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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.
Rich, bracingly bittersweet aroma - caramel, a tickle of chocolate, pure classic coffee fruit notes - but in the cup disappointingly lean and shallow in dimension, particularly as the cup cools. Recovers slightly in the thin but cleanly sweet finish.
A coffee seen from the far end of the taste telescope, intriguing but shrunk and diminished. The aroma is lushly sweet with a hint of grapefruit. The cup is sweet as well, but complicated only by an agreeable but simple acidity. Once past the aroma little nuance of any kind. Slightly astringent in the finish.
Round and full in aroma, with caramel midtones and tartly sweet topnotes: passion fruit and pink grapefruit. The impressive aromatics are overwhelmed in the cup by a rather bitter acidity, though the passion fruit notes emerge again in the finish.
Smoky, leathery and sweet in the aroma, with a hint of low-toned fruit. Softens and relaxes in the cup, with the smoky fruit sweetening toward chocolate. Lean in mouthfeel but rich in impression.
The aroma is round and intense but limited in nuance. The cup adds a complicating hint of chocolate-toned fruit to a similarly limited but balanced and deeply resonant profile.
Balanced, low-toned aroma with a tickle of fruit and chocolate. Maintains its character in the cup: low-toned, understated, balanced, complicated by a faintly chocolate-inclining prune and apricot.
Sweet, low-key, expansive aroma. In the cup rich and cleanly roasty, with an agreeable bittersweet balance complicated by fresh leather, chocolate and a shimmer of sweet grapefruit. The grapefruit persists in the rich but astringent finish.
The authoritative aroma is dominated by low-toned fruit: apricot or papaya. In the cup the fruit brightens, lifts and intensifies, suggesting a tartly sweet temperate fruit like green apples. Light-to-medium-bodied but roundly smooth in mouthfeel; sweetly acidy.
Thin but intense aroma, with distinct papaya-toned fruit. Medium-bodied but lively in the cup, where the high-toned fruit, still reminiscent of papaya, takes on a delicate chocolate richness. Sweet, balanced acidity.
The aroma is subdued and gently roasty. Clear, dry, deep-toned chocolate-fruit notes carry from aroma through cup to a slightly bitter but rich finish.
The sweet musty tones that run from aroma into cup read as distinctly nut-like -- walnuts perhaps -- with an edge of low-toned fruit: pumpkin and papaya. All of that detail fades in the finish, which is long, lush, and sweetly clean.
A big-bodied, massively roasty coffee. Intense musty tones read as rosemary, cardamom perhaps, with a shimmer of chocolate. The intense, monumental character fades a bit as the cup cools.
Crisp, wine- and cherry-toned fruit dominate in both aroma and cup. A delicate mustiness reads as leather and sweet pipe tobacco. The rather heavy finish lightens and sweetens as the cup cools.
Low-key, pungent aroma laced with cocoa and caramel. Sweet in the cup with enveloping bottom notes of overripe fruit and sweet humus. Surprising floral notes in the finish.
Cinnamon, pumpkin, chocolate smeared on leather in the aroma. In the cup overripe, lush, half-rotting fruit and carnal melon tones eventually suggest chocolate, which sweetens and rounds in the long, surprisingly clean finish.
The aroma is subdued but complex with leather, chocolate and apricot. In the cup a fine balance of bitter bite and seductive sweetness, complicated by an apricot-almond-toned fruit and a crisp bittersweet chocolate. Medium-bodied, gently rich.
A sweet, lyric coffee with remarkable complexity, starting with the aroma -- distinct leather notes, winy fruit, milk chocolate -- to the cup, where the wine tones deepen and take on an almost smoky edge. Clean, sweet, grape-like finish.
The aroma is high-toned but pungent, laced with caramel, cantaloupe and leather. In the cup a sweet, wine-toned fruit leads, with richly malty, bracingly bitter tones opening up behind. The bitterness dissolves in the long, clean, chocolate-toned finish.
Opens with a very sweet, very intense but balanced aroma complicated by apples and flowers. In the cup the gentle acidity subordinates itself to a melodic sweetness and a rich, deeply dimensioned chocolate- and apple-toned fruit. Lyric and seductive.
Delicate apple, leather, and milk chocolate notes in the sweet, mid-toned aroma. The cup is explicit in its clear chocolate notes, complicated by dry fruit tones that suggest raisins or dates. Substantial body and a sweet, clean finish.