Blend Reviews

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Shifting, complex, sweet-toned aromatics: distinct butter and caramel notes, with suggestions of peach, walnut and flowering grass. In the cup very sweet, and delicately but assertively acidy. Think tartly sweet green apples. Continued peach and floral nuance in the rich but quickly fading finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Smoke, toast, caramel, prune-toned fruit in the aroma. In the cup rich, low-key, with continued toast and pruny fruit notes and a hint of flowers.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Delicate, caramel-toned aroma: flowers, berries, chocolate. In the cup continued caramelly and quite sweet with ongoing berry notes, but slightly cottony in mouthfeel and woody in flavor. The sweetness prevails in the finish.

Co-cupper Danny O'Neill and Ken both admired this coffee's sweet floral- and chocolate-toned aroma, cleanly bright (Danny) acidity and silky body. Danny (89) cited its quintessential balance, Ken (90) a "delicate, restrained giddiness" animated by floral, apple and pear notes.

Complex aromatics: flowers, pear, hints of brandy and cherry in the aroma. In the cup delicately acidy, roundly supple in mouthfeel, with a continued complex fruit that co-cupper Danny O'Neill (87) read as sweet raisin and Ken (more elaborately at 91) as dried cherry, fresh pear, brandy and flowers. Rich though surprisingly short-lived finish.

Gently pungent cedar and pear-toned fruit in the aroma. In the cup sweetly and richly acidy with a continued pungent edge that hints at chocolate. The long, robust-on-the-edge-of-rough finish suggests that the attractive pungency of the profile may in part be powered by a slight, felicitous mustiness in one of the blend's green coffees.

In the aroma distinct semi-sweet chocolate notes and cherryish or raisiny fruit with a lush twist of ferment. Crisp cedar and toast notes complicate the cherry-toned chocolate in the small cup. The fruity chocolate persists in the splendid short finish, though a shadow astringency barely implied in the cup eventually dominates in the long. In milk a slightly lean body is more than made up for by crisp toasted rice notes and a voluptuous, milk-softened version of the fruity-fermented chocolate.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 5.25 ounces): Subdued aroma, with dry fruit (cherry?) and fresh leather notes. In the cup shallow in sensation but crisply balanced, with suggestions of Meyer lemon, white wine, tart cherry edging toward chocolate. Thin but pleasantly sweet, cherry-toned finish.

(As brewed in a Bunn My Cafe MCP single-serve brewing device using a 62mm pod at a cup volume of 5 ounces): Distinct sweet cocoa notes in the aroma, along with hints of low-acid fruit, cherry perhaps. In the cup richly acidy, lean-bodied but rich, with continued sweet cocoa and tart cherry notes with a shimmer of vanilla. Rich, tart but not overly astringent finish. The same pod brewed in the Krups 1010 at a cup volume of 6 ounces scored an 85 with a basically similar profile and description.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule at a cup volume of 7.25 ounces): Sweet, simple, caramelly aroma. In the cup medium-bodied but lean in mouthfeel, with a thinly pungent, musty/malty character and hints of cherryish fruit. A mild musty astringency in the finish leans toward rich.

Dominated by a sweetly fermented fruit that reads as a rich, brandy-toned, cherryish chocolate. This lush flavor complex is heady in the aroma and sweetly refreshing in the cup. As the coffee cools, however, the ferment reveals a very slight bitter edge.

For both Ken (81) and co-taster Ted Lingle (79) the aroma was muted and burned. Ted found the body in the small cup light; Ken (81) found it fuller but rough in mouthfeel. Nor did Ken or Ted have much positive to say about flavor: pungent and rough for Ted, burned and sharp for Ken. In milk pleasantly sweet but thin-bodied for Ted; Ken was more positive here, finding that the milk smoothed out the sharply roasty character of the coffee, turning it toward a pleasing fresh leather and a clove-toned spice. The reader who nominated this blend found it "exceptional, that's all."

Ken and co-taster Ted Lingle ended with comparable overall ratings (Ken 85, Ted 86) but differed in how they got there. Ted found the aroma a bit flat; Ken found it delicate, with toast, apple and floral notes. Ted found the body fuller and the mouthfeel more substantial than Ken did. Both found the flavor in the small cup toasty/smoky and a bit sharp in the finish. Both admired the way the blend rounded and sweetened in milk. Nominating reader Robert Bobbs praised this blend as "perfectly balanced ... big body, slightly sweet, not too much acidity but enough to enliven the cup; holds up well in big milky drinks but is fantastic as a straight shot."

Once past the aroma, co-taster Ted Lingle (79) had little positive to say about this blend, finding it lean in body, rather burned/bitter in flavor, and weak in presence in milk. Ken (84) also found the mouthfeel too lean and the finish too astringent, but enjoyed the berry-like, chocolate-leaning fruit that carried through the profile from aroma to milk. The reader who nominated this blend said he wanted "to see if this espresso is everything it is claimed it is."

Sweet, quite smoky aroma, with floral top notes and suggestions of temperate fruit, pear perhaps. In the cup low-toned, smoky, sweet but salty, with chocolate undertones and continued hints of pear. The smoky tones carry into the finish.

A light-bodied, sweetly crisp coffee. Suggestions of leather, spice and a dry, fruity chocolate in the aroma. Melodic in the cup, with sweet citrus top notes and a hint of chocolate balanced by a slight tart sharpness.

A superb, versatile blend. The aroma is deep with chocolate and tropical fruit tones (banana?), the mouthfeel buttery and the body full, the small cup sweetly cedar toned with a lush, very slightly fermented fruit that reads as a rich raisin- and floral-toned chocolate. The finish is resonant and long with a low-key, pleasantly bracing astringency. In milk the shot rounds and sweetens without losing identity or authority.

Chocolate and toast show in the rather subdued aroma. In the small cup the body is medium and the mouthfeel slightly lean, with a simple but attractive pungent/sweet character complicated by a cocoa or dry chocolate. Rich, semi-sweet chocolate finish. In milk balanced and crisply sweet, with the chocolate retaining its dry authority.

A rather aggressively roasted espresso. Delicate floral and fruit notes complicate an aroma that is toasty and almost burned. In the small cup medium to full body, creamy mouthfeel, and a flavor dominated by a gentle but slightly sharp bittersweetness. The complicating fruit notes are a bit too dry to read as chocolate. Sweetens and rounds in milk but never quite blooms.

In the aroma low-toned, with cedar and papaya notes leaning toward chocolate. In the small cup the body is heavy with a pleasantly rough mouthfeel, the flavor rich with continuing suggestions of cedar and papaya-toned chocolate. The short finish maintains the chocolaty richness, but the long concludes with a hint of saltiness and astringency. The generally heavy profile softens nicely in milk while maintaining a pleasing depth and power, though the woody cedar tones seem to hinder the chocolate from fully sweetening and blooming.