Pacific Reviews

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.

Another juxtaposition of hard-toned pungency and soft sweetness, although here the sweetness blooms with subtle floral notes in finish and aftertaste. Somewhere in the overlap of hardness and sweetness an additional little nuance emerges, a pleasant spicy tickle.

An unexceptional but comfortable Pacific profile: pungent but not sharp, round, medium-bodied, with a hint of dry, wine-like fruit as the cup cools.

Another decaf-ravaged Sumatra: Here the aroma is as subdued as the cup. A touch of carbon from the roast and a bit of sweet tobacco from the Sumatra, but not much else: clean, low-toned, empty.

The roast dominates the coffee here, overlaying the mouth-filling Sumatra richness with distinct carbon tones. The result is a dry, pungently full profile, powerful but a bit to astringent for my taste.

The dark roast style develops a subdued sweet-sweat pungency and attractive cedar tones in the aroma, but the cup disappoints. Not so much flat as underpowered: light-bodied, little range or dimension, with the main pleasure a gentle, unassuming bittersweetness.

Distinctive but limited. The strength of the cup is a powerfully smoky, carbony center with pleasing hints of dry chocolate. Little sweetness or range, however, making it a bit of a Johnny-one-note (though it's a rather exotic note).

When the cup was hot I thought I had hit the Sumatra jackpot, something close to the great Sumatras of pre-Starbucks days, when Sumatra was an exotic secret shared by a handful of professionals and enthusiasts. Rich, burgundy-like fullness, gathering under the back edges of the tongue, with just enough acidity to set off dark tickles and echoes. However, a slightly bitter and salty aftertaste gave away this coffee's weakness, which became abundantly clear as the cup cooled: just enough hardness to dampen an otherwise splendid profile.

A rather refined profile, lighter and sweeter than most Sumatras, with clean hints of fruit and flowers under the usual Sumatra pungency. Much more expansively buoyant at the top of the profile than the other Sumatras in the cupping.

Assuming classic and earthy are not mutually exclusive terms, this is a classically earthy Sumatra: a round, muted but full earth taste gently dominates the profile. Apparently the earth taste comes from drying the coffee directly on the ground rather than on tarpaulins, the usual practice in Sumatra. Although the earth tones are wonderfully soft, overall the profile suffers from a slight bitterness.

Under the taste of the darkish roast style earthy, but not a sweet or inviting earth. A bit hard (no pun), without depth, bounce or resonance. A tobaccoey, salty tickle in the finish.

A clean profile, but a bit flat. No sweetness, no lift, little dimension. Deep but opaque.

A solid, bordering-on-classic Sumatra profile: low-toned but rich, pleasantly pruny, its distinct pungency saved from bitterness by a sweetness that grows in power as the coffee cools.

Another Sumatra with intrigue, but more murky than mysterious. The aroma is marvelous, alive with vanilla and sweet aromatic wood tones, but the cup settles down into a heavy smokiness unrelieved by lift or sweetness. Hints of dry chocolate turn tobaccoish in the finish.

The center of the profile is satisfyingly round and full but rather opaque, without lift or brightness. The lone complication is a hint of pungent, pruny fruitiness that turns slightly hard as the cup cools. The impassive profile reveals nuance only as it fades rather richly in the aftertaste.