• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Coffee Review

The World's Leading Coffee Guide

Advanced Search

  • Reviews
    • Latest Reviews
    • Top-Rated (94+)
    • Espressos
    • Best Values
    • Top 30 Coffees of 2022
    • Taiwan Coffees – 台灣送評的咖啡豆
    • Pods and Capsules
    • Reviews by Country of Origin
    • Reviews by U.S. City
    • Green/Unroasted
    • Advanced Search
  • Reports
    • Latest Reports
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia-Pacific
    • Espressos
    • Annual Top 30
    • Processing Method
    • Social/Environmental
    • Tree Variety
    • Blends
  • Equipment
    • Interpreting Equipment Ratings
  • Journal
    • Preview – 2023 Tasting Reports
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
    • How Coffee Review Works
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Kenneth Davids
    • Our Team
    • Our Advertisers
    • Our Sponsors
    • Learn
      • Interpreting Coffee Reviews
      • Reference
      • Glossary
    • Contact Us
  • Trade
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
    • Becoming an Advertiser
    • Campaign Package Deals
    • Getting Coffees Reviewed
    • Quoting Reviews
    • Award Certificates
    • 2023 Media Kit
  • 中文 – Chinese
    • 評介和獎章宣傳使用條款
    • 台灣送評的咖啡豆
    • 如何將您的咖啡送評
    • “行銷攻略” 促銷活動
  • Members
    • WHY BECOME A MEMBER?
    • Member Benefits
    • Our Sponsors
    • Programs and Initiatives
    • Member Support

Shop for top-rated coffees at Durango Coffee Company

Shop for No. 1 coffee of 2021 at Paradise Roasters

Shop for top-rated coffees at Amavida Coffee Roasters

Shop for Top-rated coffees at Barrington Coffee Roasters

Shop for top-rated coffees at Kakalove in Taiwan

Shop for top-rated coffees at GoCoffeeGo

Shop for 93-point Yemen coffee at Baba Java


93

Speckled Ax

DR Congo Virunga Organic

Roaster Location: Portland, Maine
Coffee Origin: Kirumba, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Roast Level: Medium-Light
Agtron: 58/82
Est. Price: $17.00/12 ounces
Review Date: December 2017
Aroma: 9
Acidity/Structure: 8
Body: 9
Flavor: 9
Aftertaste: 8

Blind Assessment

Deeply sweet-savory, uniquely pungent. Ripe tomato, pink peppercorn, lantana-like flowers, blood orange zest, fresh pipe tobacco in aroma and cup. Savory-leaning, richly sweet in structure; plush and syrupy in mouthfeel. The finish is equal parts sweet and savory. Notes of citrus zest and lantana linger in the short and rich pipe tobacco in the long, while ripe tomato resonates throughout.

Notes

This coffee tied for the fourth-highest rating in a tasting of holiday coffees for Coffee Review‘s December 2017 tasting report. Produced entirely from trees of the Bourbon variety of Arabica by small-holding farmers around Virunga Coffee, which began collaborating with local cooperatives in 2011 to improve the quality of coffee production in this emerging growing region in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, across Lake Kivu from Rwanda. This is a wet-processed or “washed” coffee, meaning the fruit skin and pulp were removed from the beans immediately after harvesting and before drying. Speckled Ax is a roaster based in Portland, Maine, specializing in high-quality certified organic and small-lot coffees. The company roasts in a vintage wood-fired Petroncini roaster with the goal of highlighting each coffee’s best attributes. Visit www.speckledax.com for more information.

Bottom Line

An exciting coffee from a newly emerging eastern Congo growing region: savory-edged, richly sweet, invitingly pungent.

Explore Similar Coffees

Click here for more reviews from Speckled Ax


This review originally appeared in the December, 2017 tasting report: 2017 Holiday Gift Coffees

Primary Sidebar

Shop for top-rated coffees at Durango Coffee Company

Shop for No. 1 coffee of 2021 at Paradise Roasters

Shop for top-rated coffees at Amavida Coffee Roasters

Shop for Top-rated coffees at Barrington Coffee Roasters

Shop for top-rated coffees at Kakalove in Taiwan

Shop for top-rated coffees at GoCoffeeGo

Shop for 93-point Yemen coffee at Baba Java

Become an advertiser

Get Coffees Reviewed

 

Shop for No. 1 coffee of 2021 at Paradise Roasters

Connect with Us

Sign Up for Our Free E-Newsletter

Enter your email address below to receive our free e-mail newsletter
  • Coffee Reviews
  • Tasting Reports
  • Reference
  • Glossary
  • Please Support Our Advertisers
  • Contact Us
  • Journal
  • Kenneth Davids
  • Interpreting Coffee Reviews
  • Roast Definitions
  • Caveats about Coffee Ratings
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Getting Coffees Reviewed
  • Advertising Opportunities
  • Quoting Reviews
  • Copyright
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Security

Copyright © 2023 Coffee Review. All Rights Reserved.