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REVIEWS FOR:

Sumatra Coffees

By Kenneth Davids
March 1st, 1998

93

First Colony Coffee & Tea

Sumatra Mandheling

Review Date: Mar 1998

Not entirely typical for a Sumatra, but something of a revelation: an almost Latin-American brightness up front before the deep Sumatra tones prevail, pulling us down into a broad, deep, sweet vanilla-tinged center. An amazing range, from the fleeting floral top notes to a pungently rich bottom, plus a long, satisfying development that carries straight through to the vanilla memories in the aftertaste.

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87

Willoughby's Coffee & Tea

Sumatra Mandheling

Review Date: Mar 1998
Willoughby's Coffee & Tea Logo

Another solid, heavy-centered Sumatra. Here, however, the dark center reveals hints of wine and a character more complexly pungent than sweet. The pungency is free of earthy or hard notes, and reads as the very quintessence of rich.

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84

City Roast

Sumatra Lintong Zamrud

Review Date: Mar 1998

An understated sweet liveliness lifts the rather stolid heart of this coffee. I can't cite any grace notes, simply a very pleasant, sweet lift. Good dimension, but (for a Sumatra) a rather shallow bottom.

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82

Berardi's Fresh Roast

Sumatra Blue Lintong “Yiayia”

Review Date: Mar 1998

Low-toned, full-bodied, absolutely solid at the center (maybe too), with slight hints of fruit and sweetness at the edges. In other words, a typical Sumatra. Would be a classic Sumatra if there were something more going on inside that center or a little more shimmer or lift around those edges. As it is, substantial, satisfying, but a touch inert.

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81

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

Organic Sumatran Reserve

Review Date: Mar 1998

Another typically full-bodied, solid-centered Sumatra. Not much range or complexity, but good development: If you stay with the coffee the heaviness at the center seems to grow in weight and power, revealing reticent pruny, sweet-pungent tones in the finish. As it cools, the herby, earthy tones characteristic of some Sumatras emerge, carrying (perhaps) a hint of hardness. Without that hint I would have rated this Sumatra higher.

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81

Café d'Alma

Dark Sumatra

Review Date: Mar 1998

The dark roast style leans toward carbon here but remains on the flavorful side of it, turning the Sumatra richness pungent and darkening the sweet tones with hints of what a publicist might call chocolate. If this coffee had showed some development I would have rated it higher, but the profile made its statement and stood pat from there. As with the other Café d'Alma coffees in the cupping, I suspect a loss of aromatics in shipping.

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80

Coffee Masters

Sumatra Mandheling

Review Date: Mar 1998

An interesting but atypical Sumatra profile: Distinctly, almost distractingly sweet vanilla tones float over the Sumatra depth, which you only sense through a kind of echo. Perfumy, at turns suggesting flowers and then nuts, the vanilla notes may be too intense for elegance, lingering straight into the aftertaste, where they turn slightly cloying.

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80

Peaberry's Coffee & Tea

Sumatra

Review Date: Mar 1998

A darkish roast style asserts itself here, turning the heavy Sumatra center distinctly pungent. A slight sweetness emerges in the finish, but the mildly astringent pungency dominates in the aftertaste. A vibrant aliveness in the center of this coffee is its most attractive feature.

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80

Taylor Maid Farms

Organic Sumatra

Review Date: Mar 1998

Herbal, pungent tones, a bit too sharp for earthy, dominate the profile, reverberating in its characteristically solid Sumatra heart. Only a touch of sweet nuance, but the herbal tones are intriguing. They turn slightly hard as the coffee cools.

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80

Pegasus Coffee

Sumatra

Review Date: Mar 1998

Another Sumatra carried to a dark roast with enough tact to avoid carbon. But, alas, not enought to save the sweetness and nuance. What's left is a balanced dry heaviness that can be read as richness.

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78

Café d'Alma

Sumatra Mandheling

Review Date: Mar 1998

Still another solid, deep Sumatra, but lacking range or dimension. Clean, one-dimensional, with little resonance in the heart of the coffee or shimmer around the edges. The aromatics seemed a bit tired; perhaps the problem here is a loss of aromatics in shipping.

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78

Café d'Alma

Organic Sumatran

Review Date: Mar 1998

Another heavy-centered Sumatra, this one with hints of sweetness and vanilla all but buried under an herby, earthy character. The earthiness is rough but rather pleasant, with only the barest hint of hardness.

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