato, bittersweet chocolate, caramel, and banana-like fruit notes. The ripe tomato and dark chocolate notes carry into a cup shimmering with sweet, wine-toned acidity and the unusual banana-like fruit notes, which even seem reflected in the pleasant viscosity of the mouthfeel.
The scent of blueberry fills the room simply in the act of grinding this explosively fragrant coffee. Blueberry continues richly to dominate the wet aroma, nuanced by hints of other low-acid fruit - peach perhaps, and chocolate. In the cup the fruit inclines more toward wine and a lush, minty chocolate, but the blueberry reasserts itself in the finish. Only in the long finish is there a hint of the serendipitous ferment responsible for much of this aromatic excitement. Probably as close to a perfect example of this coffee type as this imperfect world allows, tactfully roasted.
An extraordinary coffee in the earth and fruit style of traditional Indonesias. In the aroma moist leaves turning toward fresh earth, together with buttery, candyish top notes. In the cup full-bodied, with pungent, moist earth tones and crisp, low-acid fruit notes suggesting pear and cherry. The pungent tones smooth out in a sweetly rich finish.
