The World's Leading Coffee Guide
We have published thousands of coffee reviews and espresso reviews since 1997. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee. To search for a specific roaster, origin or coffee use the Advanced Search Function.
Robust, strong-gestured coffee. Nut, citrus, fresh-cut fir and a deep, apricot-like sweetness in aroma and cup. The acidity is rich and complex though slightly astringent; the mouthfeel full though a little rough-textured. Rich finish with a salty-savory edge.
Balanced, quietly rich: orangy citrus and pungent berry, rounded by a caramelly cocoa in aroma and cup. Gentle, complexly expressed acidity; smooth, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The finish fades rather quickly.
Tart, sweetly bright, complex. Lemon, jasmine-like flowers, cocoaish nut, fresh-cut fir in aroma and cup. Fine, wine-like acidity; light but smooth, silky mouthfeel. The flavor-saturated finish is drying in the short but sweet and juicy in the long.
Crisp and complexly cocoa-toned in aroma and cup, with a tart, pungent berry complication and a hint of lilyish flowers. Bright acidity; light but very silky mouthfeel. Clean, dry, cocoa-toned finish.
Floral, strawberry-like sweetness in the aroma with a hint of dry, walnut-toned cocoa. Turns pleasingly bittersweet in the cup, with the cocoa coming forward and the flowers turning pungently lavender-like. Crisp acidity; lushly syrupy mouthfeel. The finish is deep and flavor-saturated when the cup is hot; dries toward walnut as it cools.
Soaringly sweet, complexly layered aroma and flavor: melon, apple, cedar, flowers, brandy. The splendid aromatics carry intact into the cup where they are either complicated or shadowed by a slight salty savory note and drying astringency. Not a balanced cup, but certainly a complex, memorable one.
Striking, pungently tart, savory-sweet cup. Fir, roasted almond, zesty orange, cocoa, bitterish flowers in aroma and cup. Bright, fruit-toned acidity; syrupy mouthfeel. The zesty orange carries into a long, cocoa-toned finish.
Unusual and complex aromatics. Intense, sweetly pungent, slightly savory: blackberry, black currant, lemon, cedar, cocoa. Gentle, tartly sweet acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Flavor fades a bit in the pleasantly round finish.
(As brewed in a Keurig Special Edition B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce serving): Delicate profile: caramel, gently tart fruit in the aroma, with the caramel deepening toward dark chocolate in the cup. Soft, balanced acidity; leanish though smooth mouthfeel. Sweet, caramelly finish.
A hard, medicinal taint dominates in aroma, cup and finish, only partly softened by hints of sweet cocoa and almond. Muted but bitterish acidity; lean mouthfeel.
Flat, woody sensations almost completely dominate, probably owing to the acid-reducing, super-slow roasting process exacerbating a mild mustiness in one or more of the component green coffees. Lean but smooth mouthfeel. We may have picked up some softening apricot-like fruit in aroma and cup.
A pungent musty note reads charitably as dark chocolate in some cups, with a bit of crisp, apple-like complication. In other cups it reads mainly as musty. Best feature is a fullish though slightly rough mouthfeel. The chocolate suggestions fade quickly in a drying finish. We deducted three rating points from the raw score for the uneven cups and the musty suggestions.
Smoky paper was our first descriptor for this coffee; we upgraded to sour wood rounded by a molasses-like sweetness that at least hinted at good things: maple syrup, perhaps, or dark caramel. Sweet but very woody in the finish.
Roundly and richly smoky, with charred wood and walnut notes and faint hints of flowers, chocolate and perhaps, not unpleasantly, rubber. Dullish acidity; full but slightly rough-textured mouthfeel. Chocolate and charred wood carry into a sweet-toned but drying finish.
Charred wood with a backgrounded dark chocolate sweetness dominates in aroma. The dark chocolate character intensifies in the cup, complicated by a hint of orangy fruit. Lean but smooth mouthfeel; sweetly smoky in the finish.
Roast-dominated profile. Charred wood rounds toward dark chocolate in aroma and cup. Hints of cardamom and flowers. Roast-muted acidity; full though rather rough mouthfeel. Chocolate persists pleasantly in a bittersweet, slightly drying finish.
Rich, pungent, grapefruit-like citrus dominates aroma and cup, with dark chocolate, berry and cedar complication. Round, crisp, balanced acidity; leanish mouthfeel. Sweet-toned but drying finish.
Sweetly crisp, delicate. Cedar, honey, red apple, cocoaish chocolate, a hint of flowers in aroma and cup. Gentle acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Cocoa and apple carry into a sweet, slightly drying finish.
Crisply lush with floral notes of startling complexity. Ripe lemon, cocoa, moist pipe tobacco, and floral notes that range from dry lavender through a spicy rose to a heavy-scented honeysuckle. Balanced acidity; buoyant, silky mouthfeel. Rich, deep, flower-saturated finish.
The tartly sweet, lemony berry note associated with some of the world’s finest coffees is particularly dominant here, a complexly layered sensation that combines suggestions of ripe citrus, blackberry, fresh-cut fir, cocoa and bracing, bitterish flowers. Delicate but rich acidity; very smooth, silky mouthfeel. The finish is sweet-toned with a slightly drying mouthfeel.