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.
Sweet fruit-punch aroma with notes of butter, flowers, wine and cedar. Lush fruit-toned acidity, silky body and complex flavors of guava nectar, honey, vanilla, berries and cherry-like chocolate. Fruit-saturated finish, with flavor hints outlasting a very slight astringency.
Giddily and brightly sweet floral-toned profile: orange, tart cherry, hints of dry chocolate, pipe tobacco, honey. Balanced acidity, silky mouthfeel, superbly clean, floral-toned finish.
Evaluated as espresso. Delicate if rather subdued aromas of flowers, toast, chocolate and vanilla. In the small cup, a lightly syrupy mouthfeel, flavors of orange, tart berry and pungent cedar, sweetening and rounding with hints of caramel toward the finish. Finishes cleanly, with dark chocolate, sweet lemon and mild floral notes. In two parts milk, crisp with some sweetness, citrus and nut.
Subtle aroma: fruit, toast and nut. Full body, smooth mouthfeel and tight-knit, balanced flavors ranging from tart lemon to sweet cherry, with hints of caramel. Toasty sweetness in the finish turns toward cocoa in the long. Continued balanced complexity in milk, with distinct notes of cherry, nut and chocolate.
Pungent fir, nut-toned chocolate in the aroma. Rich acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. A spicy lemon dominates in the cup, supported by continued nut and chocolate notes. Long, deep-toned finish, fading to a very slight astringency.
Sweet-toned, crisp aroma with notes of fruit (cherry, apricot?) nut and fir. Medium to full body with a simple yet assertive acidity. In the cup, hints of night flowers and berry-fruit fade to cocoa and honey. Flowers persist into the finish, with a slight nutty astringency developing in the long.
Deeply and intensely roasty aroma, with notes of charred cedar, walnut and spicy chocolate. Medium body, somewhat thin mouthfeel, flavors of charred wood with hints of raisin, dark chocolate and earth. The short finish is sweet and rich, but simplifies, with an astringent roastiness lingering in the long.
Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a T Disc capsule on a matching Tassimo TAS451xUC brewing device. Sweet, faintly fruit- and chocolate-toned aroma. Thinnish body and mouthfeel, softly pungent flavor with vague, subdued fruit notes. The flavor fades very quickly in the finish to a rather stolid heaviness. In two parts hot, fresh milk, displays a roundly pungent chocolate suggestion with an edge that could read as smoky. Combining this disc with the contents of the matching Gevalia Latte milk disc (and allowing both to respond to the bar-coded instructions incorporated on the discs) netted a rather dilute beverage, sweet and distinctly chocolate- and nut-toned but thin-bodied with a faint metallic shadow.
Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a T Disc capsule on a matching Tassimo TAS451xUC brewing device. Crisp, sweet-toned aroma, leather and chocolate notes. At a one-ounce shot leanish, rather astringent mouthfeel with flavor dominated by fir and leather with the slightest hint of chocolate. Simple finish with some richness. In two parts hot milk, balanced flavor (dark chocolate, continued aromatic wood notes) but thinnish mouthfeel.
Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Crisply sweet-toned aroma with subdued caramel and cherry chocolate notes. In the small cup fullish mouthfeel, creamy textured though very slightly astringent. A salty-sweet, aromatic wood dominates, rounded by a continued cherryish chocolate. Milk develops the chocolate tendencies, though in the long finish the pervasive salty astringency prevails.
Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Aromatically simple, robust espresso with a heavy, slightly rough mouthfeel and a woody date and nut character. Pleasingly rich in milk, with a minty hint to the chocolate.
Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. The low-acid wood and nut character of robusta dominates. Surprisingly lean mouthfeel, but the woody nut notes hint nicely at chocolate in the small cup and turn sweetly rich in the finish. Blooms nicely in milk with a gently fat dark chocolate character.
Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. An apparently balanced robusta and Arabica blend hampered by pods that at best netted a 20-second shot. Nevertheless, rich, deep aroma with a buttery or caramelly nut and bananaish fruit. In the small cup lean mouthfeel and short finish, but quite sweet: pungent nut, hints of chocolate and ripe, slightly fermented fruit. Even sweeter in milk, with a cocoaish chocolate inclination.
Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a Nespresso capsule on a matching Nespresso D290 brewer. Bright, fruit- (cherry-?) toned aroma with a hint of flowers. In the small cup smoothly balanced, medium in body, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Aromatic wood, cherryish fruit, citrus, cocoa. Clean, sweet, lemon-toned finish, very slightly astringent. Delicate to a fault in two parts milk: The citrus hints turn more prominent, backgrounding the cocoa and lower acid fruit.
Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Aromatic wood, leather, tartly cherryish chocolate and delicate floral top notes carry from aroma through demitasse to finish. Leanish mouthfeel. In two parts milk caramelly dark chocolate and a continued suggestion of cherry-toned fruit.
Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Fresh, bright aroma: flowers, cherryish fruit, just-cut fir, leather. In the small cup lean mouthfeel with continued refreshing, gently acidy fruit notes and hints of flowers, fir and milk chocolate, all of which carry into a clean, sweet finish. This bright, rather delicate blend is subdued in two parts milk, although a crisp, muted chocolate is pleasant.
Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a Nespresso capsule on a matching Nespresso www brewer. Deep, sweetly pungent aroma: hints of tropical fruit (papaya?), dark chocolate. In the small cup medium body, rather dense, syrupy mouthfeel, and a balanced, perhaps simple flavor: continued dark chocolate, hints of aromatic wood and a gently pungent fruit that reads as date or perhaps raisin. Rich, flavor-saturated finish. Balanced presence in two parts milk: cocoa-toned, though perhaps a bit too lean in mouthfeel.
Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Subdued aroma: vaguely sweet, some leather and cherryish chocolate. In the small cup lean-tending but lightly syrupy mouthfeel, sweet with aromatic wood notes rounding toward a crisp dark chocolate. Sweetly rich short finish saturated with dark chocolate fades toward a slight astringency in the long. In two parts milk light-bodied but balanced in flavor with milk-rounded dark chocolate and aromatic wood notes.
Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Chocolate-toned fruit and leather in the aroma. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The leather turns toward aromatic wood and the chocolate and cherry fruit notes deepen in the cup. Simple, slightly astringent finish. Sweetens but maintains crisp presence in two parts milk.
Produced from an IllyCaffe iperEspresso capsule on matching FrancisFrancis! X7 iperEspresso brewer. Outstanding crema production. In the aroma tropical fruit, a hint of flowers, fruit-toned chocolate. In the small cup lightly syrupy mouthfeel with continued fruity chocolate notes anchored by a hint of aromatic wood. A rich short finish fades rather quickly to woody sweetness. A little overpowered by two parts milk, but impressive in body and flavor: more chocolate and aromatic wood and a reappearance of the tropical fruit and floral notes that last displayed early on in the aroma.
