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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.
Full yet majestically buoyant. The aroma soars with sweet nut notes, the cup glistens with fruit and flowers, the entire impression is gentle but enormous. The finish is aggressively dry but saved from astringency by rich cocoa tones.
The famous Yirgacheffe flower tones are brighter and sturdier than usual here: less levitating, more grounded, fresh but rich, accessible, gently acidy. The cup darkens toward cedar and chocolate in the finish, the aftertaste is long and richly floral.
A pleasant roast-driven pungency balances a sturdy, assertive acidity. Dry and authoritative. Something seems to be flattening nuance, however. Either the five blend components are canceling one another out or the forceful roast has driven out some aromatics. In any event, more sweetness and lift would make a pleasantly hearty Oakhurst morning even rosier.
Classic vanilla-nut aroma and a solid, authoritatively dry cup, bright but not brassy. Not a lot of nuance, but outstanding range and balance.
Pungent Sumatra tones wrap around the Ethiopian flowers and Yemen fruit. The deep, aromatic wood tones modulate to a fruity, cherryish chocolate in the finish. The pungency turned slightly flat as the cup cools, slightly shadowing an intriguing and dramatic cup.
A light, bright breath of acidity shimmers inside an amazing bouquet of sweet jasmine and darker, woodier fragrances. The cup soars in a delicious, reeling dizziness of flowers, then immediately relaxes into spicy shadows. Somehow, all of the range and complexity remains precariously, elegantly in balance.
Smoky, resiny tones turn the Harrar fruit richly winy. In the finish everything softens and sweetens. The cabernet fruit tones deepen toward chocolate and the smoke tones turn toward fresh tobacco.
This coffee opens opulently, with a complex, enveloping aroma alive with nutty, spicy, bittersweet tones. In the cup the profile is smoky sweet, discreetly brightened by a touch of acidity. As the cup cools, however, the sweetness fades and the smokiness reveals hard, musty undertones. My rating faded too, from a high of 87 to a final landing at 81.
A dark roast that tip-toes past burned to achieve a smooth, integrated bittersweetness, enlivened by a hint of acidity and a touch of fruit.
Amazingly, behind the dampening effect of the aggressive dark roast a delicate, exquisite floral sweetness survives among the equally delicate charred, pungent notes. Think of a meadow that survived a forest fire.
Tremendous but balanced range and dimension. The acidity is full, deep, sweet, enveloped in the unifying matrix of the cup. Circumspect hints of fruit and flowers emerge in finish and aftertaste. As the coffee cools the slightest hint of ferment reveals itself behind the rich aromatics of the cup.
Pungent and woody out front, with winy, fruity undertones turned toward dry chocolate by the roast. A hint of flowers in the finish. Marred by an overly aggressive roast: Flat, charred tones verging on creosote sit on an otherwise expansive, complex profile.
An unusually full body gives the dominating pungency of this extreme dark roast solidity and substance. Some smoky notes and high-toned sweetness survive the rigors of the roast.
Lots of praise for the fruity nose, but the cup failed to excite and the aftertaste disappointed. Overall, panelists found little to either condemn or admire. I felt the coffee had been cleanly processed but still emerged flat.
A promising coffee shadowed by inconsistency. The good cups: sweet, full, deep, but alive with a pleasing shimmer of acidity. The bad: full and sweet but monotoned, flat, with a disturbing hint of astringency in aftertaste.
This complex, fruity, softly intense coffee unleashed a torrent of description from the panel. On aroma: "sweet cocoa, dried cherries"; "very strong & fruity." Descriptions of acidity included sweet, floral, fruity. Body: buttery yet light. Cup: fruity, sweet, "strong honey notes, very nice, very different." The odd intensity of this coffee, arresting yet restrained, disturbed two panelists: "Some may call this coffee pleasingly complex, but I find it a little wild," declared one. Count me in the pleasingly complex camp. I loved this coffee.
An unusual profile: sweet cedarish tones turn smokily chocolate in the finish. The chocolate sensation is superb: dry yet sweet, crisp and complex, lingering with husky richness in the aftertaste.
A full, rich, low-keyed cup. Stolid but not inert, with just enough acidity vibrating at the heart of the coffee to keep it lively.
The roast dominates the coffee, burning off sugars and turning the cup dryly pungent, full and hearty but not sweet. Crisp chocolate tones complicate the finish.
An almost symphonic coffee. Nuance stretches across the profile: floral notes at the top, winy, dry fruit in the middle, and a smoky pungency at bottom. Sweet, cedarish notes tend to dominate in aroma and aftertaste, but in the cup fruit and flowers upstage everything else.