Espresso Reviews

Superb aroma: rich, sweet, opulent with cocoa, flowers, and vanilla. A touch disappointing in the demitasse, however; the body is rather lean and the flavor acidy and sharp. But the sharpness rounds beautifully in milk with a lovely balance of dry cocoa tones and sweetness.

A balanced, straightforward West-Coast American espresso. In the demitasse bittersweet with a slant toward the bitter side, complicated by brisk cocoa tones. Medium-bodied but smooth. The cocoa tones turn agreeably fruity in milk, where the shot softens without losing character.

This espresso, dominated by a musty flavor, showed best at a rather quick extraction, which encouraged the mustiness to read as crisply effervescent, exhilaratingly spicy cocoa. Extremely heavy body and rich crema. Carries very well in milk.

Clean, elegant, balanced. Fragrant with toast, nut, and caramel notes in aroma, suave in body. The straightforward balance of bitter and sweet tones in the demitasse is complicated by the slightest edge of floral acidity and dry fruit. Light, bright and sweet in milk.

The aroma is clean and high-toned with innuendo of fresh leather. The demitasse is complex but controlled, with a classic balance of sweetness and bitterness embellished by cocoa and nut notes and a crisp shimmer of acidity. In discreet amounts of milk seductive with caramel and cocoa tones.

Impressive complexity: high, sweet notes, caramel in the middle, crisp, edge-of-burned tones, a touch of floral acidity. Excellent body. Pungent, bitter tones propose sugar for the demitasse, but give this blend tremendous staying power in milk, where it blossoms with little loss of range or complexity.

Aromatic and gently complex. Delicate, sweet-vanilla nose. In the demitasse smooth, balanced body and well-nuanced flavor, with pungent chocolate modulating to sweet chocolate in the finish. Slight fruit flourishes. Tends to fade in milk, but retains a light, pleasingly fruity chocolate character.

Levitating with sweetness, clean, complete, balanced, powerful yet elegant, this blend displays tremendous development and dimension. By development I mean the profile transforms in subtle modulations from aroma through aftertaste -- in this case from chocolate and toast notes in aroma and cup to sweet spice tones in finish. Dimension means sensations resonate and expand in nose and on palate rather than standing pat at first impression. In milk this blend remains pleasantly nutty-sweet and complete, but surrenders the complexity and intensity it displayed in the demitasse.

In the demitasse this blend is complexly crisp and pungent; richly dry chocolate notes are supported by an understated sweetness. Perhaps the heavy, smoothly balanced body accounts for the splendid impact this coffee makes in milk. The dairy relaxes the crisp chocolate notes and the coffee richly suffuses the milk rather than penetrating it.

A distinct bouquet of floral and fruit notes enlivens and complicates the chocolate-vanilla Espresso sweetness while freshening and brightening the aftertaste. Altogether a rather remarkable Espresso: sweet, fragrant, and virtually without carbon or bitterness. Fades a bit in milk.

The clear winner in the tasting, perhaps because it showed pungent dark-roast character without losing sweetness or complexity to carbon. Distinct chocolate notes, good dimension, substantial body, smooth balance of bitter and sweet tones, although the bitterness does get the upper hand in the aftertaste. Fills out nicely in milk without losing authority or complexity.

This remarkably light, self-effacing blend displays no acidity and no bitterness. Only the slightest carbon astringency surfaces in the aftertaste. Unfortunately, this tribute to subtlety doesn't display much power or complexity either -- only an evanescent caramel-chocolate sweetness, which loses its way almost completely in milk.

The elegant fruit and toast tones in the aroma fade quickly, leaving a surprisingly hard, astringent profile behind, free of carbon but equally empty of acidy or grace notes, displaying more tactile than aromatic power. The profile sweetens and rounds in milk.

A carbony bite suggests this blend may have been roasted too quickly. Otherwise a very agreeable, rather straightforward Espresso, with solid body and a satisfying balance of sweet and pungent tones. The profile fades rather quickly in the finish, perhaps owing to a rushed roast that burned off aromatics.

The aromatics of the vanilla-chocolate complex fade fast under the impact of the carbon, although the clean-sweat pungency will please lovers of extremely dark roasts. The blanketing astringency of the carbon reaches a climax in the aftertaste, but even there sweetness balances and pungency complicates.

Not much fruit here and lots of rather twisty, smoky carbon. But if you're patient the sweet-pungent Espresso complex emerges behind the carbon, with perhaps a hint of chocolate. The carbon flattens the profile in the finish, but the body is husky and the entire package improves in milk, which as usual ramps up the sweetness and exaggerates the chocolate.

Another dark-roast blend in which the sweet-chocolate-vanilla complex barely makes it out from under the carbon. But it does, and a muted vanilla sweetness lifts the profile in the finish. Milk, as usual, smooths the carbon and glorifies the sweetness.

I found this blend low-toned and pungently fruity, although the fruitiness was dry rather than sweet. For me the pungency turned pleasantly round, sweet, and chocolaty when combined with milk. My tasting colleague didn't respond to the pungency in any context. She found this blend too sharp in a demitasse and too thin in milk.

Simple but centered, a classically solid Espresso. Once past the low-key, caramel/toast/chocolate nose I didn't register much in the way of grace notes, but neither was I oppressed by carbon. My taster colleague picked up muted wine-fruit tones. In milk, sweet and substantial.

Italians, it is said, don't care for the acidity, the bright, dry sensation valued in American drip coffees. Ironically, this blended-in-Italy coffee displays more acidy notes than any other in the tasting. The dry, fruity notes enliven and lift the typically rounded Espresso profile. The roast adds smoky, spicy notes that dance on the edge of carbon without committing.