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.
Pungent, sweet-toned aroma with banana, honey, chocolate, and a hint of cedar. The pungent cedar notes intensify in the small cup, supported by a deep, enveloping sweetness and viscosity. Here the syrupy honey and banana notes are more felt than tasted, and segue into an impressively long, cleanly resonant finish. In milk the cedar and fruit tighten and simplify somewhat, reading as a crisp semi-sweet chocolate.
Intense, sweet-toned, chocolate and blueberry aroma with a slight pungent edge. In the cup sweetly acidy, with a full, syrupy mouthfeel and lavish red wine and blueberry notes. The finish is rich, berry-toned and extraordinarily clean for this style of coffee.
Sweet, simple aroma dominated by walnut and neutral wood notes. In the cup lean in mouthfeel with some raisiny fruit in front, but the main sensation is salty wood - think licking driftwood. The salty/sweet theme continues in the finish, though the fruit hangs on, an agreeably soft banana-like sensation. It's difficult to assign a rating to such an oddly woody, lifeless beverage; but it does show sweetness and a little agreeable fruit, hence the 78 as opposed to, say, 60, or 50, or 0.
Sweet, woody, simple aroma: perhaps some pipe tobacco and lemon notes. In the cup definitely mild in acidity with a caramelly sweetness, but all suggestions of normal coffee aromatics vanish, with the main sensation a neutral woodiness that carries from cup into a sweet but rather empty finish.
Simple, gently roasty aroma: toasted bread, lightly charred cedar, hints of cardamom and dried fruit, dried cherries perhaps. In the cup leanish mouthfeel with good sweetness but rather flat and simple, with continued charred cedar and perhaps some walnut notes. The nut notes dominate in the short finish; the long finish is sweet but slightly astringent.
Sweet, delicate, nutlike or carob-like notes and a hint of flowers in the aroma. In the cup medium bodied, with continued sweet nut, prune and carob notes together with agreeably persistent floral nuance. As the cup cools and the aromatics begin to fade a woody, albeit a richly woody, character emerges. Sweet, short finish with a slight, gentle astringency.
Intense aroma in a narrow range: pungent rosemary-like herb notes, an orangy citrus, and some slightly charred wood notes. In the cup lean-bodied but forceful, dominated by a grapefruity pungency with a slight charred edge that with imagination reads as a semi-sweet chocolate. The chocolate is explicit, however, in the impressively sweet, long finish.
Sweet-toned and rich aroma with some floral notes. In the cup medium body, silky mouthfeel, low acidity, sweet, low-toned, rich, with chocolate notes and a hint of walnut. Rich short finish; the mildly bitterish walnut tones dominate in the long.
Very sweet, deep, but delicate orangy fruit in the aroma. In the cup big body and syrupy mouthfeel, very sweet, with pungent grapefruit and moist earth notes. Rich, sweet short finish, slightly astringent and heavy in the long.
Very rich aroma: tartly sweet, round-toned, with cherry- and orange-toned fruit. In the cup syrupy mouthfeel, sweet, with continued orangy fruit and a hint of moist leaves.
A slight, serendipitous hint of sweet ferment complicates the rich fruit, turning it toward a chocolaty, brandyish cherry or orange with a hint of blueberry. The chocolate takes on an almost minty character in the sweet, very low-acid cup. As the cup cools a bare suggestion of bitterness surfaces, the shadow side perhaps of the rich, fermenty sweetness.
An extraordinarily pure coffee in a dramatically light roast style. Sweet nut, fresh-cut cedar and orangy citrus in the aroma. Medium-bodied and giddily sweet in the cup, delicate but rich, with low, wine-toned acidity, an orange-toned fruit and hints of nut, flowers and chocolate. The complex fruit notes carry into a quietly rich, clean finish.
Very sweet-toned but crisp aroma: distinct lemon, floral and chocolate notes. In the cup big-bodied, with a dry, lemony chocolate simultaneously delicate yet intense. The chocolate takes on a breathtakingly sweet floral and blueberry character as the cup cools. Continued chocolate and flowers cover for a slight salty astringency in the long finish.
Deeply pungent, tightly complex aroma: grapefruit, earth, caramel, perhaps a hint of butter. In the cup fat bodied, sweetly pungent, with earth tones that lean toward a rich malt. The sweet-toned finish stays on the robust, rich side of astringent.
(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce and 8-ounce serving sizes): Distinguished by a sweet, gently tart fruit note in aroma and cup that reads as a sort of crisp orange- and chocolate-toned blackberry - or call it "black currant," a term for this flavor note in vogue among coffee describers. Whatever we call it, it is a precious and agreeable sensation. The body is medium and the mouthfeel silky at a 6-ounce serving, slightly thinnish and lean at 8. Rich finish with good flavor persistence and excellent stability as the cup cools.
(As produced in a Beveo concentrate coffee machine at the setting netting the "strongest" ratio of coffee concentrate to water): Very sweet-toned aroma, simple though pleasingly buttery and caramelly. In the cup medium in body but pleasantly silky/syrupy in mouthfeel, with simple caramel character and some floral and perhaps chocolate hints. Sweet finish with continued buttery notes. Hints of a woody character are hardly discernible when the cup is hot, though more explicit as it cools.
(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce and 8-ounce serving sizes): The aroma displays a simple, pure coffee character: tartly sweet, chocolate-toned fruit and a hint of flowers. In the cup medium but silky bodied at 6 ounces, slightly thinnish at 8. At both serving sizes quite sweet, gently tart, with continued delicate chocolate-toned fruit notes. Nice persistence of chocolate and flowers in the finish, although this delicate, lyric coffee stiffens and simplifies a bit as the cup cools.
(As produced in a Beveo concentrate coffee machine at the setting netting the "strongest" ratio of coffee concentrate to water): Intense, caramelly but crisp aroma with prune-like fruit and chocolate notes. In the cup medium in body but pleasantly silky/syrupy in mouthfeel; sweet in structure with distinct caramel notes and fruit that here seems more orange than prune. Walnut notes as the cup cools. Sweet, rich, simple finish. Throughout the profile very remote hints of a woody character lurk, though they are only apparent with close - perhaps paranoid - attention.
(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce and 8-ounce serving sizes): Considerably more impressive in a 6-ounce serving size than in an 8. At 6 ounces the aromatics in nose and cup are pleasingly buttery and round with a crisp roasty edge and hints of caramel and chocolate. At 8 ounces the mouthfeel is a tad lean and the aromatics thinnish.
(As produced in a Beveo concentrate coffee machine at the setting netting the "strongest" ratio of coffee concentrate to water): Intense, round, very caramelly aroma with orange-toned citrus notes. In the cup medium in body but pleasantly silky/syrupy in mouthfeel, quite sweet, with wine like notes and continued suggestions of caramel and orange that turn explicitly toward chocolate as the cup cools. Sweet, rich, simple finish. Throughout the profile very faint hints of a woody character lurk, though they are only apparent with close - perhaps paranoid - attention.
