Cooperative Reviews

The roast dominates the coffee in this extreme dark-roast profile. Intensely but roundly and sweetly charred in the aroma, with a gingery, cedarish complication. The cup is dominated by charred tones that remain just on the pleasantly rich, aromatic cedar side of flat-out burned.

Delicately rich in aroma and cup. The clean, elegant fruit suggests peach in the aroma and cherry in the cup, with a little swoon toward chocolate. The refined acidity rounds and sweetens beautifully as the cup cools, deepening toward wine.

A striking and distinctive coffee. Co-cupper Christy Thorns (89) admired its complex aromatics: "dried apricot, orange zest, clove, citronella." Ken (90) found a gingery chocolate and lemon that for him was unusual and surprising, which may be why he was slightly more willing than Christy to forgive a slight, shadow salty cling as the cup cooled.

Co-cupper Christy Thorns reduced her score to 89 for this Kenya because she felt its chocolate and spice inclinations were not characteristic of the origin. Ken started at 88 and stayed there. He had no problem admiring the chocolate-inclining sweet citrus character he read in aroma and cup, but felt that ultimately the cup was a bit too simple for a top rating.

High-toned, sweet, light-footed and delicate, yet rich and deeply dimensioned. Lemon and red-wine notes in the aroma, in the cup red wine, cherry and a shimmer of flowers. Long, complex finish.

The moderately dark-roast style mutes the Kenya fruit and gives it a roasty, tart pineapple twist that softens toward a toasty chocolate in the finish. The darkish roast may transform the Kenya character, but the transformation is quite pleasurable in its own right.

A rather aggressive roast contributes distinct charred notes, but they are richly charred notes, with a leathery twist and a tickle of dry fruit. The astringent finish is pleasantly complicated by dry chocolate.

This very dark-roasted coffee reveals almost nothing about the potentially interesting green coffee itself except its ability to stand up to a severe degree of roast and still taste quite agreeable. The profile is roasty and charred, but pleasantly free of bitterness and haloed by sweetness.

The aggressive dark roast simplifies this naturally sweet, chocolaty coffee and turns it a bit monolithic. A deep-toned, dry, chocolate-nuanced roastiness dominates, relieved by only a tickle of sweetness. The finish is richly bittersweet, but hints at rubber as the cup cools.

Roasty, sweet, and round in the nose. In the cup the roastiness reveals a sharp bitterness, brightened by a hint of floral sweetness that softens toward burned chocolate in the finish. A full body offsets the bitterness.

Deep-toned roasty sweetness in the aroma; in the cup low-toned, rich yet crisp, laced with sweetly roasty nuance: nuts, dried fruit, and a suggestion of round, milky chocolate in the finish.

In the nose sweet, round, full, nutty, with hints of something that could be called spice. In the cup pleasantly light-bodied, high-toned, with an elegant balance of acidity and gentle sweetness. Long, bright but smooth finish.

Rich, balanced, deeply dimensioned, sweet and mouthfilling at the front end, a touch bitter toward the finish. Meadowy hints of flowers waft in the sweetness.

The aroma is remarkable: rich, sweet, caramelly, complete. In the cup substantial, brightly rich, with tickles of citrus and cocoa. The chocolate-toned finish sits rather heavily on the palate.

An interesting dark-roast cup. Distinctly charred but full-bodied and rather expansively sweet, with hints of dry pineapple in both aroma and finish and an odd, smoky chocolate twist in the cup. Finishes rather bitterly, like most dark roasts.

A rather simple but pleasingly balanced cup: bittersweet, with a low-toned shimmer of acidity. Prune or dried fruit notes in the cup and cocoa in the finish. Holds up very well as it cools.

Either pleasantly subdued or disappointingly flat, depending on expectation. Roasty and mildly bittersweet, complicated by slight dry, brisk cocoa notes and perhaps some spice tones. The best of the four Perus submitted for this cupping.

Lovely, floral top notes float on a sturdy bittersweet structure. Gently bright, light- to medium-bodied. The finish leans toward the bitter side.

Musty tones are softened by sweetness, and read variously as spicy, smoky, and dryly fruity in the cup, then hint at cocoa in the finish.

The aggressive roast agreeably dominates the coffee here. A delicate, floral-toned, buoyant sweetness sings over a pungently charred center. The sweetness fades and the charred tones dominate in the finish.