LATEST REVIEWS

A rather dramatic difference surfaced between co-taster Willem Boot and Ken on this very dark-roasted Panama. Ken wanted more sweetness and body; Willem apparently found enough of both and admired the elegant nuance. Willem: "Aroma with caramel and mild-apricot notes. Despite the dark roast, balanced flavor with apricot and chocolate. Pleasantly spicy with milk" (91). Ken: "Lovely aroma, high-toned but sweet fruit notes. In the small cup lean-bodied and crisply bitter, with a rich but astringent finish. Fruit re-emerges in milk, dry, smoky, chocolate-toned." (83).

A coffee in which a mild processing taint - sweet fermented fruit for Ken, a hint of mustiness for co-taster Willem Boot - turns toward chocolate under the influence of the dark roast. Subtle but substantial in milk: "lingering balance" in milk for Willem, "delicately complex" for Ken. Ken awarded this coffee a considerably higher rating (90) than did Willem (86), probably owing to Ken's openness to sweet, flirt-with-ferment coffees.

The term "balanced" dominated both Ken and co-taster Willem Boot's notes. The body was balanced and smooth for Ken, balanced and buttery for Willem; both found the presence in milk balanced and complex. Ken admired the small cup's "elegant dry fruit" while Willem praised its "lively, citrus" character. Willem 87, Ken 90.

Both Ken and co-taster Willem Boot remarked on a medium but smooth, buttery body. Aromatics and flavor were "floral and slightly malty/musty, toasty and crisp" (Ken), "light chocolate & elegant, spicy-smoky" (Willem). "Pleasant[ly] caramel" in milk for Willem, "balanced, sweet yet crisp" for Ken. Willem 90, Ken 88.

Co-taster Willem Boot greatly admired this coffee, awarding it an exclamatory 95: "Reddish brown supershot! Complex aroma with tingling body. Mild sweet and dry flavor balance with intense fruit and spicy notes. Cardamom flavor with milk." Ken's admiration was more restrained. He enjoyed the low-toned bouquet of pipe tobacco, leather, toast, smoke, spice and musty cantaloupe notes enough to award a rating of 88, but found the body "gritty" (Willem called it "tingling") and the finish slightly astringent.

Co-taster Willem Boot: "Fine and complex fruity/minty aroma. Exotic berry-like flavor notes with fascinating wild black currant aftertaste. Balanced, sweet and intriguing with milk" (93) Ken characterized the wild, sweet, edge-of-ferment fruit tones running through the profile from aroma to aftertaste as black cherry, and enjoyed them almost as much as Willem (90). In milk Ken completely concurred with Willem: "sweet, balanced, lovely."

The extremely dark roast (about as dark as roasts get) leaves hardly a trace of Honduras behind, just some anonymous burned tones, gentle and sweet until the finish, when the sweetness vanishes, leaving behind a salty astringency.

Some sweetly lush apricot fruit makes itself felt around the edges of the dominating dark roast. Otherwise this cup is entirely about an aggressive roast style (richly burned and mildly astringent) rather than El Salvador bourbon coffee.

Displays a fundamentally pleasing balance of bitter tones, sweetness, and low-toned, roast-nuanced fruit, but ultimately seems restrained and faded. Probably last year's crop; the new crop may bring more liveliness and nuance to the cup.

The moderately dark roast takes on equal billing with the green coffee here. It preserves the essential sweetness of the coffee, but pushes the acidity toward a rich, pungent citrus, a sort of roasty grapefruit, if that can be imagined. The finish is mildly but bracingly astringent.

A sweet, round coffee whose rich, low-key fruit notes suggest cantaloupe or apricot. The mild mildewed taste coffee professionals call baggy (acquired by green coffees during long storage in dampish conditions) shadows the cup, although the coffee's fundamental sweetness pushes these notes toward an agreeable reading as spice or malt.

Odd juxtaposition (more than balance) of dark roast pungency and a dry, crisp acidity. Bitter without harshness or astringency.

A subtle, lush coffee, richly sweet and gently acidy with shimmers of flowers. Notes of fermented fruit give the cup a juicy, decadent opulence that will please more adventurous palates but may put off coffee traditionalists.

Aroma is superbly rich, sweet and deep with chocolate notes. In the cup the powerful but low-key acidity is enveloped in richness. Ultimately more about solid balance and satisfying structure than nuance, though an apricot-toned chocolate makes itself felt toward the finish.

An intense but balanced coffee, its quietly powerful acidity enveloped in sweetness. The spice and sandalwood notes in the aroma fade in the cup, but the finish is clean, long, and lovely.

Low-toned, sweet, gently acidy. Fresh leather and milk chocolate in the aroma. The sweet chocolate persists in the cup with an undercurrent of fruit that suggests a spicy dark cherry. Excellent dimension when hot, though the profile simplifies a bit as the cup cools.

Attractive balance of chocolate-nuanced fruit, rich, low-toned but emphatic acidity, and a hint of roastiness. Ultimately, however, remains contained in its own quiet balance. Lacks the tonal range and dimension that would lift it from satisfying to remarkable.

Dry and forceful. The acidity is intense but sweet. The fruit is crisply austere: black currant, sauvignon blanc wine grapes. A challenging coffee that commands rather than seduces.

Giddily sweet, rich, balanced. Gentle wine-toned fruit (call it chardonnay) and low-key floral notes run through aroma and cup, rounding toward milk chocolate n the finish. A superb expression of the El Salvador type.

An outright and unmistakably flavor-defective coffee. The aroma literally smelled like a whiff of something out of a summer sewer and the cup combined bitterly sharp mildew tones with rotten, compost-pile ferment.