• 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

Yo El Rey Roasting

Ecuador Cahuasqui

Roaster Location: Calistoga, California
Coffee Origin: Cahuasqui region, Imbabura Province, north-central Ecuador
Roast Level: Medium
Agtron: 52/69
Est. Price: NA
Review Date: November 2016
Aroma: 9
Body: 8
Flavor: 9
Aftertaste: 8
With Milk: 9

Blind Assessment

Evaluated as espresso. An engagingly exotic coffee that polarized the three reviewers: John DiRuocco was lukewarm at 90, whereas Jen Apodaca was very enthusiastic at 95; Ken landed in the middle at 93. Ken read the coffee as driven by an attractive sweet ferment that for him suggested winey grape edging on grappa; John cited a fruit that for him was simultaneously ripe, tart and spicy; Jen went entirely positive on the fruit notes, citing in particular mango and passion fruit – fruit that taken together perhaps echoes John’s lush, tart and spicy reading. The cup was intense for John but not entirely coherent, while Jen found it expressed a “nice balance of acidity and sweetness.” Everyone found the coffee attractively complex in three parts milk, simultaneously lushly sweet and tart.

Notes

Grown at an elevation of approximately 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) and apparently processed by the dry-processed or “natural” method, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or “washed” coffees. This coffee tied for the top rating in a tasting of single-origin espressos from the Americas for Coffee Review‘s November 2016 tasting report. Yo El Rey is a small-batch roaster based in Calistoga, California. For more information, visit www.yoelreyroasting.com.

Bottom Line

An intriguing espresso, with a dynamic, wide-ranging intensity that probably derives in part from a mild, sweet fruit ferment. Adventurers welcome, classicists beware.

Explore Similar Coffees

Click here for more reviews from Yo El Rey Roasting

Click here for more information about coffees from Ecuador


This review originally appeared in the November, 2016 tasting report: New-World Espressos: Single-Origin Espressos from the Americas

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.