Africa Reviews

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 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.

Sweetly high-toned and delicate, this melodic coffee makes up in nuanced top notes what it may lack in force. The exquisite aroma is complexly and sweetly citrusy - Meyer lemon, pink grapefruit - with a shimmer of roses. The sweet citrus notes carry into the cup, joined by crisp dry berry and black currant.

The roast takes equal place with the coffee in the success of this darker roasted Yirgacheffe, proving, in co-cupper Christy Thorns' (91) words, "the amazing roasting range that a fine Ethiopian coffee can withstand." Christy finds "stone fruit, licorice, black pepper, citrus, rose petal and lavender" in the aroma and cup. Ken (90) also admired the rich floral and sweet citrus character.

Ken (91) admired this coffee a bit more than co-cupper Christy Thorns (88), who praised its "gentle grapefruit-like acidity and a nicely rounded, sweet and berry finish" but didn't carry on about it much. For his part, Ken particularly admired this coffee's citrus-toned acidity, which he found sweet, rounded, and "profoundly rich and cleanly and elegantly wine-like."

Although co-cupper Christy Thorns (87) felt the Ethiopia citrus and floral notes turned "somewhat passive" under the impact of the roast, she praised the "complex aromatics of ginger, clove and toasted grain" and a spicy finish. Ken also found spice notes also in the aroma (black pepper, clove), but particularly admired the cup for its round mouthfeel and "juicy and sweet but vegetal" character, "a bit like biting into a ripe plum and tasting the skin and the flesh at the same time." What we can take away from all of this is a coffee with less floral and citrus character than a classic wet-processed Ethiopia, but with more spice and tingle.

This coffee displayed a very slight "old crop" (faded, musty-mildew) character that caused co-cupper Christy Thorns to drop her score to 86. Ken (90) felt this shadow defect hardly mattered, however, given the cup's "almost effervescent delicacy, with tickles of sweet cocoa, pipe-tobacco and caramel." Christy offered a similar reading of the cup, but with less enthusiasm: "Although a hint of mustiness somewhat masks the sweetness of the cup, tobacco, cedar and black pepper give this coffee some charm."

Chocolate and delicately intense lemon notes carry decisively from aroma through cup to finish. The cup is integrated and harmonious, with a softly sweet acidity and a slight herby twist to the lemon.

Dry fragrance: lemon, flowers and freshly laundered linen. In the hot aroma dark molasses and licorice on the pour, rich ripe fruit and milk chocolate in the break. While the floral, citrus and deep-red fruit notes remain intact from first sip through last (a neat trick in such a dark roast) these flavors assemble themselves differently with each taste as the cup cools. Complex and beautifully structured cup (Lindsey Bolger).

Minty and fresh tobacco notes in the dry fragrance. In the hot aroma dry fruit notes of prune and wisps of spicy sweet chocolate. In the cup the dark roasting amplifies body, but mutes many of the attributes specific to this elegant origin. For me this coffee ultimately suggested a lovely old-master painting, sparkling with jewel-toned detail that centuries of darkened varnish have dulled. Nevertheless, it displays the depth and intensity of a well-crafted and classic French roast. (Lindsey Bolger)

Bright but sweet, lyrically and complexly high-toned. Lemon, cherry, black currant in the aroma. In the cup cherry, tart berries, sweet grapefruit, even a rounding hint of milk chocolate.

Sweetly lyric with delicate but lushly complex high notes in the aroma. The softly lyric character carries into the cup, where the indeterminate aromatic complexity gives way to dramatic floral high notes and Meyer lemon and chocolate midtones.

Simultaneously intensely acidy and extravagantly sweet, medium-bodied, with a whole basket of fruit tones: apricot, dry cherry, sweet lemon, a tiny whiff of chocolate, all lush, crisply rich, complex.

Superb aroma: sweet, balanced, intense, with deep dimension and a grand range of nuance, ranging from floral top notes to mid-tones of papaya and perhaps pear. In the cup an explosive entry, with intense, almost contradictory impressions of sweetness, bitterness, acidity and distinct floral and cherry-toned fruit. This amazing cup hardens a bit toward the finish, although the finish itself is smoothly rich and floral.

Very sweet and round in both nose and cup, nuanced by a voluptuous fruity chocolate. This low-toned fruit may reveal a slight ferment that most palates will read as a complicating note to the chocolate.

Richly melodic coffee in which wine and apple notes carry from aroma through cup to finish. A tactful dark roast preserves a shimmer of acidity in the cup while contributing a slight herbal twist to the dominating apple-cider-like notes.