This coffee tied for the highest rating in a cupping of coffees from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador for Coffee Review’s March 2019 tasting report. Produced by Edith Meza entirely from trees of the Red Caturra variety of Arabica. This is a dry-processed or “natural” coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or
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California Grown
Produced at Good Land Organics Farm in Santa Barbara County, California by pioneering California coffee leader Jay Ruskey from trees of the Cuicateco variety of Arabica. Cuicateco is a selection of the Sarchimor interspecies hybrid apparently naturalized in the Oaxaca growing region of Mexico, and named for the indigenous Cuicateco people. Processed by the wet or “washed” method, in which skin and
Panama Ninety Plus Perci Lot 50
The intensity and complexity of this extraordinary coffee are owing both to tree variety and processing method. The variety is the rare Ethiopia-derived botanical variety Gesha (also spelled Geisha). With its generally elongated beans and distinctive floral and crisp, often chocolaty cup, the Gesha continues to distinguish itself as one of the world’s most unique coffee varieties. Joseph Brodsky
Camilina Geisha
This coffee tied for the third-highest rating in a tasting of holiday coffees for Coffee Review‘s December 2018 tasting report. Produced from trees of the rare Ethiopia-derived botanical variety Geisha (also Gesha) by farmer Roberto Brenes of Finca La Aurora. With its generally elongated beans and distinctive floral and crisp, often chocolaty cup, the Geisha/Gesha variety continues to distinguish
Kiunyu Peaberry
Produced from trees of the admired SL-28 and SL-34 varieties of Arabica. Despite grower discontent and urban encroachment on prime coffee lands, Kenya continues to produce some of the world’s most elegant and distinctive coffees. This sample consists entirely of peaberries, a kind of bean that results when the coffee fruit develops only a single, oval bean rather than the usual pair of flat-sided
Nano Challa
Produced by the Nano Challa cooperative in Ethiopia’s Jimma Zone. Southern and western Ethiopia coffees like this one are produced largely from local, indigenous varieties of Arabica. When processed by the wet or washed method (fruit skin and pulp are removed before drying) they typically express great aromatic complexity and intensity, with a particular emphasis on citrus, cocoa and floral notes.
“Big-Bean” Coffee Varieties: Novelty, Scarcity, and Atypical Sensory Pleasures
Among the hundreds of coffees we review each year at Coffee Review, a very small percentage represent what we've come to affectionately call "big-bean" varieties, coffee from tree varieties that produce beans that are dramatically larger than average. The most common of these are Pacamara, Maragogipe and Maracaturra, though there are some even more obscure varieties whose beans are also
La Providencia Guatemala Maragogype
This exceptional coffee was selected as the No. 8 coffee on Coffee Review’s list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2018. This coffee earned the second-highest highest rating in a cupping of coffees from big-bean varieties for Coffee Review’s November 2018 tasting report. Produced by Max Ariel Palacios Villatoro of La Providencia, entirely from trees of the Maragogipe variety of Arabica. The Maragogipe
Red Bourbon Honey Cold Brew Coffee
This exceptional coffee was selected as the No. 17 coffee on Coffee Review’s list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2018. Sold in attractive 8.4-ounce cans. Sourced and roasted by Bird Rock Coffee and extracted by a proprietary version of room-temperature brewing trademarked Rain by the BKON company.Contains no ingredients other than coffee and water. The green coffee used to produce this beverage is a
Suyusama Program Colombia
Produced by some of the 900 small-holding farmers participating in the Suyusama Program, a project focused on coffee quality and environmental and socio-economic sustainability. From trees of the Colombia, Castillo and Caturra varieties. Processed by the wet or “washed” method, in which skin and fruit flesh are removed from the beans or seeds before they are dried. Bird Rock Coffee Roasters is a
Finca La Maria Geisha Natural
This sample earned the highest rating in a cupping of coffees roasted by women for Coffee Review‘s April 2018 tasting report. Produced by Orlando Espina of Finca La Maria entirely from trees of the rare Ethiopia-derived botanical variety Gesha (also spelled Geisha), this coffee won second place in the 2017 Colombia Cup of Excellence. With its elegantly elongated beans and distinctive floral and
Love Letters
A blend of coffees from El Salvador and Indonesia. This coffee tied for the third-highest rating in a cupping of blends for Coffee Review‘s February 2018 tasting report. Based in the San Diego area, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters is a retailer and wholesaler focused on organic and socially responsible coffees; it was awarded the “2012 Micro-Roaster of the Year” title by Roast Magazine. Visit
Panama Auromar Estate Geisha Peaberry
Regrettably, this fine coffee sold out before the publication of our review. Produced from trees of the rare Ethiopia-derived botanical variety Gesha (also Geisha) by farmer Roberto Brenes of Auromar Estate. With its generally elongated beans and distinctive floral and crisp, often chocolaty cup, the Gesha variety continues to distinguish itself as one of the world’s most unique coffees. This is a
El Salvador Finca Kilimanjaro
This exceptional coffee was selected as the No. 16 coffee on Coffee Review’s list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2017, and it tied for the second-highest rating in a tasting of holiday coffees for Coffee Review‘s December 2017 tasting report. Finca Kilimanjaro is an El Salvador farm named after East Africa’s highest peak by Aida Batlle, one of El Salvador’s (and Central America’s) most respected and
2017 Holiday Gift Coffees
Each year, we ask roasters to send us exceptional coffees available only during the holidays, coffees that might make particularly gratifying gifts or splurges for coffee-lovers. In past years, approaches have ranged from particularly fine lots of classic coffees that roasters reserved for the holiday season, to rare and often expensive seasonally available micro-lot coffees, to ingenious and
Guatemala Finca El Injerto Gesha
El Injerto is one of Guatemala’s most celebrated coffee farms. This Gesha is planted from seed brought from Hacienda La Esmeralda, the Panama farm where Gesha was first rediscovered and presented to the coffee world in 2004. With its generally elongated beans and distinctive floral and crisp, often chocolaty cup, the Gesha variety continues to distinguish itself as one of the world’s most unique
Panama Duncan Estate Wine-Processed
Produced by Richard Koyner of Duncan Estate exclusively from trees of the Caturra variety of Arabica. This is a dried-in-the-fruit or “natural” coffee, but one that was allowed to partly dry on the trees before picking and final drying, a practice which helps impart a mildly fermenty or wine-like character to the fruit notes. Based in the San Diego area, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters is a retailer and
El Salvador Finca Kilimanjaro Natural
Finca Kilimanjaro is an El Salvador farm named after East Africa’s highest peak by Aida Batlle, one of El Salvador’s (and Central America’s) most respected and innovative coffee producers. Finca Kilimanjaro is planted with the famous SL28 variety of Arabica, the variety that produces the finest coffees of Kenya. This is a dry-processed or “natural” coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the
Colombia La Palma Y El Tucan Gesha
Produced by La Palma & El Tucan, an innovative, quality- and sustainability-focused Colombia producer, from trees of the celebrated Gesha (also Geisha) variety of Arabica. This coffee tied for the second-highest rating in a tasting of women-produced coffees for Coffee Review‘s June 2017 tasting report. Based in the San Diego area, Bird Rock Coffee Roasters is a retailer and wholesaler focused
Top 30 Coffees of 2016
We are pleased to present our list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2016, Coffee Review’s fourth annual ranking of the most exciting coffees we reviewed over the course of the past year. In 2016, we cupped thousands of samples and published nearly 400 coffee reviews. Approximately 90 of the reviewed coffees scored 94 points or higher. Obviously, all coffees earning scores of 94 points or more are