Top-Rated Coffees (94+ points)
We found 2094 coffees and espressos that earned an outstanding score of 94 points or higher. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
Intensely sweet flavor and aroma dominated by flowers, apricot and tangerine. Soft, syrupy mouthfeel, bright-toned but balanced acidity and a remarkably rich, brandy-toned flavor. Crisp finish with sweet stone fruit notes lingering in the long.
"An absolutely mind-blowing coffee" for co-cupper Andy Newbom (93). "Utterly pure yet soaringly intense," for Ken (97). "Say fruit ten times," Andy reports, and then he does, mainly variations of grapefruit, apricot and melon with green apple and Bartlett pear thrown in for the finish. For Ken that entire nuance is wrapped up in the extraordinary, singular explosion of cedary, pungently sweet berry, the quintessential Bourbon character. The acidity is enveloped in sweetness; in Andy's colorful language it "startles and snuggles all at once." For mouthfeel Andy suggests "crème fraîche Meyer lemon chiffon"; Ken sticks with a pedestrian "syrupy." Ken awarded a perfect 10 to the long, balanced, deeply flavor-saturated finish.
Clean, complex, impeccable. Exhilaratingly dominated by crisp, nut-toned dry berry (blackberry, ripe black currant) in aroma and cup. Lush, lightly wine-toned acidity; medium body; syrupy mouthfeel. The underlying sweetness in the cup carries into the long, flavor-permeated finish.
Co-cupper Jim Reynolds (95): "This coffee scored well in every category. I especially liked the floral acidity - a nice vanilla and chocolate aspect to the flavor complemented the smooth - very smooth - mouthfeel." Ken's praise (94) was nearly identical, though he added "spicy fruit" and a hint of lemon to his descriptors. Impressive flavor persistence in a long, rich finish.
Co-taster Byron Holcomb (94): "On the nose, I got inviting, complex floral and strawberry notes. The body was vivacious - I could have said round, sweet, with a little savory edge, comforting, but vivacious will do." Both Ken (94) and Byron found chocolate and malt in the flavor, with an assortment of additional descriptors that testify to the complexity of this blend: "cedar, butter" (Ken), "lemon bar, spice" (Byron). Both were impressed by the big, sweet, chocolaty bloom in milk, which Byron found was complicated by a continued, brightening hint of lemon zest. It appears that a very controlled, judicious use of cleanly fruity-fermented dry-processed coffees contributed to the round, sweet, complex richness of this versatile blend.
Grandly fruity and sweetly fermented profile: port wine, raisiny dark chocolate, night flowers, blueberry, all carry with giddy intensity from aroma through cup to the long finish. Wine-like acidity, syrupy body, deep sweetness.
Sweet fruit-punch aroma with notes of butter, flowers, wine and cedar. Lush fruit-toned acidity, silky body and complex flavors of guava nectar, honey, vanilla, berries and cherry-like chocolate. Fruit-saturated finish, with flavor hints outlasting a very slight astringency.
Dry berry notes (the famous Kenya "black currant"), lemon, dusk flowers and a hint of dark chocolate open in the intense aroma and carry with pungent authority into the cup. Balanced acidity, supple mouthfeel, deep, flavor-saturated finish.
Intense, crisp, molassy sweet aroma: coffee cherry, aromatic wood, dusk flowers. In the cup soft but powerful acidity with a wine, or perhaps better, apple cider nuance. Delicate, silky mouthfeel, very sweet, continued coffee cherry, molasses, nut, aromatic wood, a hint of dusk flowers, all of which suggest at moments the most subtle milk chocolate imaginable. Smooth, clean, lightly flavor-saturated finish.
A fresh, buoyant sweetness carries through the profile like a spring reverie. In the aroma: cherryish fruit, flowers, nut, a hint of honey. In the cup tartly rich acidity, syrupy mouthfeel. In the cup flowers and a perfectly ripe but pungently crisp fruit with a hint of lemon. Rich finish.
An intensely complex aroma: flowers, lemon, plum, pungent fresh-cut pine, toast. Fruit tones persist in the sweet acidity and delicately juicy mouthfeel. Balanced, rounded flavor: orangy sweetness to heady flowers to gentle chocolate notes. Finishes cleanly, with mild citrus notes that sweeten in the long.
Flowers, molasses, cocoa, sweet flowering grass in the aroma. Rich, tartly sweet acidity, silky mouthfeel, crisp yet lush flavor: dusk flowers, cocoa, molasses, dried black currant, raisin. Cleanly rich, raisin- and black-currant-saturated finish.
Lemon, apple, moist fallen leaves in aroma and cup, supported by a sweet pungency that suggests fresh-cut cedar or butterscotch. Round, full mouthfeel, quiet acidity, long, resonant finish.
Intense aroma: sweet cherry and blueberry notes ride a pungent, fresh-cut cedar. In the cup the berry and cedar notes turn toward red wine and crisp cocoa. Sweet, rich, cocoa- and berry-saturated finish.
Lavishly sweet and deeply pungent aroma. Grapefruit, cherry, moist leaf notes carry from aroma to cup to finish. Richly resonant acidity, dense body and a continued great sweetness and intense pungency in the cup. The finish is very slightly astringent but resonantly flavor saturated.
Complex aroma: distinct strawberry and table grape notes; hints of nut and cocoa. In the cup well-integrated acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, and extraordinary flavor: wine-like and grapy but fresh; think nouveau Beaujolais, supported by ripe strawberry and cocoa. Long, sweet, cleanly grape- and strawberry-toned finish. Only a very, very slight salty unevenness in the cups discouraged an even higher rating for this striking coffee.
Big, enveloping aroma: flowers, honey, strawberry-toned fruit, with a deepening hint of molasses and nut. Gently bright acidity, delicately smooth mouthfeel, lemon, cocoa, floral, distinct strawberry notes. Long, sweet, flavor-saturated finish; the subtle strawberry note in particular persists.
A pungent but sweet fruit character, subtle but striking, carries from aroma to finish, suggesting at various moments black currant, grapefruit, fresh-cut fir, butter, raisin, perhaps something one could call butterscotch. Very rich, sweetly clean, long finish.
Sweet-toned, crisply balanced aroma: milk chocolate, cherryish fruit, a hint of freshly tanned leather. In the cup silky mouthfeel, bright acidity, distinct cocoa, orange and berry notes, dry yet lush. The flavor notes carry with depth, elegance and great persistence from short finish through long.
Richly and sweetly bright aroma with aromatic wood, peach-toned fruit and cocoa notes. In the cup quietly acidy, elegantly crisply sweet, deeply floral, with distinct peach-toned fruit and hints of cocoaish chocolate that carry into a long, flavor-glistening finish.
