The World's Leading Coffee Guide
We have published thousands of coffee reviews and espresso reviews since 1997. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee. To search for a specific roaster, origin or coffee use the Advanced Search Function.
Soft but complex aroma, suggesting milk chocolate, caramel, nut, aromatic wood. Vivid fruit-toned acidity; a distinct orangy citrus brightens the soft chocolate and caramel tendencies of the aroma. Rich, flavor-saturated, rather dry finish.
The soft, sweet-toned aroma combines touches of toast and caramel with flowers and fruit. Complete in the small cup: full body, silky mouthfeel and flavors that balance an orange peel-like citrus quality with a pungent and penetrating dark chocolate. A mild astringency distracts slightly in the flavor-saturated finish. In two parts milk the orange note nicely balances the inevitable milk-rounded chocolate.
Round, aromatic sweetness, highlighted by candied nut and caramel. A delicate cup, with balanced acidity, soft mouthfeel, and continued sweet nut complemented by softer citrus and chocolate nuance. All carry into the finish along with a hint of aromatic wood.
Roundly sweet, deep, fruit-toned chocolate aroma. Medium body, silky mouthfeel and intense, penetrating flavor. The fruit-tinged chocolate carries into the cup, complicated by nut, aromatic wood and dried berry. The finish is long and mildly dry with the chocolate in particular lingering.
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.
Subdued aroma: spicy aromatic wood, hints of earth, butter, dark chocolate. In the cup quiet acidity, full body, sweet-toned but simple, heavy flavor with hints of aromatic wood and earth. Simple and rich in the short finish, but fades quickly toward a slightly salty astringency.
Rich aroma: fresh cut aromatic wood, buttery nut, raisin-like fruit, a hint of sharply pungent herb. Subdued acidy; full, syrupy mouthfeel. Heavy, fermented notes in the cup read as a brandyish dark chocolate with continued complications of raisin, aromatic wood and a salty, herby edge that shadows an otherwise rich finish.
Mild earth-toned aroma with hints of chocolate and soft nut. Full body, creamy mouthfeel and flavors that tend toward an earthy pungency with a pronounced dark chocolate complication. The pungent edge lingers long into the dry finish.
Classic dark-roasted Sumatra. Deep, pungent aroma: aromatic wood, molasses, raisin, a hint of earth. In the cup roast-rounded acidity, slightly leanish mouthfeel, rich bittersweet balance, with softly scorched aromatic wood notes that deepen toward baker’s chocolate. Rich and sweet in the short finish; a roasty astringency shadows the long.
Sweetly pungent aroma: fresh-cut aromatic wood and an orange- or peach-toned nut. Soft acidity, lightly syrupy body, balanced, perhaps a bit simple flavor, with continued suggestions of fresh-cut wood, orange peel, peach, nut. The peach-like fruit and nut take on a dark chocolate character in the rich, slightly heavy finish.
Round if somewhat subdued fruit- and aromatic-wood-toned aroma with a hint of orange-toned chocolate. A smooth cup: silky mouthfeel, crisp acidity and continued soft notes of aromatic wood, citrus and nut. Flavors simplify in the quietly rich finish.
Intense woodsy aroma suggesting fresh-cut pine with a hint of chocolate. Balanced acidity and smooth mouthfeel. In the cup sweet, mildly fermented fruit tones read as a heavy dark chocolate with continued crisp aromatic wood complication. Both tendencies carry into a finish in which sweetness outlasts a mild astringency.
Rich, sweet-toned aroma: flowers, hints of earth, aromatic wood, nut-toned chocolate. In the cup low-toned but vibrant acidity, silky mouthfeel, continued earth tones that take on a grapefruit-like pungency under the impact of the acidity. Some continuing hints of flowers and nut. Rich, simple finish with a hint of astringency.
Aromatic hints of berry-like fruit mix with aromatic wood and a deep, molasses-like sweetness. Rich acidity, continuing sweetness and cedary wood in the cup, rounding toward a ripe peach. The flavor mutes but hangs on in the sweet finish.
Classically sweet-fermented, dried-in-the-fruit profile. Rich, fermenty raisin-toned chocolate in the aroma with aromatic wood and pungent citrus complications. In the cup gently lively acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The ferment shows a rustic sweet apple-cidery character, with hints of fresh flowering grass, molasses and dark chocolate. The chocolate in particular carries into the finish, where the cup finally betrays its sweetness with a faint hint of salty herb.
Gentle, impressively balanced cup. Nut, milk chocolate hints in the aroma. Richly sweet-toned acidity, lightly syrupy body, softly lively flavor with continued hints of nut and chocolate and a black-cherryish fruit. Rich, long, resonant finish.
High-toned aroma combining elements of juicy, almost floral fruit with more pungent nuance of grapefruit, raisin and brandy. In the cup, distinctly lively acidity with continued sweetly pungent fruit, particularly a floral-edged white grape. Sweet finishing; hints of flavor reemerge in the long.
Roundly rich aroma dominated by intense, heady tones of fruit and aromatic wood. Silky mouthfeel, medium body and a bright-toned, though in no way sharp, acidity. In the cup a juicy impression and notes of cedar, grapefruit and sweet pipe tobacco, all persisting deeply into the long finish.
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.
Crisp walnut and cherryish chocolate in the aroma, together with spicy aromatic wood. Sweet, deep, powerful acidity, rich and lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The spicy aromatic wood and walnut notes carry into the cup, taking on a caramel-like sweetness complicated by hints of fruit and layers of dark and milk chocolate. Rich in the short finish with lingering chocolate tones and a slight astringency in the long.
