Top-Rated Coffees (94+ points)

Notes of tea rose, honey and orange in the aroma. Long, sustained flavors in the small cup, displaying a deeper, more complex variation of the aroma profile (including brandied fruit, flowers and chocolate) with the flavors persisting in the long, sweet-toned finish. Lean but smooth mouthfeel. Retains impressive complexity in two parts milk: lemon and flowers softly layered on deeper chocolate, nut and caramel tones.

Balanced, complete, yet wildly distinctive. Very sweet-toned aroma: table grape, spicy nut, flowers. All carry into the cup, where a crisp cocoa (dry, nut-toned chocolate) contributes complication and depth. Tart but softly fruit-toned acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Nut and cocoa in particular carry into the finish.

Deep, complex and layered. Night flowers, molasses, lemon, crisp cocoa in aroma and cup. Sweetly tart acidity, smooth, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Richly balanced, flavor-saturated finish.

Symphonically fruit-toned and shimmeringly bright. An “underlying crushed grape sweetness” (co-cupper Wendy De Jong, 94) supported an array of lemon and berry suggestions. Ken (94) found deepening hints of fresh-cut fir and dark chocolate as well. Forward but accessible acidity, silky mouthfeel, sweetly tart finish.

Evaluated as espresso. Savory-sweet, syrupy and deep in the small cup: cherryish fruit, dark chocolate, brandy, aromatic wood. Simplifies a bit but remains rich in two parts milk: Dark chocolate and aromatic wood dominate; the fruit rounds toward apricot.

Complex and balanced flavor and aroma: orange-toned citrus, cherry, cedary aromatic wood, a hint of baking spice. The acidity is extraordinary: deep, powerful yet roundly rich and sweet. The mouthfeel is full and syrupy, the finish long and fruit-saturated.

Evaluated as espresso. Opulent, complex and big-bodied. Night flowers and a pronounced brandy-like fruit dominate aroma and the small cup, with a crisp, drying hint of cedar. Plump, syrupy mouthfeel. Long, flavor-saturated finish. Two parts milk turns the brandied fruit toward a minty dark chocolate with a continuing floral complication.

Aroma and flavor are lush yet crisply authoritative. Tartly sweet notes of berry and lemon, white floral notes and a hint of milk chocolate in both aroma and cup. Buoyantly juicy acidity, syrupy mouthfeel, long, sweet finish with continued suggestions of berry and milk chocolate.

A juicy fruit-toned cup, combining notes of black currant and citrus with honey and butter. Intense, penetrating acidity, syrupy body and long lasting flavors. The fruit flavors continue into the finish, taking on a tartly-sweet quality.

An essay in refined acidity: balanced, tartly sweet, nuanced by ripe tomato and apricot. Further complications of nut and perhaps milk chocolate. Particularly impressive finish: sweet, long, saturated with apricot-toned fruit.

Round, sweet and balanced. Deeply complex, lasting notes of citrus, nut, caramel and baking spices. Refined acidity, silky mouthfeel and a finish that rounds toward a rich milk chocolate, making the whispers of astringency easy to overlook.

Juicy and sweet both in aroma and cup: pungent notes of citrus and cocoa with soft hints of lavender flowers and honey. Assertive but smooth acidity and a lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Clean finish: gentle cocoa character complicated by continuing fruit and floral hints.

In the aroma lemon, berry, and above all, delicate flowers - jasmine and lavender. In the cup crisp, floral-toned acidity, silky mouthfeel. The flowers and lemon deepen and turn richly pungent, sustaining into a long, deep finish.

Resonant, big-bodied, aromatically complex espresso. Dark chocolate, aromatic wood, and a lush, brandy-toned fruit in both aroma and small cup. The flavor softens in two parts milk, with the chocolate taking on a minty sweetness, but still maintains grown-up power and complexity.

Extraordinary dried-in-the-fruit profile. Lushly fruit-toned and brandyish, yet crisp with savory wood notes. Blueberry, cherry, brandy-nuanced dark chocolate, aromatic wood, night flowers in aroma and cup, carrying into the finish. A slight hint of salt in the finish as well, but the fruit-and-brandy sweetness rings on.

Intensely rich aroma: grapefruit, sweet-toned sandalwood and cedar. In the cup creamy body, penetratingly but gentle acidity, continued sweetly pungent fruit -- grapefruit, tart berry -- and aromatic wood. A juicy, flavor-saturated short finish turns crisply dry in the long.

Complex aromatically and in the cup: a bouquet of jasmine and honey suckle, lemon grass, round orange- and berry-tones. Softly balanced yet rich acidity and silky mouthfeel. Although the floral/fruit complex simplifies slightly in the finish, a milk chocolate-like sweetness emerges.

Evaluated as espresso. A complete, big-bodied straight shot. Caramel, toast, flowers and orange in the aroma. All carry into a cup further complicated with deeper suggestions of brandy and chocolate. Flavors linger in the finish, developing solid sweetness in the long. Flavor notes consolidate nicely in two parts milk: turning even sweeter but maintaining complexity.

Quietly complex aroma. Sweetly floral with layered suggestions of fruit: grapefruit, coconut, pineapple. In the cup balanced yet penetrating fruit-toned acidity and syrupy mouthfeel; stone fruit, citrus and black currant soften toward chocolate, carrying into a deep, sweet, rich finish.

Pure, intense aroma: flowers, orange, apricot, a hint of aromatic wood. In the cup big sweet-toned acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, continued floral and fruit notes that round toward blackberry and a nut-toned baker's chocolate. Flowers in particular carry into a sweet-toned, rich finish.