Espresso Reviews

Evaluated as espresso. Deeply rich, intricately aromatic. Sandalwood, tangerine zest, baker’s chocolate, ripe plum, wisteria in aroma and small cup. Delicate, silky mouthfeel; floral-toned, zesty, slightly drying finish. Softens and blooms with vast, flavor-saturated elegance in three parts milk: chocolate, plum, flowers, more.

Evaluated as espresso. Rich, deep, roundly spicy. A particularly aromatic cedar plus caramel, almond butter, peach, rose-like flowers in aroma and small cup. Full, velvety mouthfeel. Flavor consolidates around a cedar-toned chocolate in a resonant finish. Crisp and delicate in three parts milk: continued cedar and chocolate.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweetly rich, chocolaty. Chocolate fudge, myrrh, sandalwood, frangipane, lavender in aroma and small cup. Full, fudge-like body. The lavender- and sandalwood-inflected finish is also deeply chocolaty, resonant and sweet. Sweet and savory are enticingly balanced in three parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Crisp, intensely sweet, balanced. Jasmine, tangerine, cedar, baker’s chocolate, almond in aroma and small cup. Plush, syrupy body. The richly drying, sweet finish consolidates to almond and fruit-toned chocolate. Both the almond and chocolate carry brightly into three parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweet, gently spicy, pungent. Hazelnut, apricot, lily-like flowers, fresh-cut fir, a hint of frankincense in aroma and small cup. Velvety mouthfeel. Fir and a suggestion of chocolate animate a quiet, sweet-toned finish. Fir and nut-toned chocolate dominate in three-parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Exuberant, vibrantly composed. Buttery chocolate, wisteria, blood orange zest, almond, pineapple guava in aroma and small cup. Creamy, smooth mouthfeel. The rich finish is flower-forward and chocolaty, precise in its clarity. It continues to impress in three parts milk, which further sweetens the chocolate notes and rounds the bright fruit tones.

Evaluated as espresso. Balanced, sweetly tart. Dark chocolate, pomegranate, Oolong tea, rose-like flowers, almond in aroma and small cup. Delicate, silky mouthfeel. Clean, sweet finish, with a savory resonance. In three parts milk, chocolate tones re-emerge, along with hints of roasted almond.

Evaluated as espresso. Smooth, fragrant, lively. The three reviewers for this coffee lined up nicely in respect to rating: John DiRuocco at 93, Jen Apodaca at 93, and Ken at 94. All found the buoyant, richly silky mouthfeel particularly impressive (Jen: “light and airy on the tongue like a meringue cookie”). All three reviewers additionally cited caramel notes, and two sweet flowers. The subtle but explicit sweetness attracted a range of candy-toned positives, from vanilla marshmallow (Jen) to, in three parts milk, dulce de leche (John).

Evaluated as espresso. All three reviewers praised this espresso for its clean, citrusy/orangy sweetness: “orange hard candy” for co-taster Jen Apodaca (94); orange and brown sugar for John DiRuocco (93); tart but juicy blood orange for Ken (93). All found notes that rounded and complicated the citrus: the brown sugar for John, caramel for Ken, Concord grape for Jen. Jen was most enthusiastic and explicit about what this coffee brought to three parts milk: “tasted like cherry pie.”

Evaluated as espresso. Sweet, balanced, engagingly layered. Driven by sweet ripe citrus—co-taster John DiRuocco (92) associated it with orange, Jen Apodaca (93) with tangerine, Ken (93) with sweet grapefruit—and intriguing floral/herbal notes: Jen wild fennel, Ken lavender. Everyone was particularly impressed with a general resonant complexity and balance in flavor and finish. Jen felt the sample faded a bit in three parts milk, but Ken and John read continued quiet intrigue, especially Ken, who found delicate grapefruit and chocolate.

Evaluated as espresso. An engagingly exotic coffee that polarized the three reviewers: John DiRuocco was lukewarm at 90, whereas Jen Apodaca was very enthusiastic at 95; Ken landed in the middle at 93. Ken read the coffee as driven by an attractive sweet ferment that for him suggested winey grape edging on grappa; John cited a fruit that for him was simultaneously ripe, tart and spicy; Jen went entirely positive on the fruit notes, citing in particular mango and passion fruit – fruit that taken together perhaps echoes John’s lush, tart and spicy reading. The cup was intense for John but not entirely coherent, while Jen found it expressed a “nice balance of acidity and sweetness.” Everyone found the coffee attractively complex in three parts milk, simultaneously lushly sweet and tart.

Evaluated as espresso. Sturdy, balanced, chocolaty. All three reviewers (John DiRuocco 92, Jen Apodaca 94, Ken 92) cited caramel and chocolate; two read a particularly sweet orange (Ken called it orange marmalade). A “chocolate bomb” for John in three parts milk; for Ken the chocolate continued ripely orange-toned.

Evaluated as espresso. Clean, sweet, gently tart, honey-toned. All three reviewers were impressed by the clean, sweet balance of this espresso, delivering almost identical scores: John DiRuocco 92, Jen Apodaca 93, Ken 92. Honey figured in everyone’s descriptors; Ken and John also found berry and a backgrounded cocoa butter. Citrusy in three parts milk, with an enveloping chocolate. “I could drink this every day,” Jen added.

Evaluated as espresso. Reviewer Jen Apodaca (95) loved this coffee: “rosewater, Meyer lemon, peach preserves, honey and brown sugar … Sweet and aromatic from start to finish … a standout in milk.” John DiRuocco (91) was less enthusiastic, though he praised this coffee’s delicacy and raisin and sweet chocolate notes. Ken found enough to like (blood orange, rose-like flowers, sweet pipe tobacco) to squeeze out a 90. All three reviewers found what they liked most about the coffee carrying into three parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Of three reviewers, Ken (93) was most supportive of this crisply chocolaty, silky-bodied espresso, citing its balanced range of baker’s chocolate, flowers and fruit. Jen Apodaca’s (92) descriptors overlapped Ken’s. For John DiRuocco (89), however, the sample was “a bit bipolar,” lacking coherence, although he praised the baker’s chocolate and pleasing mouthfeel. Everyone liked this one in three-parts milk, which help the chocolate sweeten and blossom.

Evaluated as espresso. Of three reviewers, John DiRuocco (95) most admired this crisp, floral-toned espresso: “complex and complete … floral, red fruit and stone fruit flavors … the body … light but sufficient, the finish clean and resonating.” Jen Apodaca (89) was considerably less enthusiastic and more terse: “There was a lot going on in this espresso … it finished like a dry red cabernet.” For Ken (91) this coffee represented a certain style of dried-in-the-fruit coffee: bittersweet, intriguingly anise- and lavender-toned, yet not quite sweet and fat enough for him.

Evaluated as espresso. Complexly bright, citrus- and chocolate-toned. All three reviewers – Jen Apodaca (92), John DiRuocco (91) and Ken (91) – cited the dynamic, citrusy acidity, rounding chocolate, crisp floral hints and surprisingly full mouthfeel. Continued bright and briskly chocolaty in three parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweet-toned, balanced, smooth. Cedar, ripe fig, carob, narcissus-like flowers in aroma and small cup. Syrupy mouthfeel; richly drying finish. In three parts milk crisp fig-toned chocolate dominates, with a continuing hint of flowers.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweetly roasty, balanced. Cocoa powder, fresh-cut oak, orange zest, roasted almond, lily-like flowers in aroma and small cup. Full though rather heavy mouthfeel. Flavor consolidates to cocoa and almond in the roast-toned finish. In three parts milk, the zesty orange dominates, rounded by continued cocoa and nut.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweetly tart, pungent. Dried apricot, fir, hazelnut, gardenia, orange zest in aroma and small cup. Lightly juicy, satiny mouthfeel. The tart finish is complicated by apricot notes and fresh-cut fir. Hazelnut, orange zest and gardenia all carry persuasively into three parts milk.