Reviews for Flying Goat Coffee

Complete and classic Central-American style cup, lively and delicately complex. Cherryish-chocolate fruit and a shimmering hint of flowers in the aroma. In the cup gentle acidity, tart cherry and milk chocolate notes, continuing hint of flowers. The surprisingly rich finish simplifies slightly as the cup cools.

Co-cupper Andy Newbom (92) and Ken (91) both found ways to admire this Kenya. Andy's descriptors circle enthusiastically around flowers and citrus; "gardenia and lemon-blossom" in the aroma, "pears - orange butter and complex mild citrus" together with "gardenia and rose" in the cup. Ken reported parallel, if more generalized, descriptors of black currant, blackberry and hints of lemon, aromatic wood and night flowers. The mouthfeel was "fat and silky" for Ken, "creamy and fruity" for Andy. Ken was slightly disappointed by what he felt was a slight astringent imbalance in the finish, which for Andy was "long ... smooth and lingered romantically."

Superbly balanced structure and quiet, tight-knit aromatic complexity. Well-integrated acidity, silky mouthfeel. Cocoa, prune-toned fruit, caramel, aromatic wood notes and a hint of flowers carry from aroma through cup to a long, rich, resonant finish.

A gently bright coffee, with a sweet-toned aroma: orange, blackberry and flowers. Fruit carries into the cup - citrus, tart berry and black currant - with the floral note reemerging in the finish, softly fading toward toast.

Sweet-toned, gently bright aroma: flowers, flowering grass, honey, a hint of cocoaish chocolate. In the cup lushly tart, deeply floral (jasmine, honeysuckle), with continued honey and crisp cocoa notes. The flowers in particular carry into a sweet finish.

Sweet berry-toned aroma with deepening hints of aromatic wood. Balanced sweet, winy acidity, with a smooth and syrupy mouthfeel. Concentrated dried blueberry and a fruit punch-like sweetness in the cup are balanced by a slightly musty note that reads as pleasant nuttiness. Long, dry finish with lingering notes of nut and cedar.

Co-cupper Miguel Meza's (88) description is succinct: "Cherry liqueur, smoke and chocolate." Ken (90) finds a similar palette: dark raisin-toned chocolate, red wine, cherry, flowers. Ken interprets Miguel's smoke notes as a slight hint of complicating mustiness. Altogether a quiet, wood-panels and leather easy chair sort of coffee.

Rather thin aroma, with semi-sweet chocolate hints. In the cup the chocolate turns explicit, crisp and pleasantly cocoaish. The finish is surprisingly rich, with continued cocoa tones and a hint of flowers. The cup generally relaxes and plumps up as it cools.

Co-cupper Danny O'Neill read "rich chocolaty pudding" in the superb aroma. Ken's reading was more conventional though just as positive: flowers, oranges, chocolate, cherry. Both admired the complex fruity character of the cup: "bouquet of fruity melon and apple" for Danny (88); "tart but rich cherry, hints of plum and orange" for Ken (91). "Finishes clean with lingering hints of late summer" (Danny).

A classic, cherryish sweet ferment runs lushly from aroma through finish. In the aroma the sweet ferment reads as an expansive cherry-toned milk chocolate; in the cup it takes on a Cabernet character, though still chocolaty. The short finish is superb: rich, deep, sweet, chocolaty. Slight astringency in the long finish. The ferment tones remain sound and sweet as the cup cools.

Intense, rather acidy aroma with vanilla-toned chocolate and fruit notes. In the cup the acidity was either sweet and lushly lively (Ken) or a touch too soft (co-cupper Rodger Owen), the flavor a bit too simple (Rodger) or intriguing in its simultaneous sensory allusions to wine and chocolate (Ken).

An intense, high-toned coffee with almost African character: distinct orange notes and hints of sweet spice, chocolate and flowers, lavender perhaps, in the aroma. The citrus, chocolate and lavender tones are sharper and simpler in the cup, though still intense. A tingle of astringency persists, not unpleasantly, into the finish.

Both Ken (92) and co-cupper Christy Thorns (88) remarked on an odd (and for Ken an interesting) character to the aroma. Christy called it "stewed berry," Ken - a rich, almost meaty impression - Dijon mustard and ripe tomatoes.? In the cup Christy found "the acidity a bit timid, [though] the sugary sweetness of the finish more than compensates." Ken admired the "sweet, gently tart fruitiness" of the acidity, finding it more elegant than timid.

Co-cupper Christy Thorns reduced her score to 89 for this Kenya because she felt its chocolate and spice inclinations were not characteristic of the origin. Ken started at 88 and stayed there. He had no problem admiring the chocolate-inclining sweet citrus character he read in aroma and cup, but felt that ultimately the cup was a bit too simple for a top rating.

Dry fragrance: lemon, flowers and freshly laundered linen. In the hot aroma dark molasses and licorice on the pour, rich ripe fruit and milk chocolate in the break. While the floral, citrus and deep-red fruit notes remain intact from first sip through last (a neat trick in such a dark roast) these flavors assemble themselves differently with each taste as the cup cools. Complex and beautifully structured cup (Lindsey Bolger).

Roundly and sweetly pungent aroma, rich with walnut and cherry-toned chocolate. Simplifies slightly in the cup, but remains buoyant and cherry-toned, a giggly, meadowy sort of coffee. Light-footed but rich finish.

The aroma is elegantly simple: toasty and sweet with low-key fruit notes suggesting ripe apricot. Superb in the small cup: velvety mouthfeel, substantial body, deep-toned but crisply dry chocolate and apricot notes, with a long, clean, sweet finish. Solid, chocolaty presence in milk, but the glory here is in the classic but powerful straight shot.

Lovely balance of sweet and dryly acidy tones; more than balanced, integrated and smoothly compete in expression. Floral notes in the nose; in the cup the cherry-toned fruit carries pleasing hints of a clean, sweet ferment.

In the nose distinctly roasty, pungent, but quite sweet and resonantly round-toned. In the cup cleanly burned but still quite sweet, light-bodied but round in impression. Some fruit, perhaps softened by a hint of clean ferment, makes itself felt as the cup cools.

Both Ken and co-taster Willem Boot remarked on a medium but smooth, buttery body. Aromatics and flavor were "floral and slightly malty/musty, toasty and crisp" (Ken), "light chocolate & elegant, spicy-smoky" (Willem). "Pleasant[ly] caramel" in milk for Willem, "balanced, sweet yet crisp" for Ken. Willem 90, Ken 88.