LATEST REVIEWS

A natural, vanilla-toned sweetness distinguishes a low-key but lively profile. Nut and spice notes complicate the vanilla sweetness in the aroma, but by finish and aftertaste the vanilla gently (and pleasingly) dominates. Little range or dimension; the vanilla is the main act.

Floral, fruity tones dominate, modulating to a sweet spiciness in the finish. The fruit reasserts itself in the long aftertaste. The fruitiness flirts with the over-the-top lush taste called ferment, but to my palate remains on the fresh, pleasing side of the fruit-ferment line.

Plenty of nuance and long, complex development. An authoritative, dry-spice pungency opens in a matrix of shadow sweetness. A touch of vanilla in the finish, dry chocolate in the aftertaste. As the cup cools the spice softens and sweetens deliciously.

The dry, bright sensation called acidity dominates both nose and cup here. It is a pure acidity, without fruity complication or sweet reservation: clean and abstract. Acidity energizes a profile with plenty of sensation in mid range, but with little at the top and only a hint of pruny underpinning.

The floral perfumes are high-toned and exquisite in the aroma and overwhelmingly fragrant in the cup. Eventually a sweet, bright-toned coffee emerges from behind all the flowers. Owing to the floral lift the body reads as lightly buoyant rather than thin.

A gentle cup that seduces rather than imposes. Saved from the ordinary by a soft, rounded complexity and impressive dimension. Warmly pungent tones, faintly tobaccoish or herby, soften toward chocolate in the finish.

A fine example of the French-roast archetype. The carbon notes, as integral to French roasts as smoky notes are to Scotch whiskey, are discreet. The main taste complex here is sweet vanilla, floating above a dry, light pungency. Carbon notes prevail in the aftertaste, though a persistent low-toned sweetness gives them a run.

A fresh, clean, delightfully natural sweetness is balanced by a drier but still fruity pungency. A fine and distinctive coffee, though memorable more for what it gives out front than what it insinuates. The profile is immediate and pleasing rather than deep.

This delightfully gentle coffee is soft, brightly (and lightly) acidy, slightly floral. The aftertaste is as clean as white clapboard, with a lovely vanilla/floral burst, then a memory of pure sweetness. Not much power or depth here, but with a coffee this chastely bright and sweet who cares.

The superb oxymoron of this coffee, powerfully sweet yet sharply pungent, is at its best in aroma and in finish, when the pungent tones soften to a distinct and pleasing spice. Rich, clean aftertaste; medium to light body.

Distinct fruity chocolate tones, cherryish and round, are balanced by a tobaccoey dryness. When the coffee is hot the chocolate-fruit tones are fresh, complex, and thrilling. As the cup cools the tobacco tones intensify and turn slightly (though cleanly) astringent.

An extraordinarily clean, elegant Mocha-Java. The contribution of the two Ethiopian coffees is brightly fruity, floral and exhilaratingly fresh. The Java mostly stays out of the way, contributing a slight pungency to balance the Ethiopias' high-toned sweetness. The light body could be taken as a fault, but I found it more exhilaratingly weightless than disappointingly thin.

Complete and classic. Dry and acidy, but the acidity is held inside a deep, resonant matrix and complicated by richly wine-tinged fruit tones. Sweetens exquisitely in the finish. The medium body is smooth and buttery.

Floral, berry-like, high-toned and vivacious, this striking coffee displays less winy authority than many Kenyas but greater charm. Light-bodied but not light-weight: gives us a sort of levitating richness.

This coffee manifested some brightness and acidity in the cup, which probably accounted for a higher rating than one would expect given that several panelists complained of a background shadow or taint. I called the problem a "slight, high, hard fruitiness." Another cupper identified it as grassiness; another detected a "rubbery" taste; still another concluded the coffee was "faded." Not much consensus in those descriptions, but clearly something was off. Two of us noted that the profile tended to vary from cup to cup, with some cups bright with a floral or fruit-toned acidity, and some dulled by the elusive taint.

The majority of panelists dismissed this coffee as fermented, the flavor defect that results from the some of the beans picking up the rotten-fruit taste of fermenting sugars during processing or drying. "Trying to be constructive here but can't find any grounds for redemption," wrote one. However, three panelists were open to redemption, rating this coffee in the low 80s, perhaps reading the ferment tones as fruity or wine-like. Two of the three yea-sayers struggled with their ambivalence in their comments, finally coming down on the positive side of the fruit/ferment continuum. The matrix of sensation under and around the ferment definitely was full and complex.

Something was slightly off with this coffee. Two panelists mentioned ferment but I doubt it. One called the taint grassy; "slightly harsh & earthy" wrote another; I had it as "a touch of hard tobacco, herb." Whatever it was, it brought down the rating of this otherwise ingratiatingly sweet, rounded coffee with subtle grace notes variously described as chocolate, vanilla, and (the favorite) caramel.

I found this coffee quite impressive when hot, with the sort of resonant dimension and long, gradually sweetening development I admire. However, for me the profile turned a bit grassy and hard as it cooled. The rest of the panel didn't have much to say about this coffee one way or the other. A few complaints surfaced suggesting roughness or hardness; one panelist reported "good intensity/balance, [though] not enough intensity for my taste." It would appear that a lack of character rather than taint or weakness doomed this coffee to a relatively low rating.

Although this is not quite the deep, almost syrupy sweet Haitian coffee I recall occasionally tasting before Haiti's latest run of political misfortunes, it is a good coffee, and a very promising one, given the relative newness of the admirable Cafeieres Natives project. On the upside, sweet, ingratiating aromatics. Three panelists called these high, delicate notes floral; three others mentioned cocoa or chocolate; one mint. The more tactile aspects of the cup disturbed some, however. Two used the word "gritty"; one "muddy." I found the cup (with patience) rich, but opaque and without dimension or resonance.

Another coffee whose assessment was dominated by roast issues. In this case, seven of eight panelists objected that the sample was roasted a bit too light. However, this complaint was offered as an aside to generally approving appraisals of the coffee itself. A general picture emerges of a well-prepared, clean coffee, sweet and balanced, with hints of fruit and nut. "Aroma of Spanish peanuts carries through to the flavor," concluded one panelist. "Pleasantly focused cup." Given the tone of approval in written comments, I can only assume that this coffee was not rated higher because it lacked power and dimension.