Africa Reviews

Sweet and richly high-toned aroma: lemon, flowers, fresh-cut cedar, honey. Lushly bright acidity, medium body, silky mouthfeel. In the cup the lavish acidity registers first, followed by a softer impression of night flowers, lemon, and a cedar note that rounds toward cocoa. Extraordinarily long, resonant finish, deeply saturated with flavor.

Intensely floral aroma nuanced by suggestions of lemon, bergamot, and sweet herb. In the cup crisp acidity, light but silky mouthfeel, and continued vivid floral and lemon notes; the hints of herb soften. Very sweet, clean finish, with the flavor notes rounding toward a sort of floral chocolate.

Rich aroma: flowers, nut, a hint of citrus. In the cup crisply sweet acidity, silky mouthfeel, deep floral flavor complicated by pungent dry berry and grapefruit-like citrus. Pure finish: very sweet, very long.

Delicate, round and balanced. Sweet fruit and floral notes saturate aroma and flavor. In the cup the fruit nuances are so dense and complex they defy specific association, but they roll out with crisp voluptuousness into the long, sweet finish.

Pungent fruit and floral notes in cup and aroma: berry and black currant combine with flowers, citrus and a hint of butterscotch. The flavor notes linger well into the long finish, along with a pleasant dry sweetness.

Startlingly intense, sweet-toned notes of ripe lemon, baker's chocolate and night flowers runs through the profile aroma through finish. Roundly rich acidity, plush mouthfeel. The baker's chocolate sweetens toward a crisp bittersweet chocolate in the cup and finish.

Deep and penetrating floral aroma: orangy sweetness and blackberries. Gentle acidity, smooth mouthfeel, and an intense, flavor-saturated character in the cup: classic black currant notes mingle forcefully with the concentrated sweetness of dried berries and flowers. Long, intensely sweet finish with the flavor notes delicately lingering and softening toward a fruit-toned chocolate.

Intense aroma: round fruitiness suggesting black currant, mixed berries, lemon, toast, soft night flowers. Bright-toned acidity, medium body with a delicately syrupy mouthfeel and a particularly juicy tartness suggesting something like Satsuma oranges in syrup, together with continuing notes of flowers and berries, all lingering deeply into the finish.

Intensely aromatic yet finely balanced. The rich aroma is dominated by a pungent cedar sensation with backgrounded caramelly chocolate sweetness and a hint of flowers. The chocolaty fruit and night floral notes move lushly forward in the cup, persisting into the finish. Soft acidity, lightly syrupy mouthfeel.

Intense sweet-toned aroma, with complex citrus and floral character. The flowers turn distinctly toward jasmine in the cup, with a continued muted citrus and a hint of cocoaish chocolate. Bright, balanced acidity, medium body and a slightly lean mouthfeel. The quiet finish displays hints of toast and cocoa.

Rich, deep, balanced coffee with tight-knit complexity in aroma and cup: night flowers, orange, berry, raisin. Delicately bright acidity, medium body, simple but cleanly rich finish.

Delicately complex aroma of flowers, tangerine and honey. In the cup, smooth mouthfeel, balanced, richly floral-toned acidity, and elegant notes of orange, lemon and yes, more flowers. Finishes cleanly with the flavor nuances lingering softly.

Intense floral, honey and blueberry-like aroma. Delicate yet sustained flavors of night flowers, lemon, peach and strawberry, with a lightly syrupy mouthfeel and rounded acidity. Finishes cleanly, with hints of the sweet floral and fruit notes found in the cup softly lingering in the long.

Densely sweet aroma, with soft hints of stone fruit, citrus and flowers. Brightly balanced in the cup. Medium body. Tart lime notes in front fade and sweeten to floral, blackberry and pungent cedar. The cedar note combines with bitter-sweet chocolate in the long, gently astringent finish.

Intense honey-like aroma, redolent of flowers and blueberry. Delicate in the cup with a soft, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, balanced acidity and fresh flavors of ripe stone fruit, lemon, tangerine and more flowery honeyed sweetness. Finishes cleanly, developing a quiet sweet fruit-toned chocolate in the long.

Rich, complex fruit aroma, intensely sweet and full. Roundly balanced acidity, smooth body, with a hint of floral and fruit tones expanding in the cup: sweet citrus, berries, currants. A mildly astringent mouthfeel carries into the lightly bittersweet chocolate-toned finish.

Ken (93) favored this coffee considerably more than did co-cupper Jim Reynolds (89) despite the fact that both described it in similar terms. Ken was taken by floral qualities in aroma and cup, an essential sweetness, and what he called a complimentary "cocoaish dry fruit," doubtless the same sensation as Jim describes positively as "pungent" and "spicy and nutty." Both agreed that the acidity was gentle, though Ken scored it higher and described it as "crisp and sweet." Both found the mouthfeel attractively smooth and the finish long and flavor-saturated.

Rich, low-toned, deceptively simple coffee. Co-cupper Jim Reynolds (89) found it a quietly complete cup, though "somewhat shy" in acidity. Both Jim and Ken (90) wrestled with a very slight hint of what cuppers call "bagginess," a faint mildewed note that appears in coffees that have suffered exposure to too much moisture during shipment or storage. The coffee's essential richness and floral cocoa tendencies overcame this shadow note, however, allowing the underlying beauty of the coffee to resonate in cup and long, flavor-saturated finish.

Balanced, pungent character - "smoky and nutty" for co-cupper Jim Reynolds (89), "prune, nut, aromatic wood" for Ken (90) with rich floral hints. Smooth mouthfeel, round, rich finish.

A graceful floral-toned cocoa dominates. In the aroma very sweet-toned, buttery pungency, flowering grass, orangy citrus. In the cup, gentle, roast-muted acidity, silky mouthfeel, and the impressive floral-toned cocoa that persists into a rich finish.