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.
Low-key, bittersweet and roasty in the aroma with suggestions of apple and charred cedar. In the cup sweet floral top notes float almost irrelevantly over the rather densely monotoned, pungently dark-roast heart. The cup softens and sweetens as it cools, however, allowing the floral notes to bloom in pleasant counterpoint to the pungency.
Deep, resonant aroma, gently pungent, complicated by ripe cherry and fresh leather. In the cup settles into a classic traditionally processed Sumatra cup: musty earth tones and tart fruit notes, tamarind and dry cherry perhaps. Reader Pat Teel nominated another Hunter Bay coffee (Kaffe Moose Drool); we received this one as a bonus.
Simple aroma, bittersweet without much complication - a shimmer of fruit perhaps. In the cup turns from simple to gently classic: sweet, nutlike, temperate fruit notes reading as milk chocolate. Nominated by Deborah Ciangura of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Superbly complex aroma; elegantly fruity: ripe apricot, cherry, cedar, fresh leather. Slightly imbalanced in the cup by an intense acidity only partly buffered by sweetness, but recovers itself in a long, rich finish. Anonymously nominated.
A gently austere cup: balanced, lightly acidy, crisply and quietly complex: dried apricot, bittersweet chocolate, perhaps a twist of fresh-cut cedar. Softens and sweetens engagingly as it cools. Reader Maria Rueda from Washington, D.C. finds "It's the best coffee I've every tried!"
A lush, complex cup that derives some of its considerable appeal from slightly fermented fruit tones: apricot in the aroma, apple and pear in the cup, all turned overripe and slightly chocolate-leaning by the ferment. Some cups were gloriously sweet and juicily fruity; others slightly bitter in the finish. Marcus Fitzsimmons nominated this coffee, adding a general plug for Caribou Coffee: "Awesome selection of various coffees including a welcoming store-side atmosphere."
Sweet, rich, and gently roasty in the aroma. Think caramel and toast. The range of sensation narrows slightly in the cup but remains delicately bracing with crisp dry fruit and cedar notes. Anonymously nominated.
Crisply rich in the aroma, with sweet apple-toned high notes. In the cup simple and engaging as an early Beatles song, with an acidity felt rather than tasted and seductively fruity milk chocolate notes. W. Morris Brown Jr. nominated this coffee with a simple tribute: "I like it."
Sweetly melodic, soft but substantial, with a gentle tickle of acidity. A spice-toned chocolate complicates the aroma and resurfaces in a long, easy finish. Nominating reader Monique Tam calls this "The best 100% Kona I have tasted." It certainly was the best of the four Konas I sampled for this month's cupping.
Deep and balanced, smooth in mouthfeel, low in acidity, rich with sweet wine- and chocolate-cherry-toned fruit and a resiny hint of cedar. Nominating reader John Outler applies the technical tasting term "Yummy!" to this coffee before continuing "Perfect intersection between dark and light [roast]. Not too bitter."
An enormous, enveloping coffee, grandly acidy yet voluptuously sweet. So sweet the term acidy becomes almost moot, though its dry rigor necessarily grounds and complicates the sweetness. Cabernet wine and ripe cherry notes. Anonymously nominated.
A classic high-grown Latin-American profile: Cherry- and grape-toned fruit in the sweet, high-toned aroma. In the cup big and smooth-bodied, rich, sweetly but intensely acidy, with an essence-of-coffee fruit that edges toward chocolate.
In the aroma sweetly and cleanly roasty and cedar-toned. The roasty tones turn burned and rather cloyingly sweet in the cup - lightly charred cedar or sandalwood.
Predictable ultra-dark roast: intense and pungent with an edge of charred cedar in the aroma; in the cup thin in mouthfeel and sweetly charred, with a mildly astringent finish that lovers of this style of roast will find bracing.
The cup gives an impression of both thinness and richness. Overripe fruit - peaches perhaps - settle toward an agreeable but pungent chocolate. Two cups of five were bitter, suggesting that the pleasant intrigue of overripe-fruit-cum-chocolate was induced by a slightly fermented component to the blend.
Impressive aroma: lush, low-toned apricot fruit. In the cup a full body with a nice heft in the mouthfeel, but the pungent fruit turns increasingly salty and bitter as the cup cools.
The chicory in this moderately dark-roasted blend announces itself tactfully but distinctly in the peppery mouthfeel, spicy, resiny notes (think rosemary stored in a scorched cedar box), with a hint of round, slightly, salty fruit underneath - Chinese salt plums perhaps.
Roasty and sweetly and gently charred, with a hint of fermented fruit that under the influence of the roast suggests a spicily aromatic chocolate - imagine bittersweet chocolate stored in charred cedar. Rich finish with a tingle of astringency.
Impressively complex ultra-dark roast: The roast tones are sweet and rather restrained in the aroma, complicated by fresh leather and apricot. In the cup they turn rich, full-throated and bittersweet. The finish is a touch heavy and astringent, inevitable in a roast this dark.
Balanced and roundly high-toned. Slightly roasty, gently acidy. Papaya and fresh leather notes in the aroma; papaya and dark chocolate in the cup. A tickle of astringency in the long finish.