LATEST REVIEWS

A superb, versatile blend. The aroma is deep with chocolate and tropical fruit tones (banana?), the mouthfeel buttery and the body full, the small cup sweetly cedar toned with a lush, very slightly fermented fruit that reads as a rich raisin- and floral-toned chocolate. The finish is resonant and long with a low-key, pleasantly bracing astringency. In milk the shot rounds and sweetens without losing identity or authority.

Deep, sweetly pungent aroma with echoes of apricot or papaya. The mouthfeel is a bit rough but pleasantly so. The small cup is rich and sweet with a tightly-knit, deeply fruity complexity complicated by hints of cedar and toast. The sweet richness persists from short through long finish. Impressive range of sensation in milk: crisply sweet yet lushly chocolate.

Superb front end to this blend: velvety crema, the aroma deep but delicately and crisply chocolate- and vanilla-toned. In the small cup the body is full, the flavor caramelly and crisp but slightly salty and a bit shallow. Blooms with discreet elegance in milk, complicated by a dry but opulent chocolate.

Delicate aroma, sweet with milk chocolate innuendo. In the small cup medium in body, smooth in mouthfeel, cedar-toned and gently bittersweet in flavor with a lean toward chocolate. Rich finish with a continuing shimmer of chocolate. Relaxes but doesn't quite bloom in milk; remains balanced and reticent with understated complications: fresh leather, cedar, raisiny chocolate.

Chocolate and toast show in the rather subdued aroma. In the small cup the body is medium and the mouthfeel slightly lean, with a simple but attractive pungent/sweet character complicated by a cocoa or dry chocolate. Rich, semi-sweet chocolate finish. In milk balanced and crisply sweet, with the chocolate retaining its dry authority.

Deep, gently pungent aroma resonating with chocolate and low-acid tropical fruit notes. In the small cup the body is full, the mouthfeel a touch rough, the flavor slightly sharp and roasty with cedar and a hint of chocolate. The finish is rich and mildly astringent. Milk softens and sweetens the profile, nicely developing the implicit chocolate and fruit, though never completely plumping out the mouthfeel.

Deep, chocolate-toned aroma. In the small cup medium to full in body, in flavor sweetly cedar-toned with dry chocolate and apricot complication. The short finish is rich, the long fades toward astringency. Rounds nicely in milk, displaying a fine balance of crisp cedar and chocolate-toned fruit.

A rather aggressively roasted espresso. Delicate floral and fruit notes complicate an aroma that is toasty and almost burned. In the small cup medium to full body, creamy mouthfeel, and a flavor dominated by a gentle but slightly sharp bittersweetness. The complicating fruit notes are a bit too dry to read as chocolate. Sweetens and rounds in milk but never quite blooms.

Delicate but attractive aroma complicated by chocolate and low-acid tropical fruit notes. In the small cup medium body and a rather lean mouthfeel. The flavor is simple, cedar-toned, pungent-sweet, with a hint of semi-sweet chocolate. Rich in the short finish, a bit heavy in the long. In milk rather delicate, sweet-cedar-toned with a continuing hint of chocolate.

A pleasant but rather predictable American-style espresso blend. Subdued chocolate and fruit in the aroma, medium body with a somewhat lean mouthfeel, smoky and pungently cedar-toned flavor with a little shimmer of dry cocoa. Softens and sweetens in milk to a cedarish chocolate with a hint of fresh leather.

Subdued cedar and prune in the aroma. In the small cup medium body and lean mouthfeel. In flavor slightly smoky, slightly sharp, cedar-toned and rather shallow, with a suggestion of fruit and semi (very semi)-sweet chocolate. Shortish and rather astringent finish. Sweetens and rounds in milk, with some fruity chocolate softening the cedar and smoke.

Intense, high-toned aroma, complex but tightly knit: lemon, dry berry, flowers (tea rose?), milk chocolate. The acidity is powerful but roundly balanced, the body surprisingly full, the flavor explosive: rose water, sweet pipe tobacco, chocolate, all enveloped in a lemony richness. Lemon and chocolate notes carry into the finish, where they soften and enliven a slight astringency.

Rich, deeply fruity papaya-toned chocolate in the aroma. In the small cup the body is medium in weight but smooth and balanced in mouthfeel; the flavor crisp but resonant, with a tightly knit complexity: wine, chocolate, cedar, perhaps pear. The finish is heavy but smooth and rich, with a recollection of chocolate. Sweetens and blooms in milk without losing its crisp elegance: fresh leather, pear, mint, cherry-toned chocolate.

In the aroma this relatively light-roasted coffee is caramelly but smoky, with cherry and sweet pipe tobacco notes. In the cup it is delicate yet robust and very sweet, with a smoothly rich acidity, heavy body, and a giddy complexity anchored around wine and cherry tones with hints of smoke and milk chocolate. The finish is clean, long and sweet.

Everything explodes near the top of the profile in this intensely fragrant coffee. The aroma is rich with floral, sweet lemon and lush chocolate notes. Exhilarating floral tones dominate the cup, but to simply call them floral understates their complexity: This is a whole symphonic garden of flowers. The body is light but the impression and mouthfeel delicate and buoyant. Only the very slightest astringency in the finish mars this exceptional coffee.

A tribute to the upside of slightly fermented fruit tones in coffee. Sweet and completely free of bitterness or saltiness, the ferment comes across as sweetly orange-toned in the aroma with a crisp hint of cedar, in the cup as a lushly ripe papaya- and peach-toned fruitiness that leans toward chocolate but never quite surrenders its tropical juiciness.

Low-toned fruit (peach?), semi-sweet chocolate and fresh-cut cedar notes in the aroma. The cup is delicate but lush, enlivened by a softly tart acidity and complicated by continued fruit (cherry, peach) and semi-sweet chocolate notes. The finish is simple but sweetly clean.

A low-toned but deceptively lyric coffee. Rich in both aroma and cup: in aroma pear, caramel, and hints of flowers and cinnamon; in cup caramel, yellow fruit (peach?) and chocolate with hints of flowers and dry berry. The finish is agreeably chocolate-toned, particularly as the cup cools, although slightly heavy.

A changeable coffee both as it cools and from session to session. Constants are a crisp coffee fruit that probably best reads as pear or cherry, a smoky, spicy chocolate sensation, and distinct floral notes that at times resemble an elegant, heady lilac. The finish tends to be heavy, but as the cup cools the long finish is finely floral.

A simple but refreshing coffee: rather high-toned, delicate in body, gently acidy, with coffee fruit that reads as cherry with a sweet-pipe-tobacco twist. The finish is rich, clean, and surprisingly long.