Top-Rated Coffees (94+ points)

An essay in refined acidity: balanced, tartly sweet, nuanced by ripe tomato and apricot. Further complications of nut and perhaps milk chocolate. Particularly impressive finish: sweet, long, saturated with apricot-toned fruit.

Round, sweet and balanced. Deeply complex, lasting notes of citrus, nut, caramel and baking spices. Refined acidity, silky mouthfeel and a finish that rounds toward a rich milk chocolate, making the whispers of astringency easy to overlook.

Juicy and sweet both in aroma and cup: pungent notes of citrus and cocoa with soft hints of lavender flowers and honey. Assertive but smooth acidity and a lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Clean finish: gentle cocoa character complicated by continuing fruit and floral hints.

In the aroma lemon, berry, and above all, delicate flowers - jasmine and lavender. In the cup crisp, floral-toned acidity, silky mouthfeel. The flowers and lemon deepen and turn richly pungent, sustaining into a long, deep finish.

Resonant, big-bodied, aromatically complex espresso. Dark chocolate, aromatic wood, and a lush, brandy-toned fruit in both aroma and small cup. The flavor softens in two parts milk, with the chocolate taking on a minty sweetness, but still maintains grown-up power and complexity.

Extraordinary dried-in-the-fruit profile. Lushly fruit-toned and brandyish, yet crisp with savory wood notes. Blueberry, cherry, brandy-nuanced dark chocolate, aromatic wood, night flowers in aroma and cup, carrying into the finish. A slight hint of salt in the finish as well, but the fruit-and-brandy sweetness rings on.

Intensely rich aroma: grapefruit, sweet-toned sandalwood and cedar. In the cup creamy body, penetratingly but gentle acidity, continued sweetly pungent fruit -- grapefruit, tart berry -- and aromatic wood. A juicy, flavor-saturated short finish turns crisply dry in the long.

Complex aromatically and in the cup: a bouquet of jasmine and honey suckle, lemon grass, round orange- and berry-tones. Softly balanced yet rich acidity and silky mouthfeel. Although the floral/fruit complex simplifies slightly in the finish, a milk chocolate-like sweetness emerges.

Evaluated as espresso. A complete, big-bodied straight shot. Caramel, toast, flowers and orange in the aroma. All carry into a cup further complicated with deeper suggestions of brandy and chocolate. Flavors linger in the finish, developing solid sweetness in the long. Flavor notes consolidate nicely in two parts milk: turning even sweeter but maintaining complexity.

Quietly complex aroma. Sweetly floral with layered suggestions of fruit: grapefruit, coconut, pineapple. In the cup balanced yet penetrating fruit-toned acidity and syrupy mouthfeel; stone fruit, citrus and black currant soften toward chocolate, carrying into a deep, sweet, rich finish.

Pure, intense aroma: flowers, orange, apricot, a hint of aromatic wood. In the cup big sweet-toned acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, continued floral and fruit notes that round toward blackberry and a nut-toned baker's chocolate. Flowers in particular carry into a sweet-toned, rich finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Distinct floral- and citrus-toned aroma, lightly syrup mouthfeel and crisp, concentrated fruit that combines suggestions of citrus, flowers, aromatic wood and a cocoaish chocolate. Clean, very rich finish; the cocoa rounds to a sweet lemony chocolate. The intense flavors simplify in two parts milk but retain character and balance.

Sweet and richly high-toned aroma: lemon, flowers, fresh-cut cedar, honey. Lushly bright acidity, medium body, silky mouthfeel. In the cup the lavish acidity registers first, followed by a softer impression of night flowers, lemon, and a cedar note that rounds toward cocoa. Extraordinarily long, resonant finish, deeply saturated with flavor.

Intense aroma and flavor, dominated by one of the most distinctive notes in coffee, a kind of earthy, pungent citrus sensation that may suggest grapefruit to some, butterscotch to others, but essentially is a pleasure that belongs to this style of coffee alone. Complicated by flowering grass, nut, dark chocolate. Balanced, integrated acidity, silky mouthfeel, sweetly rich, resonantly flavor-saturated finish.

Rich aroma: flowers, nut, a hint of citrus. In the cup crisply sweet acidity, silky mouthfeel, deep floral flavor complicated by pungent dry berry and grapefruit-like citrus. Pure finish: very sweet, very long.

Intense but rounded aromas suggesting grapefruit and fragrant tropical wood. The aromatic characteristics deepen in the cup, reflecting an almost juicy sweetness complicated by continued aromatic wood and pungently complex fruit notes: grapefruit, white grape, mango perhaps. Clean, rich finish, with the flavor notes softening but lingering deeply in the long.

Pungent, roast-influenced citrus reads as grapefruit in aroma and cup, supported by backgrounded aromatic wood and leafy earth notes. Round, resonant acidity, deep natural sweetness, syrupy body. The grapefruit and earth notes carry into a long, opulent finish.

Crisp, sweetly pungent aroma: tart berry, lemon, nut, aromatic wood. In the cup delicately rich acidity, silky mouthfeel. Continued tart yet lushly sweet berry notes with a hint of earth complicate the aromatic wood notes. Long, flavor-saturated finish.

Pungent aroma of mixed fruit, a fir-like wood and honey. These aromatic notes grow more intense and complex in the cup, displaying suggestions of herb and a more fragrant, cedar-toned wood. The fruit notes - berry, stone fruit, citrus and black currant - become more prominent as the cup cools, persisting in a long, flavor-rich finish.

Intense aroma: round fruitiness suggesting black currant, mixed berries, lemon, toast, soft night flowers. Bright-toned acidity, medium body with a delicately syrupy mouthfeel and a particularly juicy tartness suggesting something like Satsuma oranges in syrup, together with continuing notes of flowers and berries, all lingering deeply into the finish.