Blind Assessment: Deep, intense, sweet-savory, utterly coherent. Intense lavender, black currant, mandarin orange, sandalwood, dark chocolate in aroma and cup. Sweet, tart, savory-bottomed structure with intense, balanced acidity; big, mouth-filling body. The flavor-saturated finish carries over every nuance from the cup.

Notes: This exceptional coffee was selected as the No. 17 coffee on Coffee Review’s list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2020.  The coffee tied for the highest rating in a cupping of “desert-island coffees” submitted by roasters for Coffee Review’s May 2020 tasting report. This version of the ancient Mocha-Java blend combines a traditionally processed, wet-hulled Sumatra in place of the original Java and replaces the Yemen Mocha with a similar “natural” or dried-in-the-fruit coffee from Ethiopia. One of the country’s pioneering socially and environmentally progressive roasters, Thanksgiving aimed to combine coffee quality with social and environmental responsibility many years before the latter preoccupations became fashionable. Visit www.thanksgivingcoffee.com or call 800-648-6491 for more information.

The Bottom Line: A paradoxically richly savory yet singingly sweet interpretation of the classic Mocha Java blend — complex, nuanced, multi-layered.