Blend Reviews

For both Ken (81) and co-taster Ted Lingle (79) the aroma was muted and burned. Ted found the body in the small cup light; Ken (81) found it fuller but rough in mouthfeel. Nor did Ken or Ted have much positive to say about flavor: pungent and rough for Ted, burned and sharp for Ken. In milk pleasantly sweet but thin-bodied for Ted; Ken was more positive here, finding that the milk smoothed out the sharply roasty character of the coffee, turning it toward a pleasing fresh leather and a clove-toned spice. The reader who nominated this blend found it "exceptional, that's all."

Ken and co-taster Ted Lingle ended with comparable overall ratings (Ken 85, Ted 86) but differed in how they got there. Ted found the aroma a bit flat; Ken found it delicate, with toast, apple and floral notes. Ted found the body fuller and the mouthfeel more substantial than Ken did. Both found the flavor in the small cup toasty/smoky and a bit sharp in the finish. Both admired the way the blend rounded and sweetened in milk. Nominating reader Robert Bobbs praised this blend as "perfectly balanced ... big body, slightly sweet, not too much acidity but enough to enliven the cup; holds up well in big milky drinks but is fantastic as a straight shot."

Once past the aroma, co-taster Ted Lingle (79) had little positive to say about this blend, finding it lean in body, rather burned/bitter in flavor, and weak in presence in milk. Ken (84) also found the mouthfeel too lean and the finish too astringent, but enjoyed the berry-like, chocolate-leaning fruit that carried through the profile from aroma to milk. The reader who nominated this blend said he wanted "to see if this espresso is everything it is claimed it is."

Sweet, quite smoky aroma, with floral top notes and suggestions of temperate fruit, pear perhaps. In the cup low-toned, smoky, sweet but salty, with chocolate undertones and continued hints of pear. The smoky tones carry into the finish.

A light-bodied, sweetly crisp coffee. Suggestions of leather, spice and a dry, fruity chocolate in the aroma. Melodic in the cup, with sweet citrus top notes and a hint of chocolate balanced by a slight tart sharpness.

A superb, versatile blend. The aroma is deep with chocolate and tropical fruit tones (banana?), the mouthfeel buttery and the body full, the small cup sweetly cedar toned with a lush, very slightly fermented fruit that reads as a rich raisin- and floral-toned chocolate. The finish is resonant and long with a low-key, pleasantly bracing astringency. In milk the shot rounds and sweetens without losing identity or authority.

Chocolate and toast show in the rather subdued aroma. In the small cup the body is medium and the mouthfeel slightly lean, with a simple but attractive pungent/sweet character complicated by a cocoa or dry chocolate. Rich, semi-sweet chocolate finish. In milk balanced and crisply sweet, with the chocolate retaining its dry authority.

A rather aggressively roasted espresso. Delicate floral and fruit notes complicate an aroma that is toasty and almost burned. In the small cup medium to full body, creamy mouthfeel, and a flavor dominated by a gentle but slightly sharp bittersweetness. The complicating fruit notes are a bit too dry to read as chocolate. Sweetens and rounds in milk but never quite blooms.

In the aroma low-toned, with cedar and papaya notes leaning toward chocolate. In the small cup the body is heavy with a pleasantly rough mouthfeel, the flavor rich with continuing suggestions of cedar and papaya-toned chocolate. The short finish maintains the chocolaty richness, but the long concludes with a hint of saltiness and astringency. The generally heavy profile softens nicely in milk while maintaining a pleasing depth and power, though the woody cedar tones seem to hinder the chocolate from fully sweetening and blooming.

Delicate but deeply dimensioned aroma: distinct milk chocolate, hints of aromatic cedar and low-toned, temperate fruit: peach, perhaps, or apricot. Almost sugary sweet in the cup, light-bodied, with a tight-knit complexity centered on peach- or cherry-toned milk chocolate. The finish is short but refreshing.

A coffee that demonstrates the virtue of a dash of cleanly and sweetly fermented fruit taste in a blend. The aroma is low-toned and caramelly, with smoky and raisiny chocolate suggestions. The cup is roundly rich with a tingle of fermented fruit that reads as a raisin- or brandied-cherry-toned chocolate.

The aroma is low-toned but resonant with leather and fruit-toned chocolate. The acidity is rich and smoothly integrated, the mouthfeel round and supple. The chocolate declaration in the aroma is even more pronounced in the cup, but fruitier, more opulent.

Crisply rich in the aroma, with sweet apple-toned high notes. In the cup simple and engaging as an early Beatles song, with an acidity felt rather than tasted and seductively fruity milk chocolate notes. W. Morris Brown Jr. nominated this coffee with a simple tribute: "I like it."

A lush, complex cup that derives some of its considerable appeal from slightly fermented fruit tones: apricot in the aroma, apple and pear in the cup, all turned overripe and slightly chocolate-leaning by the ferment. Some cups were gloriously sweet and juicily fruity; others slightly bitter in the finish. Marcus Fitzsimmons nominated this coffee, adding a general plug for Caribou Coffee: "Awesome selection of various coffees including a welcoming store-side atmosphere."

Rich, sweet aroma with distinct caramel tones in the finish. Gently lively in the cup, with caramel, cocoa, and temperate fruit notes - I'd call them apple. A low-key cup, just spirited enough to avoid laziness. Several readers nominated Dunkin' Donuts coffees.

Complex aroma: sweet chocolate, some shimmers of flowers and spicy cedar. For me the cup was contradictory rather than balanced, its sweet chocolate tones uneasily cohabiting with a sharp acidity: think sweet-and-sour chocolate. Nominating reader Woodard Springstube reports that "Plantation Blend is a long-time favorite of mine, although I like all of Community's blends."

In the aroma this light-to-medium-roasted coffee is sweet, high-toned but round, with a whiff of lightly fermented fruit that suggests brandied chocolate. In the cup the agreeably rich, overripe fruit is complemented - or contradicted - by a sweet-toned but blunt acidity. The finish is long and rather heavily astringent. Several readers nominated Gevalia coffees, including this blend.

Decent enough in the aroma: sweetly pungent, balanced, intensely roasty with a twist of slightly charred cedar. In the cup sweet and pungent, but the charred cedar notes turn to charred board notes, expressionless and woody. A vague hint of fruit at the top of the profile. I hope the nominating reader tasted a better sample of the Verona than this one.

This particular sample of Original Blend exhibited an almost academically thorough anthology of coffee taints and shadow defects. Some cups were flat and musty, others seemed additionally green and astringent, and some were rich with a rather pleasant apricot-toned sweet ferment (perhaps what nominating reader Des Cabigan cited as "a sniff of oranges"). But not a single cup appeared on the table without some taint or other. Presumably the several nominating readers based their emails on a better iteration of the Original Blend than this one, something closer to the version to which I gave an 87 rating in 2002.

A thoroughly dispirited coffee, with little sweetness and limited nuance aside from hints of nondescript fruit and a sort of vegetal, slightly charred cocoa. This particular sample appears to consist of green coffees of ordinary to poor quality that were poorly roasted to boot. Presumably nominating reader C. Dowling got luckier than I did when he was inspired to nominate this blend as a "mellow ... all-around coffee."