Coffee Review is an online publication that reviews coffees and comments on them in formally written tasting reports and informal blogs. Kenneth Davids and Ron Walters founded Coffee Review in 1997. Today it hosts over one million unique visitors per year. All of Coffee Review’s past seventeen years of reviews, tasting reports and blogs are archived and available on the site. Coffee Review
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The 100-Point Rating Paradox
This is a revision of an article first published by Coffee Review editor Kenneth Davids in Roast Magazine in 2010. We offer it here as a considered overview from Ken on 100-point ratings systems for coffee and on the problematics and philosophy of coffee evaluation. In 1997, Coffee Review started reviewing coffees for consumers and the trade using a 100-point scale. Such ratings were widely in
One Million Readers Strong
When Coffee Review launched the world’s first-ever 100-point coffee ratings in February 1997, we posted them on the Internet, a novel idea at the time. We didn't bother emailing a newsletter because, well, most of our potential readers didn't have email addresses. To make sure a least a handful of people read those early tasting reports and reviews, we printed and mailed paper copies to a hundred
Category Rankings
Over the past couple years, Coffee Review's annual “Top 30” ranking of the year's most noteworthy coffees has attracted considerable attention. As many readers have noted, our rankings tended to favor high-scoring coffees produced from botanical varieties of Arabica with striking sensory properties: coffees of the Gesha/Geisha variety, coffees from the distinctive traditional Ethiopian varieties,
Holiday Coffees 2015
Both from the practical goal of generating gift ideas for coffee aficionados and from the wonkier goal of understanding current trends in high-end coffee, this month’s sampling of thirty-five holiday coffees appears productive. The only criterion we imposed on the coffees we reviewed was availability: We asked that they be on sale throughout the holidays. But the larger expectation was, of course,
Best Value Coffees in Top 30
Our list of the Top 30 coffees of the year recognizes the skill and hard work of the growers and roasters who produce these fine coffees. However, as a consumer, it's only an academic exercise unless you can actually buy and enjoy the coffees on the list. And, the coffees on the list are often expensive, at least compared to ordinary everyday coffees. Enjoy this list of the best value coffees in
Fair Trade Certified Coffees
Consumers who prefer to buy coffees that promise to reconcile pleasure with generosity toward the people and environment responsible for that pleasure, and who want to feel some solid confirmation regarding the generosity part, should find useful recommendations among the ten coffees reviewed this month. Nine of the ten are Fair Trade Certified, meaning that, according to the certifier, Fair Trade
Crimson Cup, Propeller Named Roasters of the Year
Crimson Cup Coffee and Propeller Coffee Co. were awarded Roaster of the Year honors by Roast magazine, an industry publication for coffee roasters. According to Roast, Roaster of the Year awards "recognize companies that roast coffees of superior quality, exemplify a dedication to sustainability, promote employee and community education, and demonstrate a strong commitment to the coffee
Traditional Coffees of Central America: Quest for the Classic
We’ve seen two conflicting, yet overlapping, trends at the growing end of specialty coffee over the past decade. On one hand, greater and greater homogeneity. Traditional coffee tree varieties, varieties that may not taste unique, but do taste subtly different, are being replaced by disease-resistant, higher-yielding varieties that incorporate robusta genes and, well, usually don’t taste different
Coffees of Kenya 2015: Still Great, Still Kenya
One thing that can be said about this month’s survey of 32 Kenya coffees from 26 specialty roasters is that the good samples — and there were many — were not just exceptional, but exceptional in a thoroughly Kenyan way. In fact, the 23 Kenya samples that rated 90 or better often provoked rather repetitive key descriptors: deep, pungent, sweetly tart; black currant, dark chocolate, various citrus
Decafs 2015: The Splendid, The Strange, The Listless
Some observations about decaffeinated coffees prompted by this month’s modest sampling of decafs from twelve American specialty roasters. Observation one: Most decaffeinated coffees continue to be bad, in some cases close to foul. Not only are the sensory profiles flattened and simplified by the brutality of the decaffeination process, but this process often adds mysterious flavor notes to the
Blends 2015: Quietly Agreeable with Some Fireworks
Blends (particularly those designed for regular brewed coffee) have been out of fashion at the top end of in American specialty coffee for some time now – say for the last ten to fifteen years. The excitement has been focused on “single-origin” coffees, meaning coffees from a single growing region (the broadest definition), or (a more rigorous definition) from a single farm or co-op, or (most
Americans Spending More on Coffee
A recent report by Reuters drew attention to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report that the consumption of coffee in 2015/16 will decrease over current levels. According to the report, U.S. coffee consumption will drop by about 1 percent. The United States is the only country among the top eight coffee-consuming nations that will show a decrease. Overall, consumption is forecast to grow by
New Starbucks Reserve Coffees
For the past ten years or so smaller, hipper, more nimble roasting companies have dominated the coffee conversation in America, outflanking Starbucks in roast style (lighter than Starbucks), freshness (roast-dated packaging), coffee selection (precisely identified seasonal small lots), brewing (by the cup, often by hand), and even design sensibility (usually blunt, simple and utilitarian, often
Open Source Espresso Blends
With this espresso tasting we focus on what appears to be a new trend in espresso blending – the open disclosure to customer and competitor of the identity of the specific green coffees that compose a blend, as opposed to the deliberate secrecy around blending that has prevailed in the coffee industry for decades. The old approach to blending implied secret mastery of arcane coffee knowledge that
Elegant Earth: Wet-Hulled Sumatras and One Sulawesi
Wet-hulling is not an obscure Olympics sailing event nor (at least to my knowledge) a special trick in waterskiing or wakeboarding. It is a fruit removal and drying variation that contributes much of the distinct character of traditional Indonesia coffees, particularly those from Sumatra and Sulawesi. It is also practiced on other Indonesian islands, almost everywhere in Indonesia where small
What’s In a Name?
It would come as no surprise to industry professionals or even your average coffee lover that specialty coffees have become, well, more specialized over the years. Nowadays, coffees are segmented and differentiated by every conceivable measure: by country of origin, farm, varietal, crop year, processing method, micro-lot, altitude, roast, blend... you name it. That's a good thing. It's a sign
The Everyday Exceptional: Macro-Lots 2015
Coffees that attract a high rating on Coffee Review are often produced from very small, or “micro” lots of green coffee, specially selected for quality and distinctiveness, precisely described in regard to botanical variety and other details, and not likely to be available for more than a couple of months before they’re sold out. And usually (though not always) they cost considerably more than
K-Cups and Other Cups: Capsule Single-Serve Coffees
When Coffee Review last visited the single-serve filter-coffee capsule scene in 2013, smaller, high-end roasting companies were eyeing the soaring popularity of Keurig K-Cups with some apprehension and, in a few cases, with interest: Hey, maybe I can get in on the action once the patents start lapsing. However, based on what we encountered during this month’s tasting, it seems that most higher-end
Top 30 Coffees of 2014
We are pleased to present our Top 30 Coffees of 2014, Coffee Review’s second annual ranking of the most noteworthy coffees we reviewed over the past year. We selected and ranked these exceptional coffees and espressos based on quality (represented by overall rating), value (reflected by most affordable price per pound), and consideration of other factors that include distinctiveness of style,
