Green Reviews

Evaluated as a sample-roasted green coffee. Bright, sweet, delicately fruit-forward. Freesia, apricot, pink grapefruit zest, marjoram, hazelnut in aroma and cup. Sweet-toned structure with juicy, balanced acidity; satiny-smooth mouthfeel. Sweetly nutty finish supported by notes of apricot and marjoram.

Evaluated as a sample-roasted green coffee. Crisply sweet, cocoa-toned. Cocoa nib, tangerine zest, almond, narcissus, cedar in aroma and cup. Brightly sweet-tart with citrusy acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Cocoa- and floral-toned finish.

A powerfully understated, slow-developing cup with an acidity enveloped in sweetness, low-toned wine and cherry notes, a silky body, and a long, clear finish. The cup rounded and strengthened impressively as it cooled.

A sturdy if simple Latin-American cup: Little nuance but substantial body and bright acidity. High-toned, balanced, clean, direct.

Delicate floral and fruit notes reminiscent of Ethiopia wet-processed coffees shimmered in this complex, richly-textured coffee. The acidity was understated but resonant and wine-toned.

Pleasingly heavy, round, low-key, with a nicely balanced bittersweetness when hot. As the cup cooled sweetness enveloped the bitter tones and turned them pleasingly chocolate in the finish.

This deeply dimensioned coffee rewarded patience. My initial score was the same as the jury 's, but as the cup cooled I found myself adding points as a slight bitterness dropped away and a seductive fruit- and floral-toned sweetness prevailed.

Elegant rather than authoritative, with a clear, bell-like, but not overpowering acidity, delicate, flower-toned aromatics, and a smooth, sweet finish.

A classic, high-toned, vanilla-laced aroma; in the cup subtle, rich, resonant, with pronounced chocolate tones that carry straight through from cup to finish.

A hint of flowers and perhaps chocolate in the finish were the only complications in this straightforward but sweetly ingratiating cup. The chocolate tones may have revealed a slight twist of sweet ferment as the cup cooled.

I found this coffee floral and brightly buoyant when hot, and deeply dimensioned as it cooled. A hint of monotoned bitterness also emerged, however, which I tolerated, but which put off other jury members.

A light, bright, fragrantly smooth cup. When hot alive with shimmers of citrus, spice, and nut tones. As the cup cools, however, a disturbing vegetative undertone surfaces: "grassy," "dried peas," "sour," panelists complained. A potentially superb coffee, an India version of the great, brightly nuanced coffees like Guatemala Antigua and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, but flawed by either processing/storage errors or too much unripe fruit.

A light, bright, fragrantly smooth cup. When hot alive with shimmers of citrus, spice, and nut tones. As the cup cools, however, a disturbing vegetative undertone surfaces: "grassy," "dried peas," "sour," panelists complained. A potentially superb coffee, an India version of the great, brightly nuanced coffees like Guatemala Antigua and Ethiopia Yirgacheffe, but flawed by either processing/storage errors or too much unripe fruit.

An impressive coffee, and distinctive in the India mode: sweet, svelte, smooth, balanced, with some intrigue that read as chocolate, nut, or spice (I tasted cardamom). "Big coffee, sweet," one panelist concluded.

A hint of Indian spice and perhaps some flowers in the nose, but rather unremarkable in the cup: simple, straightforward, pleasingly sweet when hot, bland and inert when cold. Perhaps the spice and flowers account for the high rating of this coffee relative to the others in the India cupping.

A fine coffee in the India mode; almost all panelists had something positive to say about it. Sweet, deeply resonant, softly acidy, long in the finish, gently nuanced with tones variously read as spice, nut, and citrus. Sustained its virtues beautifully when cold. Given the enthusiastic written assessments, I have no idea why this coffee was not more highly rated.

A coffee flawed by a veritable anthology of processing taints: harsh, musty, dirty, with an unpleasant old vegetable taste that one panelist described as "dirty carrots." Somebody was not minding the mill when this coffee came in from the fields. A traditionally wet-processed or "washed" coffee grown under shade at elevations of 3,000 to 3,500 feet. From the contemporary hybrid variety S4345.

Most of the panel found this coffee defective; "medicinal, nose-wrinkling," said one. Others acknowledged the defect but found some virtue in the cup, reading the mustiness as cedar or cardamom.

The panel was divided on this coffee. Some admired its sweetness and rich, deeply dimensioned balance; others were put off by a slight off-taste read variously as soapy, bitter, or sour. A small and subtle flaw, but it apparently dragged down the rating of an otherwise quietly complex and sweetly resonant coffee.

This pleasant but monotoned coffee prompted little comment from the panel. Most detected a mild grassy or astringent note. I found the aroma sweet but grassy, the cup agreeable and balanced but unremarkable.