Quest for an Everyday Coffee: Macro-Lots

Intense, complex aroma: flowers, ripe lemon, lemon zest, with a rounding hint of stone fruit, apricot perhaps. Delicate, balanced acidity; lean but silky mouthfeel. The floral notes recede in the cup and a crisp, lemony cocoa develops, carrying into a sweet-toned finish.

Crisp, complex. Fresh-cut fir, cherryish fruit, ripe citrus, a hint of cocoaish chocolate in aroma and cup. Richly tart acidity; smooth, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Long, impressive finish, tart but sweet, alive with lemony cocoa nuance.

Tart, zesty, complex: lemon, fir, spicy tea rose, a hint of nut-toned cocoa in both aroma and cup. Sweet but tartly assertive acidity; light, leanish mouthfeel. Flavor rounds toward cocoa in a finish that some may find bracing and others too astringently drying.

Intense but rather simple aroma: faint suggestions of dusk flowers, fir, blackberry. Sweetly tart acidity; silky mouthfeel. In the cup aromatics lift and open: lemon, dusk flowers, hints of white wine and fresh pipe tobacco. Sweet, slightly astringent finish with good flavor persistence, particularly flowers.

Gently roasty in aroma and cup, with a chocolaty char complicated by a rich, tart lemon. Muted acidity, leanish mouthfeel. Surprisingly fine finish: clean, long, resonant with sweet cocoa and chocolate nuance.

Lemon zest and flowers in the aroma, softening in the cup to ripe lemon and nut-toned cocoa. Balanced, gently bright acidity; impressively silky mouthfeel. Flavor carries decisively into a mildly drying finish.

Gently and sweetly bright, delicately balanced. Milk chocolate and plum-like fruit with hints of vanilla and fresh leather in aroma and cup. Softly tart acidity; silky mouthfeel. Sweet though very slightly drying and astringent in the finish.

Roasted nut and a rich, pruny dark chocolate dominates in aroma and cup. Soft but resonant acidity, silky mouthfeel. Flavor fades a bit in the finish, but generally the cup sweetens and deepens as it cools, a good sign.

Roasted nut, fresh-cut fir and a brightening orangy citrus dominate in aroma and cup. Balanced, rather muted acidity, lean but silky mouthfeel. In the cup the nut notes turn toward chocolate and the fruit deepens. The chocolate tendencies in particular persist in a sweet, clean finish.

Impressive aroma: sweet-toned, deep, roundly roasty, with cedar, orange and smoky dark chocolate nuance. Quiet acidity. Medium-bodied with a slightly leanish mouthfeel. Simplifies a bit in the cup, but retains gently scorched cedar and backgrounded dark chocolate character, with a continued earthy, smoky hint. Simple but rich finish.

Attractive floral, nut, lemon and vanilla notes, but rather muted, especially in the aroma. Round, gentle acidity; unusually buttery mouthfeel. The nut note hints at chocolate in a sweet, rich finish.

Crisp, gently charred sweetness (think campfire marshmallow) in aroma and cup, with hints of dark chocolate, vanilla and a shimmer of bright, surprising lemon. Roast-muted acidity, light but silky mouthfeel. Some chocolaty sweetness persists to lighten a rather roast-heavy finish.

Complex dark-roast character in aroma and cup: deep, rich, dark chocolate with citrus top notes (lemon, grapefruit) and pungent, cedary midtones. The fine aromatics are partly betrayed by a rather leanish mouthfeel and finish.