Exceptional aroma: floral notes complicated by vanilla for co-cupper Rodger Owen and lemon and pineapple for Ken. In the cup brightly but sweetly acidy and delicately smooth in mouthfeel with a subtly balanced flavor that disappointed Rodger but excited Ken with its jasmine-like floral notes and (for Ken at least) a rich, chocolaty lemon.
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We found 373 reviews that match your search for panama . Coffees are listed in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
Intense, rather acidy aroma with vanilla-toned chocolate and fruit notes. In the cup the acidity was either sweet and lushly lively (Ken) or a touch too soft (co-cupper Rodger Owen), the flavor a bit too simple (Rodger) or intriguing in its simultaneous sensory allusions to wine and chocolate (Ken).
Round, rich, rather simple coffee, with spicy (co-cupper Rodger Owen) and gingery (Ken) notes in the aroma. In the cup a soft, sweet acidity and buttery mouthfeel with a low-toned fruit that to Ken suggested prune and semi-sweet chocolate.
Intense, high-toned aroma, complex but tightly knit: lemon, dry berry, flowers (tea rose?), milk chocolate. The acidity is powerful but roundly balanced, the body surprisingly full, the flavor explosive: rose water, sweet pipe tobacco, chocolate, all enveloped in a lemony richness. Lemon and chocolate notes carry into the finish, where they soften and enliven a slight astringency.
Finely balanced cup: delicately roasty, very sweet, with a shimmer of dry acidity. Under the impact of the roast the crisp aromatics lean toward leather and an herb-toned chocolate.
A rather dramatic difference surfaced between co-taster Willem Boot and Ken on this very dark-roasted Panama. Ken wanted more sweetness and body; Willem apparently found enough of both and admired the elegant nuance. Willem: "Aroma with caramel and mild-apricot notes. Despite the dark roast, balanced flavor with apricot and chocolate. Pleasantly spicy with milk" (91). Ken: "Lovely aroma, high-toned but sweet fruit notes. In the small cup lean-bodied and crisply bitter, with a rich but astringent finish. Fruit re-emerges in milk, dry, smoky, chocolate-toned." (83).
Intense but balanced acidity, medium body, and tartly sweet fruit notes --berry and citrus -- that soften toward chocolate in the finish. Director of Coffee Geoff Watts praises this coffee's "grace and completeness."
The reader who nominated this coffee rated it an 85 -- 89, citing its "great aroma and floral hints," and adding that it is "a great breakfast coffee." I'd agree, though the sample I cupped may have sat around in its elegant bag too long. It belongs to the authoritative rather than the delicate style of Panama: intensely acidy, yet still displaying the bright, high-toned sweet nut, floral and fruit notes characteristic of this underappreciated origin. I felt the profile suffered from bitterness, however, which turned the acidity a bit too assertive for many coffee drinkers.
When hot, rich and balanced, with gently bright grapefruit tones shimmering inside a crisp, invigorating roastiness. As the cup cools the citrus tones turn a bit sharp and the roastiness leans toward burned.
A splendidly pure, clear, ringing profile, with a sweet floral acidity some jurors compared to the great Kenya coffees. A hint of deeper, pruny fruit gave the profile ballast and authority. My initial score almost perfectly matched the collective score, but as the cup cooled it seemed to simplify and to allow the acidity to dominate. Hence my mildly dissenting score.
A classic Central-America coffee dominated by a richly powerful acidity, a fat body, and a round, sweet, chocolaty finish.
Medium bodied, high-toned but smooth, a quintessential American cup, from the vanilla-nut, sweetly acidy nose to the long swoon of the chocolaty finish.
Powerful yet smooth and sweetly balanced. The acidity is round and ripe. High-toned fruit -- pears perhaps -- deepen toward roasty dry prune and bittersweet chocolate in the finish.