Blend Reviews

Impressive aroma: lush, low-toned apricot fruit. In the cup a full body with a nice heft in the mouthfeel, but the pungent fruit turns increasingly salty and bitter as the cup cools.

Predictable ultra-dark roast: intense and pungent with an edge of charred cedar in the aroma; in the cup thin in mouthfeel and sweetly charred, with a mildly astringent finish that lovers of this style of roast will find bracing.

In the aroma sweetly and cleanly roasty and cedar-toned. The roasty tones turn burned and rather cloyingly sweet in the cup - lightly charred cedar or sandalwood.

An understated coffee that rewards attention to its gentle virtues. Sweetly balanced roastiness and rich papaya-toned fruit in the aroma; in the cup delicately complex and quietly lush with low-toned, carnal fruit: apricot and papaya.

The aroma is roasty and quite sweet, with high-toned cedar and chocolate notes. Round and full in the cup, with a buttery mouthfeel and a balance of gentle roast tones and a tickle of sweet, fruit-toned acidity.

Sweet, balanced, round, with a hint of roastiness and a subtle, shifting bouquet of flowers, fresh leather, spice and apricot that deepen toward chocolate in the cup. As the cup cools it simplifies slightly, turning the fruit a touch shallow and tart.

Rather simple aroma but fine, deep, roasty dimension with distinct dark chocolate notes. In the cup roundly roasty with a tickle of acidity and chocolate and prune-toned fruit. A touch sharp when hot but softens and sweetens as it cools.

Elegant, balanced dark roast: Comfortably sweet with a shimmer of acidity and a hint of roastiness. The bittersweet chocolate and pineapple notes in the aroma deepen and round congenially in the cup.

Balanced and roundly high-toned. Slightly roasty, gently acidy. Papaya and fresh leather notes in the aroma; papaya and dark chocolate in the cup. A tickle of astringency in the long finish.

Impressively complex ultra-dark roast: The roast tones are sweet and rather restrained in the aroma, complicated by fresh leather and apricot. In the cup they turn rich, full-throated and bittersweet. The finish is a touch heavy and astringent, inevitable in a roast this dark.

Roasty and sweetly and gently charred, with a hint of fermented fruit that under the influence of the roast suggests a spicily aromatic chocolate - imagine bittersweet chocolate stored in charred cedar. Rich finish with a tingle of astringency.

Willem: "Blossom-like, peppery aroma, just like the roses from my 50+year-old rose tree! Mild sweet flavor with lingering floral aftertaste. Excellent caramel complexity with milk. I loved it." (92) What for Willem was peppery and blossom-like, for Ken was spicy and fruity in the aroma and smokily fruity in the small cup. Ken wanted more sweetness in the demitasse but in milk praised this blend as "sweet, crisp and cherry-like edging toward chocolate." (89).

Ken and Willem were eight points apart on this one. Ken liked the aromatic excitement of the "floral and fruit notes with complex smoky undertones" that he followed with pleasure from aroma through finish to milk. Although he found the small cup a bit sharp and thin-bodied, he forgave all in return for the floral and fruit complexity. (89) Willem, on the other hand, tasted nothing but imbalance and too much acidity: "Somewhat dull aroma with minor earthy notes" and in the small cup "mildly sharp and some uncontrolled acidity." He was a bit more forgiving with performance in milk: "sweet, bright, with caramel aftertaste." (81)

A gently roasty, light-bodied blend: sweet, balanced, with fresh leather, grapefruit and sweet herb notes, lemon thyme perhaps. Slightly astringent in the finish.

Straightforward, simple but satisfying dark-roast: cleanly roasty, pleasantly smoky but without burned or excessive bitterness. In cup and finish the roastiness takes on a toasty, campfire chocolate character.

Massively roasty in the aroma: sweetly pungent with a sort of lush bar-b-qued apricot-toned fruit. Less impressive in the cup, where the main impression is simply the roast, heavy and burned but not rubbery. Given the weighty intensity of the roast sensation, surprisingly sweet and rich in the finish, with only a slight astringency.

Cleanly smoky and rather richly roasty, complicated by shimmers of sweetly tart, high-toned fruit - pineapple perhaps.

The aroma doesn't provoke much anticipation: roasty, edge of burned, midtoned, without range or nuance. Softens and complicates in the cup, displaying a pleasantly wine-toned balance of sweet acidity and a discreetly bittersweet roastiness. Simplifies again in the rather sharp finish.

Roasty, sweet and balanced in the aroma, with shimmers of pineapple. In the cup a light-bodied buoyancy and a continuing tickle of pineapple lifts the dominating sharp, edge-of-burned roastiness. Mildly astringent in the finish.

A delicate cup with impressive complexity: Lemon, smoky spice and milk chocolate notes carry with subtle variation from aroma through finish. In the cup, shows a fine balance of sweet acidity and a subtle roastiness, the roast making itself felt mainly in the smoky spice. The five cups I sampled displayed some unevenness; otherwise I would rate this silky, aromatic blend even higher.