Africa Reviews

No hints here: The aromatics are direct, inescapable, lavish. Lushly intense blueberry, chocolate, and floral-toned honey in the aroma. In the cup the incendiary aromatics are influenced by a wine-like acidity that turns the berry and chocolate notes crisp and richly dry. The fundamental berry and floral notes linger with surprising clarity in the finish, although they are outlasted by a slight but forgivable astringency.

In the aroma delicately complex: berries, flowers, sweet lemon, honey. In the cup opulent: syrupy mouthfeel, sweet acidity, crisply powerful berry notes, continued hints of honey and flowers. Only a rich but simple finish prevents this coffee from rating in the high 90s.

Sweet-toned, soft aroma with flickers of flowers, chocolate and pear-like temperate fruit. In the cup quietly acidy, with a richly syrupy mouthfeel and a round, balanced structure. Continued flowers, chocolate and fruit, though in the cup the fruit is more honeyish date than pear. Simple, rich finish.

The dry, crisply pungent berry character we call black currant gently dominates throughout the profile. In the aroma it takes on a light-red-wine-like character, while in the cup it is enveloped in a quiet background sweetness. Soft acidity, delicate body, simple finish.

Dominated throughout the profile by crisp, complex dry berry notes (think blackberries and cedar) with deep, sweet undercurrents of honey and chocolate that emerge with particular clarity as the cup cools. The tart berry notes also carry suggestions of dry, light-bodied red table wines.

Very sweet throughout the profile. Nut and semi-sweet chocolate notes in the aroma. In the cup tart coffee fruit notes make a distinct and delicate lean toward chocolate. The tart cherry tones persist in the sweet short finish, fading toward astringency in the long.

Gentle, balanced, agreeably simple aroma, with distinct floral notes and a hint of milk chocolate. The floral tones carry into a soft, sweet cup with orange and a spice note that could qualify as cinnamon. Flattens a bit in the finish but remains sweet.

Low-toned and nut-like aroma with a hint of chocolate. In the cup round, simple but resonant, with fruit that carries hints of chocolate, red wine, orange perhaps. Rich and sweet in the short finish, a bit heavy in the long.

(As brewed in a Keurig B60 single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6-ounce and 8-ounce serving sizes): Distinguished by a sweet, gently tart fruit note in aroma and cup that reads as a sort of crisp orange- and chocolate-toned blackberry - or call it "black currant," a term for this flavor note in vogue among coffee describers. Whatever we call it, it is a precious and agreeable sensation. The body is medium and the mouthfeel silky at a 6-ounce serving, slightly thinnish and lean at 8. Rich finish with good flavor persistence and excellent stability as the cup cools.

Sweet, rich, deep, pungently juicy aroma: cedar, oranges, banana, a hint of flowers. In the cup lean-bodied with a brightly pungent acidity, intensified floral notes, and a cocoa-chocolate cast to the fruit. The slightly dominating acidity softens in the finish, allowing the juicy orange and banana notes to bloom in a long, complex finale.

Intense, complex, yet balanced aroma: chocolate, caramel, cedar, flowers, tomato. In the cup the acidity is powerful but juicily sweet, the flavor alive with shifting hints of flowers, citrus and wine. Long, gently astringent finish.

A coffee at once voluptuous and austere. Delicately complex aroma: flowers, chocolate, tobacco leaf, lemon grass. In the cup an amazingly rich, wine-like acidity, sweet flowers, and a gently crisp, dry berry fruit. Hints of chocolate re-emerge in the cleanly long, almost perfect finish.

Vividly lively yet elegantly smooth coffee. Intense aroma with tart cherry and round, low-acid fruit notes, banana perhaps, with hints of fresh leather. In the cup sweet, lyric acidity, light but silky mouthfeel, cherry and cocoa notes. Rich, sweet, deeply long finish.

An intense coffee dominated from aroma through finish by a rich, tartly sweet acidity and high-toned lemon and dry berry notes. The finish, like the entire profile, is as deeply sweet as it is uncompromisingly dry.

Pungent but sweet throughout the profile. In the aroma caramel, fruit-toned, slightly smoky cedar, orange. In the cup the pungent, smoky fruit notes read as a tartly sweet grapefruit, perhaps dry berry, with continuing undercurrents of caramel sweetness. Distinct orange notes resurface in the rich finish.

Intense, lyrically sweet coffee: honey, flowers and the pure notes of coffee fruit carry from aroma to cup; the acidity is tart but caramelly, even buttery. Impeccably clean, delicately rich finish.

Powerful, sweet-toned aroma: cherry, honey, tea-rose, milk chocolate, with a very mild ferment that reads as delicate Riesling-like wine. In the cup the honey and rose-like floral notes persist lushly, with the fruit notes turning from dark cherry to a tarter coffee fruit. The felicitous ferment deepens, reading more as brandy than wine. The finish is rich and deep, with an attractive persistence of flower, cherry and honey, but is weighed by the astringent heaviness usual with even the best of this style of dry-processed coffee.

Delicately fruity aroma, sweet cherry with a hint of chocolate. In the cup sweet, rich, surprisingly full-bodied, with a dry, wine-toned black currant fruit and a slight burned undercurrent. Sweetly rich short finish, but a hint of burned astringency shadows the long. This was the highest rated of three Starbucks coffees nominated and reviewed for this article.

Elegantly high-toned aroma: lemon, peach, berry, a delicate hint of walnut. In the cup medium in body but silky in mouthfeel, with crisply sweet, delicately acidy dry berry and Meyer lemon notes. The finish hovers on the edge of astringency but stays on the rich, bracing side of the sensation.

The aroma is sweet-toned and intense: cedar, semi-sweet chocolate, raisins. In the cup, dry, spicy berry, grapefruit, Bordeaux-like wine notes. The flavor notes persist in the slightly but pleasantly astringent finish.