Tree Variety Reviews

In the aroma lemon, berry, and above all, delicate flowers - jasmine and lavender. In the cup crisp, floral-toned acidity, silky mouthfeel. The flowers and lemon deepen and turn richly pungent, sustaining into a long, deep finish.

Soft, smooth aroma combining night flowers, orange and molasses. Elegantly penetrating, fruit toned acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel and a lush, juicy complex of flavors: citrus, apricot, black currant and flowers. The flavors linger long into the crisp, clean finish.

Intense cocoa, lemon and floral notes in the aroma. In the cup rich acidity, lightly syrupy body, dry lemony cocoa, lush night flowers, and a distinct spice note suggesting nutmeg, all carrying majestically into the long, deeply flavor-saturated finish.

An aromatically rich coffee, with round jasmine notes and hints of mixed berry fruitiness. Balanced acidity, soft mouthfeel and a delicate lemony flavor, with hints of flowers and sweet toned fruit that deepen and become more opulent as the cup cools. The bitter-sweet, flavor-saturated finish fades but sweetens further in the long.

A pungent fruit aroma with hints of flowers, cedar and red currant. In the cup, nicely balanced acidity, a lightly syrupy mouthfeel and flavors of peach and lemon that lean toward chocolate. The fruit-toned chocolate grows more distinct and lingers in the finish.

Sweet-toned orange and lemon aroma, with soft hints of nuts, cherry and caramel. A bright acidity is softened and rounded by a suggestion of fruit. The balance continues in the cup with sweet lemon and honey in front, fading to a pleasant nuttiness. Hints of chocolate and aromatic wood linger in the long finish.

Elegant floral aroma, with fruity hints of mixed berries and stone fruit, bright acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel and medium body. The floral tones carry into the cup with tart notes of Meyer lemon and strawberry rounding and sweetening to cherryish chocolate and nut. A mild sweet cocoa note lingers in the long finish softening a touch of astringency.

"An absolutely mind-blowing coffee" for co-cupper Andy Newbom (93). "Utterly pure yet soaringly intense," for Ken (97). "Say fruit ten times," Andy reports, and then he does, mainly variations of grapefruit, apricot and melon with green apple and Bartlett pear thrown in for the finish. For Ken that entire nuance is wrapped up in the extraordinary, singular explosion of cedary, pungently sweet berry, the quintessential Bourbon character. The acidity is enveloped in sweetness; in Andy's colorful language it "startles and snuggles all at once." For mouthfeel Andy suggests "crème fraîche Meyer lemon chiffon"; Ken sticks with a pedestrian "syrupy." Ken awarded a perfect 10 to the long, balanced, deeply flavor-saturated finish.

Elegantly delicate, lightly floral aroma, with tartly-sweet acidity and medium body. The delicacy carries into the cup with notes of sweet citrus rounding and softening toward candied-nut. Very clean finish, with a slight astringent note in the long.

A pungent but sweet fruit character, subtle but striking, carries from aroma to finish, suggesting at various moments black currant, grapefruit, fresh-cut fir, butter, raisin, perhaps something one could call butterscotch. Very rich, sweetly clean, long finish.

Richly and sweetly bright aroma with aromatic wood, peach-toned fruit and cocoa notes. In the cup quietly acidy, elegantly crisply sweet, deeply floral, with distinct peach-toned fruit and hints of cocoaish chocolate that carry into a long, flavor-glistening finish.

Lightly and sweetly acidy with delicately crisp floral, walnut and orange notes running from aroma through cup to the particularly impressive finish, where the sweetness peaks and the flavor notes consolidate and survive a slight tightness.

Evaluated as espresso. As a drip coffee fell quite short of 80. As espresso revealed some virtues. In the aroma sweet-toned with distinct chocolate and butter notes. In the small cup medium bodied, round-toned and sweet, with earth, aromatic wood and herbal notes (I read fennel) and hints of nut and chocolate. The finish was simple in the short and mildly astringent in the long. Surprisingly disappointing in milk: leanish in mouthfeel with banana and chocolate in front but a slight though disturbing note toward the finish that for me suggested salted meat.

Gentle, balanced, agreeably simple aroma, with distinct floral notes and a hint of milk chocolate. The floral tones carry into a soft, sweet cup with orange and a spice note that could qualify as cinnamon. Flattens a bit in the finish but remains sweet.

Sweet-toned and rich aroma with some floral notes. In the cup medium body, silky mouthfeel, low acidity, sweet, low-toned, rich, with chocolate notes and a hint of walnut. Rich short finish; the mildly bitterish walnut tones dominate in the long.

Very sweet-toned, exquisitely balanced aroma with floral, candied lemon and sweet herb notes. In the cup intense, tartly sweet acidity and buoyant mouthfeel with white wine and continued sweet lemon notes. The barest hint of chocolate in the cup blooms with soft explicitness in the surprisingly sweet finish. The cup stiffens ever so slightly as it cools.

Spectacularly aromatic in both dry and infused aroma: candied lemon peel, bergamot, hints of jasmine. Medium bodied and sweet, with superb acidity and flavors that suggest both the mentholated citrus of a Yirgacheffe and the blueberry notes of a Harrar, but without a trace of ferment or earthiness. Perfumed perfection.

Cocoa and caramel aroma. Blazing acidity, dark chocolate and caramel, regal balance. A nicely conducted, relatively light roast makes this balanced but assertive coffee particularly well-suited for vacuum pot and drip brewing.

Cherry notes dominate in the very sweet-toned, pungently acidy aroma. Relatively light-bodied in the cup, but sweetly and buoyantly acidy, with striking and complex aromatic notes: cherry, tea rose, Meyer Lemon, orange, honey. Honey in particular persists in the rich, sweet, though slightly astringent finish.

Exquisitely delicate aroma suggests a fine Oolong tea, with extravagant floral notes but a distinct (and coffeeish) hint of chocolate. The chocolate strengthens in the cup, with a tartly sweet, lemon-toned acidity. The lemon-chocolate notes outlast a gentle astringency in the long, pleasing finish.