Espresso Reviews

Rich, roundly pungent aroma: caramel, orange, hints of flowers and chocolate. Medium bodied, a touch rough in mouthfeel. The richly pungent, cedary character carries into the cup with continued orange, raisin and semi-sweet chocolate notes. The finish is rather astringent but rich, with good flavor persistence. The pungent character softens in milk with the orangy chocolate sweetening nicely.

Very sweet-toned aroma, intense though simple: hints of potato, orange and nut. As straight espresso medium body but syrupy mouthfeel with a smoothly pungent character and a quiet complexity: molasses, orange, nut and a hint of semi-sweet chocolate. Full, deep, slightly salty finish. In milk displays a rich semi-sweet chocolate, but a bit light on sweetness and presence.

Pungent, sweet-toned aroma with banana, honey, chocolate, and a hint of cedar. The pungent cedar notes intensify in the small cup, supported by a deep, enveloping sweetness and viscosity. Here the syrupy honey and banana notes are more felt than tasted, and segue into an impressively long, cleanly resonant finish. In milk the cedar and fruit tighten and simplify somewhat, reading as a crisp semi-sweet chocolate.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce and 8-ounce serving sizes): Considerably more impressive in a 6-ounce serving size than in an 8. At 6 ounces the aromatics in nose and cup are pleasingly buttery and round with a crisp roasty edge and hints of caramel and chocolate. At 8 ounces the mouthfeel is a tad lean and the aromatics thinnish.

Lush in flavor but slightly lean in body and presence. Elegant blueberry- and chocolate-toned nose with a hint of cedar. In the small cup medium-bodied with a touch of sweet acidity and continued berry, cedar and dark chocolate notes. A bit thin-presenced in milk, though the sneakily persistent dark-chocolate, cherry-brandy opulence stays around nicely.

Rather delicate, toasty aroma with hints of low-acid fruit - banana, chocolate. In the small cup medium to full body, with a crisply smoky, toasty character complicated by caramel and continued banana notes and a hint of flowers. The finish stays just on the rich side of rough. Rounds and blossoms in milk but remains roasty - think chocolate on toast - with a continued lean toward a banana-like fruit.

Deeply rich aroma with fruity chocolate and cedar complication. In the small cup the cedar notes dominate, backgrounding the chocolate and fruit. Full body but slightly rough mouthfeel; rich and slightly sharp in the short finish, but in the long smoothes out nicely with a final memory of chocolate. The cedar and chocolate carry into milk, the cedar dominating but the chocolate-fruit side blooming nicely.

Crisp, elegant espresso with dry berry and floral notes. Shows a hint of sweet, tomato-toned acidity in the aroma along with caramel and flowers. In the small cup surprisingly full-bodied with cedar, dry berry and a continuing shimmer of flowers. Clean, rich finish. Masters milk with a delicate, dry-chocolate-toned authority. The floral notes survive with startling clarity in milk, persisting far into the finish.

A quiet, complete espresso, short on drama but almost flawless in detail. Delicately complex aroma, with crisp chocolate and cedar and butter notes that together read much like butterscotch. In the small cup medium-bodied but very smooth in mouthfeel with almost no astringency and a sweet, chocolaty fruit and gentle cedar. Delicate but very sweet in milk with continued crisp chocolate and cedar notes and a cleanly rich finish.

Balanced, versatile blend. Sweet-toned aroma with fruit and chocolate complications. In the small cup smooth and close to syrupy in mouthfeel, sweet and gently pungent with a pronounced cedar note and hints of prune and semi-sweet chocolate. Rich presence in milk - perhaps more cedar and mint than chocolate but roundly sweet nonetheless. Very slightly rough finish in both small cup and milk.

Sweet-toned, very deep aroma with complication that reads as banana, orange, semi-sweet chocolate. In the small cup full bodied and cedar- and caramel-toned with continued suggestions of banana-like fruit and semi-sweet chocolate. The cedar and chocolate tones round and sweeten in milk without losing their crisp authority.

Fine, delicate aroma: sweet-toned with floral top notes and a hint of dark chocolate. In the small cup medium-bodied and sweet but rather simple: some continued dark chocolate notes and raisiny fruit. In milk remains sweetly delicate and restrained.

Sweet-toned aroma but rather quiet: raisin, dark chocolate, walnut, floral complication. In the small cup substantial body, smooth mouthfeel, salty-sweet, with continuing dark chocolate and walnut notes. Substantial presence in milk, though subdued and simple.

(Tested as roasted - rather dark - by the Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee.) Complex aroma: toast, banana-toned fruit, semi-sweet chocolate, perhaps a hint of tomato. In the small cup quite light-bodied though smooth in mouthfeel; very sweet, with a richly fruity character that continues to suggest banana and a prune-toned, semi-sweet chocolate, all of which carries elegantly into a rich finish. Rather lean and limited in milk, however; the chocolate and fruit notes are attractive but fail to bloom.

Suave, cedar- and chocolate-toned aroma with floral top notes. In the small cup medium-bodied, rich, and very smoothly and sweetly cedar-toned. The chocolate and flowers return to complicate the cedar in the long, round finish. In milk rather lean in mouthfeel but expansively chocolaty with a continued suggestion of flowers.

Very sweet-toned aroma with floral hints. In the small cup medium-bodied and slightly lean in mouthfeel, crisp, cedary, with raisiny, licorice-toned fruit. Slightly heavy finish but excellent flavor persistence, with the fruit turning toward chocolate. Comes into its own in milk, where it is balanced and roundly rich, with deep semi-sweet chocolate character.

A big, muscular espresso. Smoky, sweet-toned aroma with hints of apricot-toned chocolate. The massive body and syrupy if slightly astringent mouthfeel tend to overwhelm the chocolaty fruit in demitasse and finish, but all turns out well in milk, where the body remains fat and the chocolate blooms deeply and darkly.

Superbly and naturally sweet espresso. Complex in the aroma: caramel, milk chocolate, hints of nuts, flowers, pear-toned fruit. In the small cup medium-bodied but very smooth, gently pungent, with semi-sweet chocolate and a hint of smoke. Very sweet finish, long and cleanly rich. Fills out milk nicely with plump semi-sweet chocolate and a continued slight smoky, pungent edge.

Smoke, toast and a hint of flowers in the aroma. In the small cup medium-bodied and smooth in mouthfeel, balanced, rich, simple, with hints of cedar, dark chocolate and toast. Sweet finish. In milk lean-bodied but lush, dominated by a smoky semi-sweet chocolate.

Sweet, lyric fruit in the aroma: cherry, chocolate-toned blueberry. The fruit mutes in the small cup but the underlying structure is pleasing: rich, intense, medium-bodied and silky in mouthfeel. The berry notes carry into the slightly heavy finish. The blueberry character fattens nicely in milk, though the chocolate side of the flavor complex remains a bit tight and restrained.