LATEST REVIEWS

Complete and classic. Dry and acidy, but the acidity is held inside a deep, resonant matrix and complicated by richly wine-tinged fruit tones. Sweetens exquisitely in the finish. The medium body is smooth and buttery.

An extraordinarily clean, elegant Mocha-Java. The contribution of the two Ethiopian coffees is brightly fruity, floral and exhilaratingly fresh. The Java mostly stays out of the way, contributing a slight pungency to balance the Ethiopias' high-toned sweetness. The light body could be taken as a fault, but I found it more exhilaratingly weightless than disappointingly thin.

Distinct fruity chocolate tones, cherryish and round, are balanced by a tobaccoey dryness. When the coffee is hot the chocolate-fruit tones are fresh, complex, and thrilling. As the cup cools the tobacco tones intensify and turn slightly (though cleanly) astringent.

The superb oxymoron of this coffee, powerfully sweet yet sharply pungent, is at its best in aroma and in finish, when the pungent tones soften to a distinct and pleasing spice. Rich, clean aftertaste; medium to light body.

This delightfully gentle coffee is soft, brightly (and lightly) acidy, slightly floral. The aftertaste is as clean as white clapboard, with a lovely vanilla/floral burst, then a memory of pure sweetness. Not much power or depth here, but with a coffee this chastely bright and sweet who cares.

A fresh, clean, delightfully natural sweetness is balanced by a drier but still fruity pungency. A fine and distinctive coffee, though memorable more for what it gives out front than what it insinuates. The profile is immediate and pleasing rather than deep.

A fine example of the French-roast archetype. The carbon notes, as integral to French roasts as smoky notes are to Scotch whiskey, are discreet. The main taste complex here is sweet vanilla, floating above a dry, light pungency. Carbon notes prevail in the aftertaste, though a persistent low-toned sweetness gives them a run.

A gentle cup that seduces rather than imposes. Saved from the ordinary by a soft, rounded complexity and impressive dimension. Warmly pungent tones, faintly tobaccoish or herby, soften toward chocolate in the finish.

The floral perfumes are high-toned and exquisite in the aroma and overwhelmingly fragrant in the cup. Eventually a sweet, bright-toned coffee emerges from behind all the flowers. Owing to the floral lift the body reads as lightly buoyant rather than thin.

The dry, bright sensation called acidity dominates both nose and cup here. It is a pure acidity, without fruity complication or sweet reservation: clean and abstract. Acidity energizes a profile with plenty of sensation in mid range, but with little at the top and only a hint of pruny underpinning.

Plenty of nuance and long, complex development. An authoritative, dry-spice pungency opens in a matrix of shadow sweetness. A touch of vanilla in the finish, dry chocolate in the aftertaste. As the cup cools the spice softens and sweetens deliciously.

Aromatic and gently complex. Delicate, sweet-vanilla nose. In the demitasse smooth, balanced body and well-nuanced flavor, with pungent chocolate modulating to sweet chocolate in the finish. Slight fruit flourishes. Tends to fade in milk, but retains a light, pleasingly fruity chocolate character.

Not nearly as dramatic as the Olympic mountains, but satisfying and substantial. Straightforward, low-toned, agreeably balanced, vibrant and solid in mid-range, fresh and sweet in finish, complicated by a touch of intrigue that could be called chocolate. As the cup cools the sweet tones grow rounder, fuller and more distinctly chocolate.

Pungent chocolate in the nose. Slightly sharp in the cup, with distinct tobacco notes and a hint of dry chocolate. Solid body but little resonance.

A quietly dramatic coffee with a long development, in which a clear if understated acidity gives way to a sudden sweet lift in the cup, and nutty, pungent (perhaps smoky) notes are balanced by vanilla sweetness. All of the complex gestures remain in balance, and a silky smoothness envelops even the potentially sharp pungency.

Reactions to this coffee ranged from enthusiasm to mild approval to ambivalence. The enthusiasts and mild approvers both tended to cite gently bright acidity, full body, and nut-toned aromatics. The enthusiasts felt the coffee brought power to the cup ("packs a punch"), while the approvers felt it didn't ("mild, mild, mild; sweet and soft cup"). The ambivalencers also honored the virtues of the coffee, but detected a slight shadow taint. One suggested that the sample was a bit "faded," another "baggy." Both adjectives suggest this otherwise meticulously clean coffee suffered very mild damage, perhaps moisture-related, during transport or storage.

The most thoughtful assessments of this coffee characterized it as a potentially powerful but flawed coffee. "Although a little bit grassy, maybe due to lack of 'reposo' [resting the coffee after processing], this is a very good coffee," concluded one panelist. "Interesting undomesticated flavors," offered another. "One of those coffees that makes me scratch my head and say 'You're different, but do I really want to know you better?'" On the upside panelists cited this coffee's sweet fruit and richness. On the downside it elicited terms like weedy, oniony, or soapy. The most comprehensive attempt at describing the off-taste cited "Aromas of dried onions, grains and soy-sauce."

Another coffee whose assessment was dominated by roast issues. In this case, seven of eight panelists objected that the sample was roasted a bit too light. However, this complaint was offered as an aside to generally approving appraisals of the coffee itself. A general picture emerges of a well-prepared, clean coffee, sweet and balanced, with hints of fruit and nut. "Aroma of Spanish peanuts carries through to the flavor," concluded one panelist. "Pleasantly focused cup." Given the tone of approval in written comments, I can only assume that this coffee was not rated higher because it lacked power and dimension.

Although this is not quite the deep, almost syrupy sweet Haitian coffee I recall occasionally tasting before Haiti's latest run of political misfortunes, it is a good coffee, and a very promising one, given the relative newness of the admirable Cafeieres Natives project. On the upside, sweet, ingratiating aromatics. Three panelists called these high, delicate notes floral; three others mentioned cocoa or chocolate; one mint. The more tactile aspects of the cup disturbed some, however. Two used the word "gritty"; one "muddy." I found the cup (with patience) rich, but opaque and without dimension or resonance.

I found this coffee quite impressive when hot, with the sort of resonant dimension and long, gradually sweetening development I admire. However, for me the profile turned a bit grassy and hard as it cooled. The rest of the panel didn't have much to say about this coffee one way or the other. A few complaints surfaced suggesting roughness or hardness; one panelist reported "good intensity/balance, [though] not enough intensity for my taste." It would appear that a lack of character rather than taint or weakness doomed this coffee to a relatively low rating.