Espresso Reviews

Sweet-toned peach and caramel in the aroma give way to pungent, mango-like fruit and dark chocolate in the small cup, with a complicating hint of savory cedar. Slightly lean but smooth mouthfeel. Flavor carries deeply into a long finish. Delicate in two parts milk, where the fruit and chocolate predictably soften and sweeten.

Evaluated as espresso. Deep and sweet in the aroma with mint- and brandy-toned dark chocolate, apricot, peach. In the cup the chocolate and fruit turn crisp and salty-savory with an anise-like pungency. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel; rich, heavyish, bittersweet finish. In two parts milk the coffee recovers its lift and sweetness with the chocolate and stone fruit softening and blooming.

Evaluated as espresso. Balanced, crisp, smooth. Raisin, almond, dark chocolate, cantaloupe-like fruit in aroma and small cup. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Chocolate in particular lingers in a pleasantly dry finish. Superb in two parts milk: classic balance with complexly expressed dark chocolate complemented by raisin, apricot, cedar.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweet-toned, buttery character: dark chocolate and apricot in the aroma, complicated in the small cup by more pungent notes of anise and cedar. Lightly syrupy, balanced mouthfeel; rich, long finish. In two parts milk crisp, smooth, balanced: milk chocolate, almond, a hint of orangy or apricot-like fruit.

Evaluated as espresso. In the small cup rich and deep with dry, brandyish fruit notes: blackberry, lime, green grape, with anchoring hints of fir and baker’s chocolate. Syrupy mouthfeel. The chocolate and citrus notes round and deepen in a long, resonant finish. Both persist in two parts milk, but remain reticent, failing to round and bloom under the impact of the diary.

Evaluated as espresso. Brisk and delicate. Green apple, baker’s chocolate, walnuts and apricot in both aroma and cup. Creamy mouthfeel. The walnut and chocolate carry into a rather dry finish but plump up nicely again in two-parts milk while retaining a dry, savory complication.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweet, complex and juicy. Candied lemon, blackberry, orange, sweet cocoa in the aroma. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel with a complimentary dry, astringent edge. Sweet cocoa transforms into a bittersweet, lemon-toned baker’s chocolate in the small cup, complicated by suggestions of slightly scorched cedar and flowers. The citrus-toned chocolate nicely rounds and fattens in two parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Pungent, deep. Cocoa-toned cedar, earth-toned nut, caramel, orange, a hint of flowers in aroma and small cup. All express with particular sweetness in the aroma, and persist nicely in the long, round finish. In two parts milk the flavor turns delicately chocolaty and butter-like.

Evaluated as espresso. Crisp, sweetly gentle, suave. Honey, orange, grapefruity citrus, fresh-cut fir in the aroma. Light, silky mouthfeel. Turns chocolaty and more distinctly citrusy in the light-bodied, silky cup. Superb flavor-saturated, sweetly clean finish. In two parts milk the chocolate is nuanced by ripe citrus and a deeper, apricot-toned fruit.

Evaluated as espresso. Rich, deep-toned in the small cup: cedar, dark chocolate, hints of apple-like fruit and almond. Syrupy mouthfeel. Chocolate and cedar carry persuasively through into the long finish. Round, authoritative presence in two parts milk; the cedar and dark chocolate persist while the fruit rounds toward peach or apricot.

Evaluated as espresso. Nut-toned caramel and dark chocolate with hints of lemon-like tart fruit and a faint glimmer of fresh mint in aroma and cup. Syrupy mouthfeel; chocolate-toned finish with a tart edge. Delicate in two parts milk, where the chocolate and sweet citrus notes complement one another nicely.

Evaluated as espresso. Impressive range and complexity. Pungently sweet grapefruit, blackberry, rose-like flowers, fresh-cut fir in aroma and small cup. Full, buttery mouthfeel. Rich, flavor-saturated finish; a hint of astringency in the short smoothes out to cocoaish chocolate in the long. Delicate, berryish fruit and sweet milk chocolate dominate in two parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweet, pungent citrus – grapefruit, orange – and crisp cocoaish chocolate in aroma and small cup. A hint of roses. Full, buttery mouthfeel. The cocoa and sweet, ripe citrus carry into the finish and persist with graceful softness in two parts milk.

Evaluated as espresso. Cherryish brandy, peach, dark chocolate in the impressive aroma. Round, syrupy mouthfeel with a dry edge that carries into a complex small cup: cherry, dark chocolate and tart, zesty citrus. Two parts milk develops the dark chocolate tendencies, turning the fruit toward a rich raisin.

Evaluated as espresso. Deep and balanced aromatics that suggest tart green apple, sweet plum with jasmine-like flowers that follow into the small cup and comingle with cocoa powder, citrus zest, walnut and a spicy note that is reminiscent of cinnamon or ginger. Leanish mouthfeel with a slightly syrupy edge. Cocoa powder turns to a bakers chocolate and the spicy note transforms into cedar-like aromatic wood in a dry finish. Nicely balanced in two-thirds milk; bakers chocolate persists while the steamed milk adds a sweet nuttiness.

A pungent musty note reads charitably as dark chocolate in some cups, with a bit of crisp, apple-like complication. In other cups it reads mainly as musty. Best feature is a fullish though slightly rough mouthfeel. The chocolate suggestions fade quickly in a drying finish. We deducted three rating points from the raw score for the uneven cups and the musty suggestions.

Evaluated as espresso. Sweetly pungent. Dark chocolate, slightly scorched cedar, and a lush, coconut-like fruit in aroma and small cup. Full, syrupy mouthfeel. Sweetly chocolaty short finish but mildly drying in the long. Excellent presence in two parts milk, where chocolate, cedar and fruit all persist.

Evaluated as espresso. Rich, sweetly tart, very complex in the small cup: mandarin orange, layered suggestions of milk chocolate, apricot, brandy, fresh-cut fir, anise. Syrupy mouthfeel. The orange note turns ripe and sweet in the finish. Soft, delicate and impressively complex in two parts milk: chocolate-toned orange, apricot, a continued hint of fir.

Evaluated as espresso. Crisply complex from aroma to finish: tart orange, flowers, dark chocolate, almond. Lightish but silky mouthfeel. Fades just a bit in two parts milk, but maintains its tartly orangy milk chocolate presence.

Evaluated as espresso. Rich aromatics: ripe red apple, caramel and rose-like flowers carry from the aroma into the short cup where they are deepened and complicated by hints of dark chocolate and fir. Creamy mouthfeel. Flavor mutes but gently persists in two parts milk.