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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. You may refine your search by key word or category using links to the right. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $13.99/12 ounces
Richly sweet, roast-toned. Dried black cherry, vanilla, singed mesquite, baker’s chocolate, nutmeg in aroma and cup. Bittersweet structure with round, gentle acidity; velvety mouthfeel. The resonant finish leads with notes of black cherry and nutmeg in the short, rounding to vanilla-toned chocolate in the long, all supported by an inviting undercurrent of smoky aromatic wood notes.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: NT $520/16 ounces
Spicy, earth-toned, lightly roasty. Dark chocolate, fresh-turned earth, gently scorched oak, pipe tobacco, hints of peppercorn and sweet flowers in aroma and cup. Vibrantly sweet-savory in structure. Plush, velvety mouthfeel. Chocolate in particular carries into a round, resonant finish, complicated by continued hints of tobacco, earth and flowers.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: NT $400/8 ounces
Fruit-toned, engagingly complex. Mulberry, musk, cocoa, freesia-like flowers, elderflower liqueur in aroma and cup. Balanced in structure (sweet, tart, savory); plush, lively mouthfeel. The resonant finish leads with fruit (think berry medley) in the short, while the long is characterized by spice-toned florals and a hint of sweet ferment.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: NT $600/227 grams
Evaluated as espresso. Richly sweet, floral-toned. Magnolia, baker’s chocolate, salted cashew, marjoram, black cherry in aroma and small cup. Crisp yet velvety mouthfeel; dry, sweetly savory (herbaceous) finish. In three parts milk, bittersweet cocoa tones predominate, supported by ripe black cherry and salted cashew.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: NT $850/16 ounces
Evaluated as espresso. Richly sweet, caramelly. Orange zest, dark caramel, fir, raisin, freesia in aroma and small cup. Full, satiny mouthfeel; wood-framed, caramel- and fruit-toned finish. In three parts milk, raisin and caramel notes are foregrounded, with spice-toned, freesia-like flowers underneath.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: CAD $15.00/250 grams
Evaluated as espresso. Crisply sweet, lively, chocolate-toned. Dark chocolate, peach, blood orange zest, wisteria, almond brittle in aroma and small cup. Crisp, satiny mouthfeel; gently drying, chocolaty finish. In three parts milk, notes of wisteria and peach are elevated, with almond brittle resurfacing in the long.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $12.00/25.4-ounce bottle (seasonal)
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Richly sweet with an umami undercurrent. Baker’s chocolate, ripe tomato, vanilla, tangerine zest, lavender. Vivacious, sweet-tart structure with a compelling umami anchor. Crisp, full mouthfeel. Notes of ripe tomato, baker’s chocolate and lavender carry the long, layered finish. Adding whole milk mediates the umami impression, while amplifying the chocolate and spicy floral notes.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $3.49/11-ounce can
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Lively, gently bright and refreshing. Notes of cocoa, roasted cashew, orange zest, green apple, narcissus-like flowers. Crisply and sweetly tart in structure; the body is light but plush. Cocoa and citrus consolidate in a clean, sweet finish. Adding whole milk turns the chocolate caramelly and nut-toned, with a continued floral shimmer.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $3.99/8-ounce can
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. High-toned and sweetly bright. Notes of grapefruit zest, cocoa, almond, a hint of sweet flowers. Roundly sweet-tart and lively in structure; satiny in mouthfeel. Balanced and very clean in the finish. Adding whole milk develops a crisp chocolate and nut without completely sacrificing the citrus and flowers.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $3.99/12-ounce can
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Briskly vivacious and intricate. Complex berry notes (blueberry, strawberry), almond, sandalwood, lilac-like flowers. Sweetly bright in structure; full and lightly syrupy in mouthfeel. Flavor persists without loss of distinction with added whole milk. A nitro (nitrogenated) version of this blend displayed a livelier mouthfeel though somewhat less clearly articulated flavor.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $4.00/12-ounce bottle
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Full, intriguingly fermenty. Dark chocolate, tangerine zest, Concord grape, fresh vanilla, a hint of tequila barrel. Pungent, richly sweet-tart in structure with a sweet-salty edge; impressively full and smooth/syrupy in mouthfeel. The finish is woody but fragrant with tequila-barrel pungency. Adding whole milk develops the salty-edged chocolate, nicely complicated by a fine floral vanilla nuance.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $65.99/12 10.5-ounce bottles (shipping within California only)
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Deeply and richly sweet, with umami undertones. Notes of toffee, magnolia, scorched mesquite, almond, teriyaki sauce. Sweet-savory structure with round, gentle acidity; crisp, satiny mouthfeel. The finish is centered around toffee notes supported by hints of magnolia and scorched mesquite. Whole milk quiets the floral notes, but elevates both toffee and almond.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $4.00/10-ounce bottle
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Sweetly crisp, lightly and refreshingly roast-toned. Notes of cocoa, sweet lemon zest, clover flowers, raisin, oak. Crisp balance of bitter, sweet and tart in structure; lightly satiny in mouthfeel. Citrus, raisin and oak carry into the bittersweet finish. Adding whole milk pushes the cocoa toward full-on chocolate, with continued citrus and oak.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $4.50/12-ounce bottle
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. High-toned, cleanly fruit-forward, chocolaty. Apricot, dark chocolate, pink peppercorn, almond brittle, tamarind. Bittersweet in structure with a crisp, lively acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The richly sweet finish consolidates to dark chocolate and almond, with a hint of tamarind. Adding whole milk softens and harmonizes chocolate, nut and fruit.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $36.00/12 9.5-ounce cans
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Crisp, citrusy. Pink grapefruit, black currant, cocoa powder, cedar, almond. Roundly sweet-tart structure; taut, satiny mouthfeel. The crisp, citrus-toned finish leads with notes of grapefruit in the short, followed by almond and cocoa. Whole milk rounds the citrus notes and foregrounds the cocoa.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $84.00/24 12-ounces bottles
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Crisp, rich, caramel-toned. Caramel, lemon zest, date, hazelnut, oak. Balanced structure with briskly sweet acidity; feathery-smooth mouthfeel. The finish is deeply sweet, richly caramelly, with hints of lemon zest and hazelnut. The addition of whole milk elevates caramel, already front and center, to dessert-like dominance.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $5.00/12-ounce can
A ready-to-drink bottled black coffee tested over ice. Brisk, bittersweet, lively. Apricot, roasted cacao nib, walnut, blood orange zest, a hint of tea rose. Tart-sweet in structure with a bracing bitter edge; satiny in mouthfeel. Flavor consolidates around hints of apricot and walnut in a drying finish. Stands up to added whole milk with very little change in its defiantly brisk character and zesty array of flavor notes.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $16.99/16 ounces
Evaluated as espresso. Crisp, aromatic, chocolate-toned. Baker’s chocolate, fresh-cut cedar, lilac-like flowers, hints of tangerine zest and fresh-turned earth in aroma and small cup. Fat, full mouthfeel. Chocolate and flowers survive in the short finish, though fade in the long. Quiet and and crisply cocoa-toned in three-parts milk, with quiet complications of flowers and nut, perhaps pistachio.
Review Date: Jul 2018
Price: $19.98/16 ounces
Crisply sweet, delicate yet opulent. Cocoa powder, lilac-like flowers, roasted cashew, blueberry, sandalwood in aroma and cup. Sweetly and gently tart in structure; vibrant. In mouthfeel soft, lightly plush. Lilac and cocoa in particular carry into a rich though rather dry and woody finish.
Review Date: Jun 2018
Price: NT $450/8 ounces
Evaluated as espresso. Intricate, layered, richly sweet. Narcissus, dark chocolate, singed cedar, black truffle, ripe papaya in aroma and small cup. Lively, syrupy body. Floral, sweet-savory finish, with notes of dark chocolate throughout, supported by narcissus and black truffle. In three parts milk, the chocolate and floral notes are both rounded and enlivened.
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