Estate Reviews

Intense, sweetly pungent aroma: fir, cocoaish, fruit-toned chocolate. In the cup delicate, wine-like acidity, lightly silky mouthfeel and good sweetness with continued pungent, almost spicy fir character and fruit notes that suggest tangerine and apricot. Rich finish with a touch of astringency in the long.

Sweet-toned, balanced, quietly complete cup. Gently pungent acidity, silky mouthfeel. Tight-knit complexity: suggestions of nut, flowers, stone fruit, chocolate, lemon. Tightens a bit in a still sweet finish.

A pungent fruit aroma with hints of flowers, cedar and red currant. In the cup, nicely balanced acidity, a lightly syrupy mouthfeel and flavors of peach and lemon that lean toward chocolate. The fruit-toned chocolate grows more distinct and lingers in the finish.

Intense, sweet-toned aroma: cherryish fruit, hints of orange and flowers. In the cup rich, rounded acidity, fullish body, and continued cherry- and orange-toned fruit complicated by a dry, cocoaish chocolate. Simple, sweet finish.

Balanced aroma with soft notes of pipe tobacco, vanilla, sweet aromatic wood and suggestions of fruit. The fruit becomes more pronounced in the bright-toned acidity. A graceful cup, with a lightly syrupy mouthfeel and flavors of orange, grapefruit, fir, and a touch of chocolate that sweetens in the finish.

Light-roasted, but brought along just enough to develop the delicate richness of a pure, subtle coffee. Gently pungent, orange-toned citrus in the aroma turns lushly orange-blossomy in the cup, complicated by a hint of cocoaish chocolate. Rich, flavor-saturated finish.

Sweet-toned orange and lemon aroma, with soft hints of nuts, cherry and caramel. A bright acidity is softened and rounded by a suggestion of fruit. The balance continues in the cup with sweet lemon and honey in front, fading to a pleasant nuttiness. Hints of chocolate and aromatic wood linger in the long finish.

Elegant floral aroma, with fruity hints of mixed berries and stone fruit, bright acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel and medium body. The floral tones carry into the cup with tart notes of Meyer lemon and strawberry rounding and sweetening to cherryish chocolate and nut. A mild sweet cocoa note lingers in the long finish softening a touch of astringency.

"An absolutely mind-blowing coffee" for co-cupper Andy Newbom (93). "Utterly pure yet soaringly intense," for Ken (97). "Say fruit ten times," Andy reports, and then he does, mainly variations of grapefruit, apricot and melon with green apple and Bartlett pear thrown in for the finish. For Ken that entire nuance is wrapped up in the extraordinary, singular explosion of cedary, pungently sweet berry, the quintessential Bourbon character. The acidity is enveloped in sweetness; in Andy's colorful language it "startles and snuggles all at once." For mouthfeel Andy suggests "crème fraîche Meyer lemon chiffon"; Ken sticks with a pedestrian "syrupy." Ken awarded a perfect 10 to the long, balanced, deeply flavor-saturated finish.

Intriguing mid-tones throughout the profile: mainly a sort of orangy, floral citrus with a backgrounded complex simultaneously suggesting fresh earth, mushroom and decomposing leaves. All of this takes on a vaguely chocolaty tone in the finish. Gently smooth acidity, medium body.

The aroma is sweet-toned and alive with flowers, ripe tomato, a hint of cedar; the mouthfeel silky. The issue in the cup is the acidity, sweet but intense, all but sidelining delicate cocoa and floral notes and carrying with dry authority into the finish.

Very complex espresso in which forceful blend components were allowed full, if rather competitive expression. Co-taster Byron Holcomb (90) read the earthy and mildly musty side of the blend: earth and molasses in the aroma, "musty, cedar - a little confused" in the small cup. Ken (92) on the other hand, read the confusion as complexity and emphasized the Ethiopian elements, particularly the flowers and fruit, which for him gave the cedar and earth tendencies an anise-like liveliness. Both admired the mouthfeel, which Byron described as "the same weight as whole milk: buttery and round without heaviness." Impressive in four parts milk: "deeply, richly and cleanly chocolaty" for Ken; toffee-like for Byron, though his reservation persisted: "still a bit dirty."

Simple but softly rich aroma: sweet aromatic wood, caramel. In the cup balanced, soft acidity, delicately smooth mouthfeel, crisp nut and cocoa notes with a halo of cherryish sweetness. Lovely finish: clean, sweet, cocoa- and cherry-toned.

Intense, crisp, molassy sweet aroma: coffee cherry, aromatic wood, dusk flowers. In the cup soft but powerful acidity with a wine, or perhaps better, apple cider nuance. Delicate, silky mouthfeel, very sweet, continued coffee cherry, molasses, nut, aromatic wood, a hint of dusk flowers, all of which suggest at moments the most subtle milk chocolate imaginable. Smooth, clean, lightly flavor-saturated finish.

Elegantly delicate, lightly floral aroma, with tartly-sweet acidity and medium body. The delicacy carries into the cup with notes of sweet citrus rounding and softening toward candied-nut. Very clean finish, with a slight astringent note in the long.

Gracefully sweet in the aroma, with soft fruit and floral notes. In the cup, sweet-toned acidity, medium body and delicate flavors of blossoming flowers, honey and summer fruit. Very clean finishing with a lingering sweetness.

Round, sweet-toned aroma: flowers, molasses, spice. In the cup intense but sweetly balanced acidity, silky mouthfeel, lemon, floral and caramel notes. Sweet, rich, citrus-rind- and nut-toned finish.

A round, sweetly pungent coffee, deep in sensation. Plumy fruit and hints of lemon, flowers and molasses in aroma and cup. Rich, well-integrated acidity, long, resonant, tartly sweet finish.

A pungent but sweet fruit character, subtle but striking, carries from aroma to finish, suggesting at various moments black currant, grapefruit, fresh-cut fir, butter, raisin, perhaps something one could call butterscotch. Very rich, sweetly clean, long finish.

Sweet ripe citrus aroma with hints of flowers and mulling spices. Lively, assertive acidity, medium body, and a soft, round mouthfeel. Complex flavors range from flowers to sweet lemon to butter and toast. Clean, floral-toned finish, with a suggestion of milk chocolate in the long.