Pacific Reviews

I suspect only a slight astringency in the aftertaste prevented this Papua New Guinea from pushing up near the top of the ratings. Panelists liked its smoky aroma ("brownies baking" said one), its soft sweetness, and its understated character. Its rather metallic, salty astringency was barely detectable, but, once observed, distracting.

An agreeably sweet coffee with pungent bottom notes, but wildly uneven from cup to cup. A grassy, green taste marred some cups; others clearly displayed the overripe-edging-on-rotten taste of ferment. Some combined both problems, in a sort of bouquet of defects.

Very uneven from cup to cup. The best cups: low-toned, smooth, with a touch of spicy, clove-like pungency and a sweet, cocoaish finish. The less-than-best cups: bland with a slight but disturbing astringency.

"A sweet, inoffensive little cup of coffee. No bells and whistles here," wrote one panelist. At first I was inclined to agree, but this soft, subtle coffee eventually won me over with its relaxed richness and striking lavender-like floral tones. Other panelists agreed. Perhaps no bells and whistles, but some pleasant warbling.

Pungently rich and round in the nose. In the cup the signature hard mustiness is balanced by sweetness, particularly in the finish.

The cup is redolent with the fresh, sweet perfume of clay. Slightly musty tones give a dry, pungent edge to aroma and aftertaste, framing the sweetness in the cup.

This intriguing, low-toned coffee is neither balanced nor coherent, but definitely engaging. The rather hard first impression instantly softens and sweetens, revealing odd, richly herbal notes. The herbal notes persist in the aftertaste, haloed by sweetness.

This coffee opens opulently, with a complex, enveloping aroma alive with nutty, spicy, bittersweet tones. In the cup the profile is smoky sweet, discreetly brightened by a touch of acidity. As the cup cools, however, the sweetness fades and the smokiness reveals hard, musty undertones. My rating faded too, from a high of 87 to a final landing at 81.

A dark roast that tip-toes past burned to achieve a smooth, integrated bittersweetness, enlivened by a hint of acidity and a touch of fruit.

Distinct lemony tones elevate the profile of this roundly satisfying but rather light-bodied Sumatra. The finish is lively, theaftertaste long and clean.

A slight pungency immediately melts in cinnamon-tending sweet spice. The solid (though not hard or heavy) profile retains a consistent character from nose through long, resonant aftertaste. The spice simplifies a bit as the cup cools.

Not a trace of the twisty pungency of most Sumatras and Sulawesis here. Instead a nut-softening-to-vanilla nose, a clear, assertive floral-toned acidity, even a hint of smoke in the finish. With just a little more dimension and sweetness this coffee would be a knockout.

Considerably more emphatic and complex than the Armeno aged Sumatra, apparently owing to the handling of the roast. The same hardness characteristic of many aged Sumatras of recent years is enveloped here with a soft, almost candy-like sweetness, modulating to a dry, tobaccoish finish. Sweet notes prevail in the aftertaste.

A powerful sweetness transforms the Indonesia pungency into clear dry chocolate tones, enlivened by a touch of acidy brightness. The chocolate tones hint at spice in finish and aftertaste.

A understated but profoundly complex coffee that rewards patience. The nose is restrained, but in the cup a roundly rich pungency is balanced by pronounced sweetness and nuanced by subtle wine tones. The finish is resonant, the aftertaste long, sweet and clean.

I had difficulty deciding whether to honor the inert hardness of this coffee because it's a deliberately achieved characteristic, or condemn it as a defect because I don't find it a particularly pleasant version of the aged taste. The dominating attribute is an oppressively hard pungency that flattens and simplifies the profile. Only a delicate halo of almost subliminal sweetness lightens the cup.

A hard pungency dominates the profile, but it's a rather rich, deep-throated hardness, with undertones of dry spice and a shimmer of sweetness. Possibly an over-aggressive roast burned off some of the sugars, imbalancing the cup.

Another coffee in which the hard tones characteristic of many traditionally processed Indonesian coffees are precariously mellowed by an ingratiating sweetness. The combination of (perhaps musty) sharpness and sweetness hints at chocolate, particularly in the finish.

A hard, baggy pungency. A sweet, soft (perhaps floral) sweetness. When the two work together we get an agreeable sweet/sharp taste that suggests chocolate. The sweet subtext prevails pleasantly in the aftertaste.

A clean Indonesia profile, meaning the pungency is soft rather than oppressively hard and the balancing sweetness is substantial and fresh. An ingratiating and straightforward coffee, though short on nuance.