Estate Reviews

Both Ken and co-taster Willem Boot remarked on a medium but smooth, buttery body. Aromatics and flavor were "floral and slightly malty/musty, toasty and crisp" (Ken), "light chocolate & elegant, spicy-smoky" (Willem). "Pleasant[ly] caramel" in milk for Willem, "balanced, sweet yet crisp" for Ken. Willem 90, Ken 88.

Both Ken and co-taster Willem Boot found the aroma impressive: "elegant, sweet nut" for Willem, "elegant, sweet and fruity" for Ken. Once to the cup, however, neither found much to praise. Willem found the flavor "pungent but sweet and sour," Ken "bittersweet but sharp and shallow." Willem faintly praised this coffee's presence in milk as "mellow," whereas Ken found it "thin, a bit sharp." Willem 79, Ken 82.

Dry and forceful. The acidity is intense but sweet. The fruit is crisply austere: black currant, sauvignon blanc wine grapes. A challenging coffee that commands rather than seduces.

Aroma is superbly rich, sweet and deep with chocolate notes. In the cup the powerful but low-key acidity is enveloped in richness. Ultimately more about solid balance and satisfying structure than nuance, though an apricot-toned chocolate makes itself felt toward the finish.

The moderately dark roast takes on equal billing with the green coffee here. It preserves the essential sweetness of the coffee, but pushes the acidity toward a rich, pungent citrus, a sort of roasty grapefruit, if that can be imagined. The finish is mildly but bracingly astringent.

Displays a fundamentally pleasing balance of bitter tones, sweetness, and low-toned, roast-nuanced fruit, but ultimately seems restrained and faded. Probably last year's crop; the new crop may bring more liveliness and nuance to the cup.

A Kenya in the more delicate mode: dry yet sweet, crisply fruity with grapefruit, apricot and black currant notes. Turns from crisp to slightly astringent in the finish.

Delicate but rich. Medium body, sweet, round-toned acidity, and complex aromatics: In the aroma nut, floral, and cocoa-toned fruit, in the cup floral and spicy apple or pipe-tobacco notes. A cleanly balanced astringency enriches rather than flattens the finish.

Hugely rich, big-bodied, low-toned. Roundly full apricot and peach notes in both aroma and cup. A slight hint of mustiness shadows aroma and finish, but the cup is grandly clean.

Smoky and richly heavy in its aromatics, but rather musty and monotoned in the cup. The musty tones, as they often do in Sumatras, hint at positive associations like spice and a sort of rough chocolate, but ultimately are too hard and unresilient to sustain too positive a reading.

Intense but balanced acidity, medium body, and tartly sweet fruit notes --berry and citrus -- that soften toward chocolate in the finish. Director of Coffee Geoff Watts praises this coffee's "grace and completeness."

Relatively light roasted but deep toned, with big body, rich, cabernet-like acidity, and a black-cherry fruit that saturates the profile from bottom notes to top. Timothy's Director of Coffee Bill Herne praises its "complex flavor and sweet finish."

The reader who nominated this coffee rated it an 85 -- 89, citing its "great aroma and floral hints," and adding that it is "a great breakfast coffee." I'd agree, though the sample I cupped may have sat around in its elegant bag too long. It belongs to the authoritative rather than the delicate style of Panama: intensely acidy, yet still displaying the bright, high-toned sweet nut, floral and fruit notes characteristic of this underappreciated origin. I felt the profile suffered from bitterness, however, which turned the acidity a bit too assertive for many coffee drinkers.

"Bright, acidy, but luxuriously sweet -- high-toned, citrusy fruit suggests grapefruit. Slightly astringent in the finish but richly so (rating 88)." Chris really liked this coffee, awarding it a rating of 96: "Started things off right with a mouthwatering floral and citrus aroma. Very much the lone wolf of the cupping owing to its winey Yirgacheffe/Kenya character."

Ken's favorite in the cupping: "Superb balance of dry and sweet tones. Crisp fruit notes suggest temperate fruit, perhaps pears. Slight but not entirely unpleasant bitterness in the finish" (rating 90). Chris: "The other stand-alone in the cupping, owing to its medium-intensity East-Africa-style acidity. Begins with suggestions of mandarin orange and dips toward a floral wine finish" (rating 89).

Ken: "Fine balance of sweet, acidy and roasty tones, with a hint of flowers and bittersweet chocolate. The balance breaks up a bit in the rather bitter finish" (rating 86). Chris: "Slight pipe tobacco sweetness in the aroma. Smooth, fresh milk chocolate flavor with a hint of sweet jalapeno" (rating 84).

Ken admires this coffee's "almost chewy dry chocolate or cocoa notes" and its "sweet, rich balance and well-integrated acidity," though he had reservations centering on "a slight flatly potatoey, bitter mustiness" (rating 85). Chris finds a positive and colorful way of describing the sample's unorthodox aromatics: "Impressive variety of aroma in the cup, from honey baked bread to a sweet green-pepper spice, which caught me off guard at first. Finishes with smooth banana-muffin-like notes" (rating 84).

Ken (rating 86) writes: "Sweetly acidy and floral, with roasty chocolate notes - think chocolate-covered flowers. Acidity may be a touch overbearing, finish a bit heavy." Kevin (rating 86) is not excited: "Medium-bodied, straightforward, a bit dusty and chalky."

Ken (rating 86) writes: "Sweet, round, with an agreeable balance of dry acidy notes and rich roastiness. Perhaps a bit shallow in range and dimension." Kevin (rating 85): "A dark roast that hits the 'sweet spot' of old-style Peet's/Starbucks roasting. Acidity in a supporting role but still present, luscious body and noteworthy complexity, all a testament to excellent green coffee and skillful roasting."

Delicately acidy but slightly bitter cup displays a subtle but impressive array of aromatic and flavor notes: vanilla and fresh leather in the nose, dry chocolate, flowers, and lemon in the cup.