South America Reviews
We found 909 reviews for South America. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
Although this quietly elegant Brazil didn't attract the sort of raves the highest-rated Guatemala elicited in our July 1997 cupping, it did stimulate admiring comment and the highest rating in the cupping. "Excellent overall. Stands by itself as an estate coffee." "This coffee is the best of the lot." Admiration centered on a smoothly substantial body and a deeply nuanced flavor. Three reviewers identified the grace notes as chocolate, a term that came up only occasionally with other coffees. One even qualified chocolate by category: "bittersweet chocolate, not sweet!" .
An almost textbook example of a carefully wet-processed, soft-bean, low-altitude coffee: light-to-medium-bodied, free of defect, pleasingly soft, slightly sweet. Reviewer consensus on all of the above, although one (who admitted his dislike of washed Brazils in his cover note) concurred with the overall description but still didn't like the coffee.
We couldn't make up our collective mind about this wet-processed coffee. I found it light and pleasantly bright -- appropriate to a good wet-processed coffee from lower altitudes. Several agreed, finding the acidity fruity and sweet. Others, however, reacted critically to the delicate profile: "Washed ... blah!" exclaimed one. Assessments of body were surprisingly varied, ranging from thin to buttery and full. Finally, two reviewers found flat-out fault with the profile: "dirty," complained one; "baggy" (flat, ropey taste), accused the other.
I found this coffee's profile interesting but rather odd. It displayed a heavy, dull-yet-rich quality, reminiscent of some Indonesian and East-Indian coffees, plus a distinct earth taste. Literally earth; this coffee is neither dirty in the general sense nor earthy in the romantic sense; rather, the cup simply tastes a bit like dirt. There are other intrigues as well: delicate vanilla-toned high notes shimmer atop the aroma and dark prune-tobacco tones emerge in the finish. Despite all of the olfactory action I still wouldn't call this coffee complex, since everything seems controlled by a rather stolid inertia at the center of the profile.
This one keeps coming; vistas of completeness unfold in small, repeated waves of exhilarating revelation. The profile is built around a deep-toned version of the classic vanilla-nut-toned flavor complex. Sufficient acidity; not strikingly sweet but sweet enough.
Another coffee with a pleasing first impression. The acidity is deep, fruity, perhaps winy. But there's no cushion or bounce here, and little intrigue beyond the fruity acidity and a touch of carbon. The hard simplicity carries into the aftertaste, although the profile rounds a bit as the coffee cools.
Solid, balanced, with a slightly winy acidity wrapped in a substantial body, all characteristics of a good Colombia. But again, these virtues seem attenuated. The complexity is confined to the middle registers, with both top and bottom notes pinched off. A slight sweetness fills out the profile in the finish.
For a moment, somewhere between nose and finish, this coffee struck me as rich with its nut and vanilla tones. But overall a thin-toned acidity dominates: an edgy, almost sour distraction without grace notes or resonance.
A deep bottom with just enough acidity to keep from the coffee from imploding into dullness. Other than the rather full body I read few signs of the Colombia profile in this decent but hardly exciting coffee.