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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.
A ripe, almost overripe, sweetness carries giddily from aroma to finish, anchored by a discreet touch of roast pungency. The lush fruit tones flirt with ferment but stay on the sweet side. A wonderfully juicy, deeply dimensioned coffee.
A hint of ferment pleasantly hovers between chocolate and cherry-toned, overripe fruit. The darkish roast turns the sweet fruit dryly rich.
A light-bodied but complexly nuanced coffee: brightly acidy, floral toned, with fruit tones that hint at chocolate in aroma and aftertaste. Not quite enough sweetness to offset the roast-induced bitterness, however.
Nicely balanced sweetness and chocolate-toned roast pungency, complicated by a touch of pruny fruit. A bit simple and monotoned, but pleasantly and deeply so, like good minimalist music.
A solid if unexceptional Latin-American cup: Clean, bright acidy notes are complicated by a roasty bitterness, but the cup misses the enveloping sweetness that would bring both into harmony.
A sharp, monotoned flatness sits in the middle of the profile. Under and around it a delicious, delicately floral-toned sweetness peeks out. Pleasant dry fruit undertones.
Floral notes float shimmering atop the rather sharp, bitter, burned tones of the roast. Not much sweetness, but the subtle perfume of the flowers compensates.
Thrillingly sweet and buoyant when hot, with a hint of dry fruit modulating to chocolate. Light bodied but deeply dimensioned. A subliminal whiff of flowers teases in the aftertaste.
Big in every respect: in its richly powerful acidity, in body, in general statement. No floral innuendoes or fruity digressions here: This coffee is as abstractly dry, robust and mouthfilling as a good cabernet.
A pleasant, if odd-tasting, Kenya: full body, very little acidity, dominated by a sweet, rounded agreeably spicy flavor that suggests cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, even chicory. The most recognizable Kenya characteristic of this coffee is a deep, ringing dimension.
A symphony at the top of the profile: The acidy is sweetly ingratiating, the cup pleasingly light, delicately alive with fruit and floral tones. Flowers and citrus linger in the long, clean aftertaste. Not much in the bass range, however, except a smoky, pungent twist. Drink it hot; the splendid aromatics vanish quickly, leaving behind only pungent silence.
A subdued but gently satisfying Sumatra: clean, dry, low-toned fruit is bracketed by a shimmer of flowers at the top of the profile and a hint of pungency toward the bottom. Light-bodied and perhaps a bit shallow in dimension.
The bittersweet tang of the dark roast almost overwhelms the coffee, but agreeable if subdued wine-toned fruit notes survive. The finish flirts with the burned rubber sensation of faulty roasting, but the innate sweetness of the coffee prevails and turns the dubious taste vaguely but agreeably chocolate.
Bright rather than brisk. A classic combination of high-toned sweetness and gently dry acidity, animated by floral top notes. Only a faint touch of greenness or grassiness mars an otherwise fine American-style breakfast cup.
A sweet, high-toned coffee with a distinct musty or mildewy edge. The mustiness imparts a spicy, cocoa-like twist to the pruny fruit notes.
An uneven coffee, heartbreakingly uneven, given that some of the cups are extraordinary: exhilarating floral tones are balanced by a dry pungency, all wrapped in a comforting, enveloping sweetness. Other cups, however, lack the floral sweetness and are merely pungent bordering on bitter.
Dry but not acidy, dominated by a pleasantly smoky-toned cocoa sensation that sweetens toward chocolate in the finish. As usual, the Swiss Water Process simultaneously deepens and dampens taste: The body is full but the flavor understated.
A rather sharp pungency dominates this dark-roast blend, looming over some rather cowed dry fruit tones. A spicy sweetness shimmers here and there, notably in aroma and aftertaste.
Panelists described a clean-tasting, agreeable coffee that was perhaps too agreeable, low-key to a fault. "Good balance, but not much to balance," complained one panelist. "Nothing really to grab onto," wrote another. Finished well, with a hint of chocolate, and the cup seemed to strengthen in character a bit as it cooled.
This sweet, deep-toned coffee with its pruny fruit notes edging toward chocolate attracted considerable praise, though some panelists expressed ambivalence: "some character but not too interesting next to others"; "[a kind of] sweet, fruity flavor that I don 't much care for." Perhaps a faded mustiness restrained this coffee 's considerable potential.