LATEST REVIEWS

Sweetly pungent aroma with hints of chocolate, cedar, low-acid fruit, pear perhaps. In the cup medium-bodied but silky in mouthfeel, with great sweetness, a roast-muted tartness, elegant floral notes and coffee fruit turned toward cocoa under the influence of the roast. Rich, sweet and cocoa-toned in the short finish, rather astringent in the long.

Deep, sweetly pungent aroma: cedar, banana-like fruit, a hint of flowers. Big-bodied in the cup, with continued pungently sweet character and limited nuance, mainly cedar and some cedar-toned chocolate. Simple but rich in the finish.

Delicate, lyrically sweet-toned aroma with flowers, flowering grass and a lush shimmer of molasses. In the cup delicate but intense, with sweetly tart, white-wine-toned acidity, light-bodied but silky mouthfeel, and continued fresh, aromatic grass notes. Surprisingly rich in the short finish with a shadow of grassy astringency in the long.

Vividly lively yet elegantly smooth coffee. Intense aroma with tart cherry and round, low-acid fruit notes, banana perhaps, with hints of fresh leather. In the cup sweet, lyric acidity, light but silky mouthfeel, cherry and cocoa notes. Rich, sweet, deeply long finish.

A quietly exotic, complex blend of impressive originality. Smoothly midtoned, gently pungent aroma. In the cup displays lively, almost peppery acidity and full body with some tingle in the mouthfeel. Lyrically and richly sweet, with a wine-like, black grapey hint of ferment and a slight musty-malty edge. A surprising shimmer of flowers in the long finish.

Very complete aroma: pungently acidy but sweet-toned, with fat banana-like fruit and chocolate hints. In the cup gently round, rich acidity, medium body, silky mouthfeel, and distinct orange, lavender and fresh pipe tobacco notes with a little chocolate lean toward the finish. Excellent flavor persistence in the long, complex finish.

An intense coffee dominated from aroma through finish by a rich, tartly sweet acidity and high-toned lemon and dry berry notes. The finish, like the entire profile, is as deeply sweet as it is uncompromisingly dry.

An exhilarating and intense blueberry and wine character dominates the profile from aroma to finish. In the aroma the blueberry and wine tones are particularly pure and sweet. In the cup things grow more complicated: the blueberry takes a chocolate turn and the wine may strike some palates as too aggressively fermented. The finish is even more ambiguous, as the blueberry fruit persists nicely but takes a slightly soapy, salty direction. There are some coffee professionals who would give this unorthodox coffee a rating of 95; others would throw it off the table at 75.

Sweet-toned, gently roasty aroma with distinct grapefruit notes and the barest hints of cedar and chocolate. In the cup the roast tones are sharper but still sweet, reading even more clearly as a richly pungent grapefruit with a slight chocolate cast. Deep finish with almost no astringency. A slight unevenness from cup to cup brought down the rating of this fundamentally distinguished dark-roasted coffee.

Sweetly smoky, fruity aroma. In the cup light to medium body with a silky mouthfeel and quiet balance between a gentle acidity and a discreetly roast (cedar and toast) character. A hint of dark chocolate in the cup and butterscotch in the simple but rich finish.

Rather muted, mildly sweet, gingerbready aroma. Plumps up nicely in the cup, however: full-bodied, round, deep, with toasty caramel and fat, banana-toned fruit. Cleanly rich, sweet finish.

Very sweet-toned aroma with a round, banana-like fruit and hints of fresh-cut cedar, flowers, and sweet spice. Remains sweet in the cup with a sort of banana-bread molasses-and-fruit character, but the roast impact is lean and a touch bitterish. Rich short finish, slightly heavy long.

Fine, delicate aroma: sweet-toned with floral top notes and a hint of dark chocolate. In the small cup medium-bodied and sweet but rather simple: some continued dark chocolate notes and raisiny fruit. In milk remains sweetly delicate and restrained.

A mid-toned, gently crisp coffee. Rich aroma with semi-sweet chocolate, raisin, walnut, perhaps orange complication. In the cup, full though slightly rough body with a continued dry, semi-sweet chocolate character and hints of walnut and orangy raisin. Rich, simple, slightly heavy finish.

Sweet-toned aroma but rather quiet: raisin, dark chocolate, walnut, floral complication. In the small cup substantial body, smooth mouthfeel, salty-sweet, with continuing dark chocolate and walnut notes. Substantial presence in milk, though subdued and simple.

(Tested as roasted - rather dark - by Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee Company.) Very sweet-toned, gently roasty aroma, with peach-toned cedar and semi-sweet chocolate notes. Simplifies in the cup, but remains delicately sweet and balanced with continuing dry chocolate complication. Gently rich finish with the barest hint of astringency as the cup cools.

(Tested as roasted - rather dark - by the Swiss Water Decaffeinated Coffee.) Complex aroma: toast, banana-toned fruit, semi-sweet chocolate, perhaps a hint of tomato. In the small cup quite light-bodied though smooth in mouthfeel; very sweet, with a richly fruity character that continues to suggest banana and a prune-toned, semi-sweet chocolate, all of which carries elegantly into a rich finish. Rather lean and limited in milk, however; the chocolate and fruit notes are attractive but fail to bloom.

Sweet-toned, deep aroma with a tight-knit complexity: dried cherry, raisin, moist leaves. Almost syrupy sweet in the cup, with a slight roasty edge. The dried cherry and raisin-toned fruit take on a port-wine richness before settling toward chocolate in the richly bittersweet finish.

In the aroma sweet-toned, gently rich, with distinct cocoa, or perhaps carob, tones and hints of fresh-cut wood and vanilla. In the cup quite heavy in body. Bittersweet with continued low-key notes that read as a spicy, vegetal chocolate (cocoa or carob) with vanilla and floral top notes. The cocoa/carob notes persist in the long, sweetly pleasant finish. Very slight astringency.

Lovely, high-toned aroma: flowers, orange, fresh cedar. In the small cup medium in body, lightly syrupy in mouthfeel, and cleanly and richly lively: The cedar character moves forward and the orange takes on a slight chocolate cast. Rich finish with good flavor persistence. In milk delicate, straightforward, crisply sweet.