Reviews for The Roasterie
Impressive aroma: crisp but smooth, rich, with butter, lavender, dark chocolate notes, a hint of toast. Big-bodied and balanced in the cup, but the aromatics simplify: continued dark chocolate with a touch of citrus and lavender. Rich, sweet short finish with a slight astringency in the long.
Sweetly rich in aroma and cup, with ripe orange, clayish earth, caramel, roasted nut and grapefruit notes. The body is medium but the mouthfeel silky. The finish is particularly impressive: rich, sweet and long, saturated to the end with distinct, pleasing grapefruit notes.
Lush, deeply fruity aroma: chocolate and red-wine-toned cherry. In the cup silky mouthfeel, richly balanced acidity, lavish cocoa, candied lemon, red wine, brandied cherry notes. Deep, flavor-saturated finish.
In the aroma deeply pungent with a sweet earthy mustiness that suggests grapefruit with additional hints of honey and chocolate. In the cup full body with pleasantly rough mouthfeel and continued earthy notes that read as chocolate, honey and pungent citrus. Rich finish with a slight clinging astringency.
Deep, rich, opulently sweet-toned aroma: cedar, hints of honey and orange. Heavy body and robustly rough mouthfeel in the cup, with a pungently earthy character that reads persuasively as a sort of dry but raisin-toned chocolate. The rich depth extends to the short finish, though astringency nags in the long.
Rather delicate, toasty aroma with hints of low-acid fruit - banana, chocolate. In the small cup medium to full body, with a crisply smoky, toasty character complicated by caramel and continued banana notes and a hint of flowers. The finish stays just on the rich side of rough. Rounds and blossoms in milk but remains roasty - think chocolate on toast - with a continued lean toward a banana-like fruit.
Pungent, buttery aroma with subtle but persistent floral notes. The cup is deep-toned and balanced, with syrupy body and continued floral top notes and buttery, chocolaty mid-notes. The elusive floral notes persist impressively in the long, rich finish.
Superbly and naturally sweet espresso. Complex in the aroma: caramel, milk chocolate, hints of nuts, flowers, pear-toned fruit. In the small cup medium-bodied but very smooth, gently pungent, with semi-sweet chocolate and a hint of smoke. Very sweet finish, long and cleanly rich. Fills out milk nicely with plump semi-sweet chocolate and a continued slight smoky, pungent edge.
(Pre-ground coffee and roasted chicory root) Bright, gently acidy aroma with distinct lemon notes and a hint of raisiny chocolate. In the cup delicately lively with a slight spicy, peppery character and clear lemon and floral top notes. Clean, rich finish.
Intense aroma: tart cherry, caramel, hints of lemon, flowers, chocolate. In the cup delicate and pure: brings the fresh, dusky floral and tart cherry notes of coffee flowers and fruit into the cup with continuing hints of chocolate and lemon. The finish is clean, simple, ingenuous.
Roses, milk chocolate and a hint of aromatic wood in the aroma. Crisp and richly delicate in the cup, with continued hints of aromatic wood, spicy rose and a sweet chocolate. The finish is simple but clean and rich.
Sweet-toned, delicate aroma with butter notes and hints of chocolate and Mediterranean spice. Even sweeter in the cup, still delicate but rich, softly acidy and quietly complex with distinct floral notes and a crisp, subtle fruit that suggests Riesling table wine or perhaps black currant. The fruit notes turn toward cocoa in the long, continuing sweet finish.
A classically lyric coffee. The aroma is intense and enveloping, with spicy ripe tomato, bittersweet chocolate, caramel, and banana-like fruit notes. The ripe tomato and dark chocolate notes carry into a cup shimmering with sweet, wine-toned acidity and the unusual banana-like fruit notes, which even seem reflected in the pleasant viscosity of the mouthfeel.
Sweet-impressioned, deep aroma complicated by dried cherry and hints of chocolate and cedar. Simplifies slightly in the cup, but a silky sweetness and quiet, vibrant acidity compensate. Almost sugary sweet in the long, clean finish.
Mild, pleasingly sweet fermented fruit notes complicate aroma and cup and read as chocolate, red wine, cedary cherries, perhaps with a hint of sweet herb. The acidity is low-toned and balanced, the mouthfeel roundly smooth. The finish is clean but slightly thin.
A quiet but deeply rich coffee. Fresh-cut cedar and semi-sweet chocolate carry from the husky aroma through pungently sweet cup to an impressively long, resonant finish.
Superb aroma: For Ken giddily floral with blueberry and cherry notes, for co-cupper Rodger Owen "a beautiful burst of lemon." In the cup crisply bright, intensely floral, sweetly and quietly lemon, then (for Ken) rounding toward an orange-toned chocolate. Slight astringency in the short finish but the floral notes had the last, lingering word in the long.
Ken was somewhat more enthusiastic about this classic Central American profile than co-cupper Rodger Owen, but both found lots to write about. Both found the aroma round and sweet, complicated by wine notes for Rodger and pear and a hint of cedar for Ken. In the cup both described a sweet, quietly vibrant acidity and a coffee fruit that read as black currant or slightly tart cherry for Ken and sweet pipe tobacco for Rodger. The essential sweetness carried into the short finish, tempering the slight astringency in the long.
Mid-toned but rich, deep aroma, with fresh leather, pear, peach and milk chocolate suggestions. Simplifies a bit in the cup, undercurrents of pipe tobacco and a tartly refreshing, sweet fruit, pie cherries perhaps or kiwi.
Delicate aroma, toasty with distinct raisin and chocolate notes. Deepens in the small cup; the mouthfeel is buttery and the raisin and chocolate notes turn lavishly rich with a tickle of brandyish ferment. Long, resonant finish. Transforms beautifully in milk; the chocolate intensifies without turning trite or candyish, while the fruit seems to lift and reveal lighter, brighter tones of melon and flowers.
