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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.
Rich, deep, intense, with the dry fruit robustness of a cabernet and the tartly sweet black currant notes so cherished by lovers of Kenya. In the finish swoons into a ringing, almost sugary sweetness.
Metaphor fails. This is a coffee that refers to nothing except what it is: a superb coffee, grand yet elegant, dry yet sweet, balanced, full-bodied, complete.
Smooth, subtle, and above all, sweet. Buoyantly soft rather than bright or brisk, with sweet nut tones in the aroma and sweet chocolate in the finish.
The cup is redolent with the fresh, sweet perfume of clay. Slightly musty tones give a dry, pungent edge to aroma and aftertaste, framing the sweetness in the cup.
Pungently rich and round in the nose. In the cup the signature hard mustiness is balanced by sweetness, particularly in the finish.
A very clean, bright version of the fruity Yemen cup: the wine tones are rich and smooth, with only a hint of sweet ferment near the finish. Surprising floral notes at the top and a long, clean, sweet, chocolate-toned aftertaste.
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.
Alive with the slightly wild fruit and dry-wine tones of the great dry-processed coffees of Yemen and Ethiopia. In the wonderfully long, sweet finish the fruit tones darken deliciously toward chocolate.
The aroma is magnificent: high, sweet and singing. The cup is gently bright, with a pear or apple sweetness and a touch of pungency in the mid tones. The slight green tones are so sweet they 're more meadowy than grassy.
Dry acidy tones combine nicely with a restrained roasty pungency. Good, deep dimension, but little sweetness to support the deeply tart fruit notes.
This intriguing, low-toned coffee is neither balanced nor coherent, but definitely engaging. The rather hard first impression instantly softens and sweetens, revealing odd, richly herbal notes. The herbal notes persist in the aftertaste, haloed by sweetness.
Understated, barely felt dry tones animate a roundly balanced cup embellished by teasing hints of deep-toned fruit and a shimmer of flowers. In the rich, long finish the fruit modulates toward chocolate. As the coffee cools a slight flatness mars the profile, perhaps a drying fault. I evaluated this coffee mainly on the basis of its full, lovely balance when hot.
The earthy tones of the Indonesias dominate, sweet in the nose but dry and cocoa-like on the palate. A hint of winy fruit tries to raise its head above the dry earth and cocoa but subsides into the taciturn briskness of the cup.
Pleasant and interesting, although to my taste the coffee component is not quite sweet or heavy-bodied enough to completely support the spice. A sharp tickle of pepper and clove with a hint of cinnamon sweetness complicates a straightforward, low-key cup.
A pure, classic dark-roast gesture. Unusually full body for a roast this dark: smooth, balanced, round in the cup, with a sweetness at the core of the dark-roast pungency that opens like a glimpse of a meadow through a curtain of pines.
A dry but lively dark roast with a nutty, spicy twist at its pungently roasty heart. Rather light, roast-attenuated body, but the finish is buoyant, almost effervescent, with a subliminal hint of chocolate.
A big-bodied darkish blend with hints of sweet fruit that doesn 't quite get off the ground. The heart of the coffee remains sweet and full but rather inert. Perhaps best in the long aftertaste, when the sweet tones are freed of the gritty encumbrances of body and texture.
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.
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.
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.