Shade Reviews

Balanced, crisply sweet-tart. Lemongrass, cardamom, cocoa powder, rhododendron-like flowers, fresh-cut cedar in aroma and cup. The structure fuses sweet, tart and savory tendencies, enlivened by a quietly juicy acidity. Buoyant, satiny mouthfeel. The crisp finish is richly sweet, with notes of lemongrass and vanilla-like florals carrying into the long.

Crisply sweet-tart, fruit-toned. Notes of cascara (dried coffee cherry), lemon verbena, honeysuckle-like flowers, dark chocolate, black peppercorn in aroma and cup. In structure crisp but almost candy-like sweet and deeply fruit-forward; syrupy mouthfeel. The finish, long, resonant and consistent, foregrounds the sweet herbaceous notes, both lemon verbena and cascara, wrapped in dark chocolate.

The aroma doesn't provoke much anticipation: roasty, edge of burned, midtoned, without range or nuance. Softens and complicates in the cup, displaying a pleasantly wine-toned balance of sweet acidity and a discreetly bittersweet roastiness. Simplifies again in the rather sharp finish.

The aroma is subdued and gently roasty. Clear, dry, deep-toned chocolate-fruit notes carry from aroma through cup to a slightly bitter but rich finish.

Attractive balance of chocolate-nuanced fruit, rich, low-toned but emphatic acidity, and a hint of roastiness. Ultimately, however, remains contained in its own quiet balance. Lacks the tonal range and dimension that would lift it from satisfying to remarkable.

Roasty, sweet, and round in the nose. In the cup the roastiness reveals a sharp bitterness, brightened by a hint of floral sweetness that softens toward burned chocolate in the finish. A full body offsets the bitterness.

A coffee that rewards deliberation. The sweet nut tones that are the glory of many softer Latin-America coffees run luxuriantly through the profile from aroma to finish, taking on a distinct chocolate cast in the cup. A coffee whose richness reads more as resonance than heaviness.

A complete but rather simple profile; decent acidity balances the pungency of the moderately dark roast. Hints of vanilla intensify and the entire profile sweetens as the coffee cools.