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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.
Clean and decisive profile, but a bit too much wallop and not quite enough tickle. Little sweetness or nuance. Some dimension, but a rather hard, winy (not fruity) acidity dominates, sitting on the rest of the profile.
The strength of this excellent Mocha-Java is in the full, rich body and complex bottom. The low notes remain alive, complicating and deepening through the finish. Not much lift or sweetness at the top, however. The only grace notes I detected were a touch of carbon and some heavy pruniness.
A rather complex dark-roast cup. Clear carbon, but the roast was conducted with enough deliberation to preserve some richness and a touch of sweetness. The most engaging complication was in the dry center of the profile: a pruny, complex pungency that read as chocolate in the aroma. The carbon reasserted itself in the aftertaste.
A clean but slightly oppressive hardness or astringency dampens the fruity Mocha-Java richness. A touch of carbon. The background fruitiness pleasantly hints at chocolate in the finish.
Not much in the way of grace notes or fruit, but a very full body and an impressive range and dimension. The finish is rich and deep-toned. Only a trace of Red-Sea wildness from the Yemen.
Once again, a rather flat astringency, a sort of strident monotone, dominates the center of the profile, abetted in this case by a touch of carbony sharpness. Some fruit and sweetness, though the grace notes tend toward the tobacco and herb.
This coffee was roasted so darkly and probably at such high temperatures that little was left to taste except overwhelming carbon plus a hint of high, singing sweetness that emerged in aroma and finish. The green coffee the roastmaster started with may well have been excellent, but the roast certainly wasn't.
An exceptionally luxuriant cup, from the deep, vibrant bottom to the lush but muted acidity. I particularly admire this coffee's dimension, the way it continues to develop in waves of gentle revelation from aroma through finish. The problem: as the coffee cools the fruit tones turn slightly overripe and gamey. The positive fruit and complexity come from the same place as the suspect gaminess, of course: One of the blend components is probably a small-grower, hand-processed coffee, probably either an Indonesia Sulawesi or Ethiopia.
Solid from top to bottom. The power in the lower ranges is particularly impressive for a coffee brought to a medium roast. Don't look for tickle, inspiration or sweetness, however. The grace notes, if any, tend toward herb or tobacco.
Rich, round, complete. The aroma in particular displayed an impressive range, from sweet nut tones through a dark pungency. This pleasing bittersweet balance prevailed through to finish. A good example of a coffee brought to a darkish roast style tactfully enough to avoid carbon while maintaining sweetness. Little discernible acidity, but enough to keep the profile from going flat.
The exhilaratingly bright, complexly winy acidity turns slightly hard and herbal as it settles on the palate, limiting the vivacity of the first impression. As the coffee cools the profile relaxes, allowing some rich sweetness to emerge behind the acidity.
No carbon and lots of sweetness here, smoothing and rounding the dark-roast pungency. A pleasing smokiness turns sweet and ambiguously chocolate in the aftertaste.
A solid, balanced dark-roast profile. A hint of wine-toned acidity, perhaps even some wildness, teases from inside the fundamental dark-roast bittersweetness. Some carbon, but overall good range and structure.
Hints of carbon mar an otherwise expansive profile: Sweet, light nuance at the top with a touch of wine in the acidity; suggestions of dark-roast pungency near the bottom. The complexity fades and carbon dominates in the aftertaste.
A dark-roast on the dry side. Preserves some of the bright, acidy tones of lighter roasts, balancing them with prune and tobacco in the mid ranges. No carbon, but not much sweetness either. Good range from top to middle of the profile, but short on depth and dimension.
The elements of the dark-roast complex -- sweetness, pungency and carbon -- all work together smoothly here until the aftertaste, when carbon tones linger past any memory of sweetness. Until that moment, this coffee achieves an unassuming dark-roast completeness.
Bean-size aside, everything in this coffee walks the middle, from the subdued vanilla-nut complex in the aroma, through the clear but unemphatic acidity in the cup, to the clean aftertaste. Unfortunately, no resonance at the bottom of the profile, no shimmers at the top, no development in the finish. Satisfying but limited.
Dominated by a pruny, rather heavy pungency at the heart of the profile, livened by only a faint shimmer of acidity. Not quite enough sweetness to balance the pungency or acidity to brighten it. The grace notes tend toward the dry and herbal.
Solid, full-bodied dark-roast cup. Carbon tones dominate the sweet side of the dark-roast equation, and only the hints of prune and chocolate relieve the ultimately rather austere profile.
A tribute to dimension and balance. A complete, classic coffee; medium-bodied, with a discreetly wine-toned acidity and just a touch of darker-roasted pungency. Even displays a hint of carbon in the finish, which I could do without, but which some may take as a sign of completeness.