LATEST REVIEWS
We have published thousands of coffee reviews and espresso reviews since 1997. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee. To search for a specific roaster, origin or coffee use the Advanced Search Function.
Delicate, gently exotic, complex profile: faintly smoky in aroma and cup, with cocoa, cedar, floral and caramel notes. Lightly syrupy in mouthfeel and bittersweet in structure. The short finish is sweetly cocoa-toned; the long gently astringent.
Crisp aroma distinct baker's chocolate and hints of raisin and pungent, fresh-cut cedar. In the cup quiet, balanced, softly acidy, gently bittersweet, with continued baker's chocolate and raisin notes. Rich, softly astringent finish.
This coffee declares its essential Yirgacheffe character immediately: perfumy and pungently menthol-toned in the aroma, shimmering with floral and lemon notes. The aromatic drama carries without loss or simplification into a gently bright cup, light-bodied but silky in mouthfeel. The finish is thinnish but long, sweet, and flower-saturated.
Big, juicy, lushly tart coffee. Distinct flower notes, cherry, orange, roasted nut, honey in aroma and cup. As the cup cools a hint of cocoaish chocolate emerges as well. Outstanding finish: richly and sweetly tart, clean, flavor saturated.
Sweetly pungent aroma: distinct orange and nut notes with hints of cedar, butter, dark chocolate. In the cup deeply lyric structure with a soft, backgrounded acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel and a touch of bittersweet roastiness. Quiet, tight-knit complexity: roasted nut, orange, cherry, dark chocolate. The chocolate notes become more explicit in the clean, rich finish.
Sweetly pungent, nut-like in the aroma with hints of raisins and night flowers. In the cup medium in body with syrupy mouthfeel, very sweet in structure with continued pungent moist earth and grapefruit notes. Continued hints of raisin and night flowers. Cleanly rich, long finish.
A sweet, crisp, delicately rich pungency dominates the character of this quiet coffee. Prune/raisin, butter, dark chocolate, lavender-like floral notes in aroma and cup. Balanced, gentle acidity and a medium body with silky mouthfeel. The flowers and chocolate carry into a long, clean, very impressive finish.
A slight menthol-like astringency throughout the profile is the only restraint to this otherwise exceptional, complexly engaging coffee. In the aroma sweet-toned and balanced with pungent orange and butterscotch notes and hints of flowers and nut. The acidity is gentle and integrated, the cup very sweet but crisp in structure, with continued orange, nut, flower and very distinct cocoa or baker's chocolate notes. The nut and floral notes carry into a rich finish, although the shadow tightness that nags its way through the cup has the last word as the nuts and flowers fade.
A sweet-toned, gently acidy, lyric medium-roasted coffee struggling with the dampening impact of decaffeination. Orange, white wine, and temperate fruit notes, pear perhaps, almost succeed in soaring over a decaf woodiness.
Complex aroma: molasses, dark chocolate, pungent earth notes, with hints of flowers. In the cup lean-bodied and dominated by sweet-toned musty earth notes that could read as an outdoorsy dark chocolate. Pungent citrus, continued floral hints. Stays just on the rich side of astringent in the sweet-toned finish.
Very sweet-toned aroma, simple but balanced, with hints of orange and cedar. Continues its quiet way in the cup, gently and sweetly acidy with continued hints of orange and cedar. Lean but silky in mouthfeel. Rich, long finish with only a hint of astringency.
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.
The roast dominates the coffee, pleasantly enough. Deeply roasty aroma: toast, cedar, prune- and apricot-toned fruit. In the cup medium in body but surprisingly silky in mouthfeel, simple and roundly roasty with continuing hints of cedar and apricot. Sweet, rich short finish, slightly chalky in the long.
Quiet aroma with walnut and hints of cedar and dark chocolate. In the cup heavy body with a slightly rough mouthfeel, an almost syrupy sweet structure, and dominating musty/earthy notes that can be read as a sort of robust, walnut-toned dark chocolate. The sweetness carries into a rich, slightly tight, continued walnut-toned finish.
Sweetly balanced in aroma and cup: butter, flowers, orange, dark chocolate. The orangy chocolate notes dominate in the gently acidy, silky-bodied cup. Fine finish: rich, sweet, flavor-saturated. A very slight hint of astringency emerges as the cup cools.
Powerfully sweet throughout the profile, but without candyish sentiment. Moist leafy earth notes in the aroma with hints of flowers and grapefruit and pungently buttery notes that plausibly read as butterscotch. In the cup big-bodied with a backgrounded but vibrant acidity. Flavor is dominated by a lush, cherryish or grapey fruit with continuing hints of earth and butterscotch. The lush fruit and crisp earth together carry into the long, deep finish.
Suave, impressively balanced coffee. Flower and orange notes in the aroma. In the cup softly acidy with a hint of white wine; medium in body but round in impression with continued floral and orange notes and a hint of milk chocolate. Clean, sweet finish.
Sweet-toned, delicately complex aroma: flowers, hints of honey, cedar and tart cherry, perhaps chocolate. In the cup very gently acidy, light in body but buoyant and silky in mouthfeel, and giddily floral- and honey-toned with complicating hints of chocolate, tart coffee fruit and Riesling-like white wine. Fades rather quickly in the finish but exquisitely clean with memories of chocolate and flowers. An exceptionally pure and balanced coffee.
Intense, balanced aroma: cedar, cherry, flowers, orange. In the cup syrupy body with an almost bouillon-like richness, deeply but quietly acidy, with floral high notes and a wonderfully deep cherry- and cedar-toned chocolate. The pungent chocolate/fruit notes carry into a long, flavor-saturated finish.
Sweet-toned, quiet aroma with nut, dried cherry and chocolate. Elegantly balanced cup: softly acidy, silky in mouthfeel, with continued dried cherry, cocoaish chocolate and a slight brightening hint of lemon. The chocolate notes in particular carry into the long, rich, complex finish.
