Readers' Choices: The Lush, the Classic, the Ultra-Dark

The attraction of this coffee is a structure both powerful and elegant: richly and roundly acidy, with silky-verging-on-syrupy mouthfeel, fundamental sweetness, and ringing depth of sensation. The wispy hints of chocolate, cherry and cedar are a bonus. Reader Mike Venditto's nomination of a Counter Culture coffee was not available, so we substituted this rather similar Bolivia.

Simple but classically appealing coffee. High-toned, sweetly spicy aroma with tight-knit suggestions of flowers, chocolate and sweet tomato that amplify in the richly acidy cup. The finish stays on the roundly hearty side of astringent.

Opulently complex aroma: cherry, blueberry, dry semi-sweet chocolate, brandy. In the cup very sweet, gently rich; the chocolate grows rounder and more distinct with continued blueberry and brandy complication. The rich, dry brandy notes dominate a slight astringency in the finish.

The aroma is intense and complex: cherry, blueberry, brandy, chocolate, with an underlying edge of pungently spicy cedar. All carry richly into the cup with an excitement a bit too edgy for elegance. A slight shadow of astringency lurking in the cup emerges clearly in the long finish.

Fine aroma: high-toned, elegant, combining suggestions of flowers, lemon, cedar and peach in a single suave, tight-knit aromatic gesture. In the cup delicately rich, light-bodied but not lean, gently acidy. The peach-floral-lemon gesture deepens and leans toward chocolate. Only the finish is disappointing: short and slightly but distractingly astringent.

Gently pungent cedar and pear-toned fruit in the aroma. In the cup sweetly and richly acidy with a continued pungent edge that hints at chocolate. The long, robust-on-the-edge-of-rough finish suggests that the attractive pungency of the profile may in part be powered by a slight, felicitous mustiness in one of the blend's green coffees.

A cup either pleasingly delicate or disappointingly simple depending on taste and expectation. Balanced, gentle aroma with a very fresh, foresty cedar and a suggestion of pear-toned fruit. In the cup the cedar and fruit tones finally settle into a sweet, raisin-toned chocolate. Reader Laura Cheng nominated another Central American coffee from Caffe Vita that was not available, so we took the liberty of ordering this one instead.

In the aroma cedar plus flowers and roast-influenced caramel and banana notes. A roast-muted acidity gently lifts the cup, where the cedar and caramel notes persist while the banana-toned fruit notes drift toward chocolate. Quiet short finish with a slight astringency in the long. Reader Ed Escobar says he has been "impressed by the consistent quality and freshness" of the coffees he has been buying from Old Bisbee Roasters.

The aroma is dominated by a very sweet scorched cedar and a spicy banana-toned fruit. Both carry nicely into the cup, which retains sweetness and a relatively rich mouthfeel despite the very dark roast. In the finish the sweet roastiness manages to outlast a slight astringency. One reader calls this the "best coffee I've ever had."

Very sweet-toned, quietly complex aroma: smoke, semi-sweet chocolate and tart berryish fruit notes. Little of the aromatic complexity survives in the lean-bodied cup, only wisps of nut and crisp, smoky chocolate that fade quickly in the finish, leaving behind faint sweetness and a muted astringency.

Deeply roasty aroma: cedar, cardamom, caramel, raisin, a hint of flowers. In the cup sweet, almost syrupy with continued caramel, raisin and floral complication. A sharp astringency shadows the cup, however, and grows in intensity as the coffee cools. The short finish is cedary and rich, but fades toward a nagging astringency in the long. Reader Sheri Flagler is a fan and regular customer of Beanstock Roasters.