Africa Reviews

Deep, rich, balanced. Pungent fruit – grapefruit, black currant – is enveloped in a nut-toned dark chocolate. Softly rounded acidity; full, syrupy mouthfeel. Sweetly resonant finish.

Intense, exhilaratingly complex citrus character, simultaneously suggesting bitterish lemon zest, sweet ripe lemon, pungent grapefruit with a heady hint of citrus blossom. Lightly syrupy body; clean but tartly dry finish.

Tart, zesty, complex: lemon, fir, spicy tea rose, a hint of nut-toned cocoa in both aroma and cup. Sweet but tartly assertive acidity; light, leanish mouthfeel. Flavor rounds toward cocoa in a finish that some may find bracing and others too astringently drying.

Attractive floral, nut, lemon and vanilla notes, but rather muted, especially in the aroma. Round, gentle acidity; unusually buttery mouthfeel. The nut note hints at chocolate in a sweet, rich finish.

Deeply sweet and deeply pungent with round, complexly rich Kenya fruit: grapefruit, black currant, strawberry, supported by an undercurrent of fresh-cut fir. Ringing, resonant acidity, syrupy mouthfeel, flavor-saturated finish.

Intense and deep yet delicately balanced, saturated from aroma through finish with famous, sweetly tart Kenya black currant sensation, a layering of ripe lemon, honey, fresh-cut fir, blackberry, flowers and, depending on one’s memory bank, probably much more. Gently rich acidity, lightly silky mouthfeel. The black currant note rings on far into the finish.

Honey and flowers dominate in aroma and cup, complicated by coffee fruit that reads variously as lemon, fresh-cut fir, and pungent, moist pipe tobacco. Tartly sweet, floral-toned acidity; leanish, almost silky mouthfeel. Very rich, long, flavor-sustained finish.

Frank but brilliant in its complex fermented fruit character: cocoa, dusk flowers, butter, brandy, lemon all layer engagingly in aroma and cup. The sweet, exuberant ferment seems to turn the mouthfeel almost effervescent. Sweetness and flavor outlast a hint of astringency in the long finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Complex dried-in-the-fruit profile. “Berries and more berries” in the aroma for co-taster Sean Kohmescher (91). For Ken (91) berries plus a lot of other notes: brandy, malty dark chocolate, fresh-cut cedar. In the small cup Sean felt the aromatics turned crisper and drier: lemon, flowers, green bitters (as in asparagus); Ken read the same rounder, brandyish, cedary berries-and-chocolate notes as he had in the aroma. Both found the body medium and the mouthfeel silky. Rather crisp in two parts milk; cocoa for Ken, lemon and flowers for Sean.

Low-toned, balanced aroma: nut, ripe citrus, flowers. Tart, lemony acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Aromatics turn rounder and riper in the cup: sweet citrus, gently tart berry, nut-toned cocoa. The cocoa and lemon in particular linger in a rich, clean finish.

Complex and almost giddily sweet-toned. Flowers, crisp black currant, lemon, blackberry, roasted nut carry from aroma to cup. Sweetly tart, refined acidity; light body but very smooth, silky mouthfeel. Resonant, flavor-saturated short finish simplifies just a bit in the long.

Soft, round aroma: muted notes of lemon and flowers. In the cup balanced, gently tart acidity, lightish body, silky mouthfeel, continuing lemon and flowers. Some flavor carries into a clean, simple finish.

Pungently sweet aroma: ripe lemony citrus, backgrounded nut. Round, soft acidity, medium body, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Nut moves forward in the cup, complicated pleasingly by dry berry, lemon, flowers, fir. Sweet-toned finish, with some flavor persistence.

Lemon-zest brightness and pungent fir in the aroma. The lemony character rounds in the acidity and the cup, where it is deepened and complicated by a crisp, floral-toned cocoa. Light but smoothly silky mouthfeel; cleanly sweet and flavor-saturated finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Rich, buttery aroma: ripe lemon, cherry, a hint of fresh-cut fir. In the small cup medium body, smooth mouthfeel, crisply complex flavor: the fruit and fir notes resolve toward a dark chocolate with a hint of anise. Deep, sweet, dark-chocolaty finish. The chocolate sensation rounds and softens in two parts milk; think a lemon-toned milk chocolate.

Intense, unusual profile, dominated by a citrus and molasses character that suggests both moist pipe tobacco and sweet black tea. Roundly rich acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The distinctive flavor complex lingers in the deep, rich finish.

Flowers, stone fruit and honey in the aroma. In the cup bright acidity and flavor that balances tart citrus with sweetness, more flowers and a hint of black currant as the cup cools. Fruit and flowers sustain in the rich, softly astringent finish.

Layers of rose, peach and lemon in the aroma. Silky mouthfeel, medium body, crisp acidity. Flowers move forward in the cup with complex suggestions of rose and lavender and continued complications of ripe citrus and a sweeter stone fruit. The flavor intrigue carries seamlessly from cup to a dry-edged, flavor-saturated finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Rich, concentrated fruit flavors in aroma and small cup: sweetly tart cranberry and pie cherry, floral top notes with a deepening hint of dark chocolate. Resonant, long, fruit-toned finish. Light-bodied. Balanced in two parts milk: The fruit softens toward milk chocolate but retains a pleasingly tart edge.

Richly floral, gently pungent. The floral notes are spicy and rose-like. Complicating hints of fir, citrus, cocoa, raisin. Bright but balanced acidity, syrupy mouthfeel. Very sweet, gently flavor-saturated finish.