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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.
A showcase for the intense, sweetly tart sensation coffee people call acidity. The acidity is nuanced by tomato and orange notes in the aroma, softening toward chocolate and cedar in the cup. The acidity leaves a rich astringency behind in the short finish, but delicate orange notes outlast it in the long.
A very sweet, gently rich coffee. Spicy, perhaps slightly musty notes in the aroma lean toward a cocoaish, cedar-toned chocolate in a cup that grows more nuanced and quietly complex as it cools.
Resonant, tightly-knit, complex aroma: chocolate, cedar, leather, vanilla, raisin. In the cup delicately acidy and gently opulent: honey, vanilla, flowers. A quiet cup that rewards patience.
Delicate, rather subdued aroma: milk chocolate, caramel, the sweeter sort of grapefruit. In the cup the caramel leans more decisively toward chocolate, with some delicate, attractive floral top notes. Slight astringency in the finish.
A coffee that displays the more pungent side of the Yirgacheffe profile. Distinct ginger-snap notes in the aroma with suggestions of rosemary and pine. Sweeter in the cup, dominated by lemon and ginger-snap. The pine and Mediterranean herb notes resurface in the long finish.
Sweet, quite smoky aroma, with floral top notes and suggestions of temperate fruit, pear perhaps. In the cup low-toned, smoky, sweet but salty, with chocolate undertones and continued hints of pear. The smoky tones carry into the finish.
Complex, smoky/toasty aroma with chocolate and vanilla suggestions. Medium body with a roundly smooth mouthfeel. Crisply elegant in the small cup: apricot and semi-sweet chocolate. Rich, chocolate-toned short finish, slight astringency in the long, but the chocolate well outlasts it. Superb in milk: good presence, sweet, with distinct milk chocolate and vanilla tones and a long, (once more) chocolate-toned finish.
A lush and coherent cup. Caramel and chocolate in the aroma. The caramel sweetness deepens in the cup, complicated by a wine- or apple-cider-toned fruit and continued hints of chocolate. Full, round mouthfeel.
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.
Dominated by a low-toned but richly intense fruit complex that in the aroma clearly and pleasurably reads as semi-sweet chocolate. In the cup turns toward something less chocolate and more cherry perhaps, with a little pungent lean toward Mediterranean herbs. Full-bodied and deeply dimensioned throughout.
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.
Lively aroma, with fresh-cut cedar and cherry-chocolate notes. In the cup simple but deeply resonant, with hints of flowers, chocolate and cherry-leaning fruit shimmering through the gentle roastiness.
A light-bodied, sweetly crisp coffee. Suggestions of leather, spice and a dry, fruity chocolate in the aroma. Melodic in the cup, with sweet citrus top notes and a hint of chocolate balanced by a slight tart sharpness.
Pungent and smoky throughout the profile, with some suggestions of semi-sweet chocolate, cedar and rosemary. In the cup the mouthfeel is lightly and pleasantly astringent, bracing rather than bitter or heavy.
A very heavy-bodied coffee, roasty but not burned, low-toned to the point of bluntness, with pungent cedar notes that approach semi-sweet chocolate and a hint of Mediterranean herb.
The aroma is rather flat, though complicated by an interesting walnut- or maple-toned caramel character, perhaps with a hint of anise. The maple-nut-caramel character carries into the simple but balanced cup.
A profile so delicate it has difficulty asserting itself. Gentle and lyric in the aroma, with sweet nut and a cherryish fruit that carry into the cup but remain subdued and without authority, a charming but distant warble in the woods.
A simple but very balanced, sturdy dark roast. The aroma is intense and roasty with sweet cedar notes and perhaps little flickers of chocolate and caramel. Less nuance in the cup, but roundly and richly bittersweet without a trace of burned notes and perhaps some cedar-toned fruit. Clean, complex short finish with only a hint of astringency in the long.
Intense, cleanly bittersweet ultra-dark roast with complex, attractive fruit notes: cherry, pear and pipe tobacco in the aroma, with the cherry-toned pipe tobacco turning toward semi-sweet chocolate in the cup. Sweet and rich in the short finish, but rather heavily astringent in the long.
Balanced, muted aroma with orange notes and a hint of milk chocolate. In the cup sweet, rather rich, balanced. Not much nuance, a hint of bittersweet chocolate perhaps. Pleasantly rich and sweet in the short finish; maintains sweetness in the long with little astringency.
