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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.
An exquisitely refined chocolate sensation dominates the profile. The chocolate is at its richest and sweetest in aroma, then turns pleasantly dry in the cup and lingers crisply in aftertaste. This may be a bit of a one-note coffee, but it's a very elegant note.
The bright Latin-American profile is complicated in the aroma by dry, pungently roasty nut tones. The cup displays unusual vegetal tones that reach toward floral, but fall a bit short.
The powerful acidity is like a whack across the palate. It doesn't allow much else to make an impression, although some cups hinted at a nutty sweetness. Perhaps the robust, dominating acidity is pleasure enough.
A gently bright coffee, sweet and alive with spice and smoke in the aroma and floral innuendo in the cup. The floral tones linger in the aftertaste. Just enough resonance and depth to maintain authority.
A rich, rounded acidity dominates with unaffected clarity from aroma through aftertaste. A cup in which nuance is not so much absent as irrelevant to the cup's essential candor.
A classic Latin-American cup, dominated by an austere, powerful, full-throated acidity. The big, acidy profile is both impressive and monolithic, complicated only by barely felt floral tones, a sort of deeply held essence of flowers.
An almost symphonic coffee. Nuance stretches across the profile: floral notes at the top, winy, dry fruit in the middle, and a smoky pungency at bottom. Sweet, cedarish notes tend to dominate in aroma and aftertaste, but in the cup fruit and flowers upstage everything else.
The roast dominates the coffee, burning off sugars and turning the cup dryly pungent, full and hearty but not sweet. Crisp chocolate tones complicate the finish.
A full, rich, low-keyed cup. Stolid but not inert, with just enough acidity vibrating at the heart of the coffee to keep it lively.
An unusual profile: sweet cedarish tones turn smokily chocolate in the finish. The chocolate sensation is superb: dry yet sweet, crisp and complex, lingering with husky richness in the aftertaste.
The roast turns the lemony acidity rich and smokily pungent. Not a lot of range or innuendo, but a balanced and satisfying cup.
A clean, sweetly understated acidity complicated by a hint of flowers animates the bittersweetness of the dark roast. Ultimately the bitter tones dominate in finish, however, and intensify as the coffee cools.
Rich Kenya wine tones dominate, buoyed by shimmers of citrus and berry. A complex sweetness blooms as the cup cools and the dry wine tones soften. A fine coffee, although I missed the echoing dimension of the very best Kenyas.
Probably the smoothest, most seamlessly integrated dark-roast blend in the cupping. Preserves distinct acidy tones, but wraps them in dark-roast character, balancing them richly on the cusp between fruity tart and roasty pungent. Softly sweet in finish, without a trace of charred or burned notes.
Strikingly sweet, with virtually no dark-roast bitterness. The sweetness is agreeably complicated by tart berryish or citrusy tones, but overall the profile seems a bit restrained, a touch limited in range and dimension.
To my palate, one of the finer dark roasts in the cupping. The sweetness is elegantly complex and lemony, lightly rich, almost juicy. A subdued charred bitterness balances the fruity sweetness.
A deep, resonant pungency envelops the Kenya dry wine and tart berry tones, giving them a sexy fresh-sweat twist. This odd, rough-yet-smooth pungency is a Peet's trade mark, and only occasionally found in coffees dark-roasted by competitors. Here it supports without obliterating the citrus and berry freshness of the Kenya.
As usual with most extreme dark-roasted blends sold under the name French roast, no real flavor survives, only competing sensations of bitter and sweet -- in this case inclined more toward the bitter. I preferred this particular "French roast" profile over several others owing to the invigorating intensity of the bittersweetness
A fresh citrusy sharpness complicates the dark-roast bittersweetness. The bitter tones intensify in finish, but never completely master the sweetness, which persists pleasantly through aftertaste.
A pleasantly charred sweetness, buoyant and almost floral, dominates at first. As the cup cools the sweetness recedes and the bitter side of the dark-roast cup prevails.