LATEST REVIEWS

"Medium- to full-bodied blend. Looks like two different roasts blended. Good, full finish" (81). Ken: "Sweet charred tones with some smoky spice in the nose. In the cup fruity, acidy tones nicely survive the roast but sweetness doesn't: ultimately a little too bitter for me" (81).

John: "Light bodied, simple profile. Slightly earthy, good looking roast. Nice cover with little inside" (80). Ken also notes the thinnish mouthfeel and light body, but finds the flavor contrasts interesting and worth rewarding: "Sharply burned yet sweet and fruity. Dry chocolate in the finish" (83)

John Weaver was not excited: "Medium-bodied, a little flat. Some good wine tones with a little citric flavor" (80). Ken, who tends to value nuance, rewarded this coffee for its "sweet roastiness complicated by smoky, fruity chocolate tones that carry from cup through the mildly astringent finish" (85).

Not much nuance here, but a solid ultra-dark roast. John Weaver: "Good clean flavor with mellow body and a nice finish" (83). Ken: "Balanced dark roast. Bittersweet, medium body, smooth mouthfeel, though a touch astringent in the finish" (82).

John Weaver: "Nice medium body with bright, sparkly flavor notes. Tangy flavor" (81). Ken particularly liked the "tangy" character: "sweetly fruity, with some floral complication, rounded rather than repressed by the roast. Slightly astringent finish" (87).

Both John Weaver and Ken admired this coffee's smooth balance, though Ken found a bit more to say about the cup than John, who writes: "Good, medium-bodied coffee with smooth flavor and aftertaste" (84). Ken: "Pleasant balance of subdued acidy and round roast tones, complicated by sweet fruit chocolate, tastes a whole lot like butterscotch in the finish" (87).

John Weaver: "Fast roast, singed beans. Nice flavor though. Quick roast means bright acidity. A little slower roast would benefit this coffee" (85) Ken: "Elegant balance of fruity chocolate and leathery roast tones. Some bitterness, but softens toward the finish" (88).

Both John Weaver and Ken admired this dark-roasted Ethiopia. John: "My favorite of this cupping. Obviously East African. Bright acidity with exceptional flavor. Nice roast for this coffee, although I might have taken it a hair farther to bring out more body" (90). Ken: "Balanced, sweet, deeply dimensioned integration of rounded acidy notes, crisp roastiness and a lush, apricot-toned fruit" (91).

This very dark-roasted coffee reveals almost nothing about the potentially interesting green coffee itself except its ability to stand up to a severe degree of roast and still taste quite agreeable. The profile is roasty and charred, but pleasantly free of bitterness and haloed by sweetness.

Lush, sweetly overripe Harrar fruit notes are shadowed by salty and bitter tones. Dry chocolate in the finish.

Lush floral notes and suggestions of fruity chocolate are pleasantly felt behind a dominating bittersweetness that leans a bit more toward the bitter than the sweet. A floral-toned sweetness softens the astringent finish.

A dark-roast presentation with a splendid aroma: intense, crisply dry and fruity. In the cup, however, the roast dominates, though patient drinkers will feel a sweet, lush fruitiness behind the roasty bitterness. The halo of fruit persists in the cleanly roasty finish.

The medium-dark but rather aggressive roast preserves a touch of acidity and lemony sweetness amid the dominant roasty tones. More complex than balanced, the closest sensory analogy I can propose is roasted lemon drops.

A rather aggressive roast contributes distinct charred notes, but they are richly charred notes, with a leathery twist and a tickle of dry fruit. The astringent finish is pleasantly complicated by dry chocolate.

The moderately dark-roast style mutes the Kenya fruit and gives it a roasty, tart pineapple twist that softens toward a toasty chocolate in the finish. The darkish roast may transform the Kenya character, but the transformation is quite pleasurable in its own right.

The medium roast allows the character of the coffee to emerge, in this case richly and sweetly acidy, complicated by sweet nut notes and, as the cup cools, more characteristic Yirgacheffe floral and lemon tones. An unusual coffee in two respects: light roasted in a region (San Francisco Bay Area) where extremely dark roasting prevails, and rather heavy bodied for a Yirgacheffe.

Seductively rich in the nose, with pineapple and orange notes, but all business in the cup: grandly and austerely acidy with pronounced dry, cabernet-like fruit. Softens and sweetens again in the finish.

A Kenya in the grandly classic mode: intense but perfectly balanced, full-bodied, voluptuous with dry red wine and cherry tones, acidy without bitterness. The tactful medium-dark roast rounds the acidity and contributes a slight roasty note.

Considerable disagreement surfaced between Ken and Chris over this blend's odd character contributed by seldom-used coffees like India Monsooned Malabar and wet-processed robusta. Ken rather defiantly settled on a rating of 85, admiring what he called the blend's "sweet, complexly opulent nose and odd, overripe apricot and bittersweet chocolate notes" but admitting he found its "background musty tones disturbing." Chris (rating 77) didn't buy into the exotic character at all, concluding that the musty (his term is "earthy") tones dominated: "Off the mark, it strides toward a nutty baked bread aroma. The body and acidity tire down to earthy notes midway, but regain some sweet strength in the aftertaste."

Ken admires this blend's "rich, powerful, low-toned acidity, fullish body, and dry chocolate nuance," but is distracted by "a hint of bitter peanut tones and a cloying background flatness" (rating 86). Chris is both more specific -- "dark roast beans blended with very light roast, which hides the borderline past-crop flavor" -- and more metaphoric: "This coffee is hanging on for dear life with a shot of sweet wine adrenaline" (rating 82).