Espresso Reviews

Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a Nespresso capsule on a matching Nespresso www brewer. Deep, sweetly pungent aroma: hints of tropical fruit (papaya?), dark chocolate. In the small cup medium body, rather dense, syrupy mouthfeel, and a balanced, perhaps simple flavor: continued dark chocolate, hints of aromatic wood and a gently pungent fruit that reads as date or perhaps raisin. Rich, flavor-saturated finish. Balanced presence in two parts milk: cocoa-toned, though perhaps a bit too lean in mouthfeel.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Fresh, bright aroma: flowers, cherryish fruit, just-cut fir, leather. In the small cup lean mouthfeel with continued refreshing, gently acidy fruit notes and hints of flowers, fir and milk chocolate, all of which carry into a clean, sweet finish. This bright, rather delicate blend is subdued in two parts milk, although a crisp, muted chocolate is pleasant.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Aromatic wood, leather, tartly cherryish chocolate and delicate floral top notes carry from aroma through demitasse to finish. Leanish mouthfeel. In two parts milk caramelly dark chocolate and a continued suggestion of cherry-toned fruit.

Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a Nespresso capsule on a matching Nespresso D290 brewer. Bright, fruit- (cherry-?) toned aroma with a hint of flowers. In the small cup smoothly balanced, medium in body, lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Aromatic wood, cherryish fruit, citrus, cocoa. Clean, sweet, lemon-toned finish, very slightly astringent. Delicate to a fault in two parts milk: The citrus hints turn more prominent, backgrounding the cocoa and lower acid fruit.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. An apparently balanced robusta and Arabica blend hampered by pods that at best netted a 20-second shot. Nevertheless, rich, deep aroma with a buttery or caramelly nut and bananaish fruit. In the small cup lean mouthfeel and short finish, but quite sweet: pungent nut, hints of chocolate and ripe, slightly fermented fruit. Even sweeter in milk, with a cocoaish chocolate inclination.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. The low-acid wood and nut character of robusta dominates. Surprisingly lean mouthfeel, but the woody nut notes hint nicely at chocolate in the small cup and turn sweetly rich in the finish. Blooms nicely in milk with a gently fat dark chocolate character.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Aromatically simple, robust espresso with a heavy, slightly rough mouthfeel and a woody date and nut character. Pleasingly rich in milk, with a minty hint to the chocolate.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Crisply sweet-toned aroma with subdued caramel and cherry chocolate notes. In the small cup fullish mouthfeel, creamy textured though very slightly astringent. A salty-sweet, aromatic wood dominates, rounded by a continued cherryish chocolate. Milk develops the chocolate tendencies, though in the long finish the pervasive salty astringency prevails.

Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a T Disc capsule on a matching Tassimo TAS451xUC brewing device. Crisp, sweet-toned aroma, leather and chocolate notes. At a one-ounce shot leanish, rather astringent mouthfeel with flavor dominated by fir and leather with the slightest hint of chocolate. Simple finish with some richness. In two parts hot milk, balanced flavor (dark chocolate, continued aromatic wood notes) but thinnish mouthfeel.

Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a T Disc capsule on a matching Tassimo TAS451xUC brewing device. Sweet, faintly fruit- and chocolate-toned aroma. Thinnish body and mouthfeel, softly pungent flavor with vague, subdued fruit notes. The flavor fades very quickly in the finish to a rather stolid heaviness. In two parts hot, fresh milk, displays a roundly pungent chocolate suggestion with an edge that could read as smoky. Combining this disc with the contents of the matching Gevalia Latte milk disc (and allowing both to respond to the bar-coded instructions incorporated on the discs) netted a rather dilute beverage, sweet and distinctly chocolate- and nut-toned but thin-bodied with a faint metallic shadow.

Aromatically simple but balanced, complete espresso. Rich, fresh-cut fir and hints of raisin and dark chocolate run from aroma through finish. Medium body, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, great natural sweetness. In milk the fir and chocolate hints round toward a crisp baker's chocolate.

Very sweet-toned, complex aroma: floral top notes, orangy citrus, chocolate. In the small cup balanced, lightly syrupy mouthfeel, naturally sweet, with a flavor dominated by fresh-cut fir with continued hints of chocolate, orange and flowers. Long, clean, flavor-saturated finish. Rather sharp in two parts milk, but blooms nicely in three parts, softening and turning toward a crisp, minty chocolate.

Evaluated as espresso. Very sweet, deep, smokily rich aroma with distinct floral and orangy citrus notes and a hint of fresh-cut fir. In the small cup lightly syrupy mouthfeel and impressive complexity: Fresh-cut fir predominates, with baker's chocolate and continued orange and floral notes carrying into a rich, walnut-toned finish. Blooms in two to three parts milk nicely, with the predictable dark chocolate complemented by surprisingly persistent floral, orange and fir suggestions.

In the aroma cedary pungency, caramel, hints of low-toned fruit and flowers. In the cup a sweet-toned, balanced acidity, silky mouthfeel, continued cedar-toned pungency and a sweetly tart citrus -- lime or Meyer lemon. Continued hint of flowers. The lime-lemon suggestion carries into a simple, clean finish.

An almost miraculously fine decaffeinated straight-shot espresso. In the nose crisp, elegant: leather, aromatic wood, hints of chocolate and yellow-fleshed fruit - peach or papaya. In the small cup syrupy mouthfeel, with intensified fruit, fresh-cut aromatic wood, butter, caramel, cocoa. The finish is balanced, sweet, deep, long. Predictably sweet and chocolate-toned in milk, though perhaps a bit too delicate.

Sweet-toned, deep, slightly smoky aroma: aromatic wood, a hint of dark chocolate. In the small cup medium-bodied, but the pungent dark chocolate notes amplify and move forward, complicated by aromatic wood, walnut, even licorice. Long, resonant, chocolate-saturated finish. Dominates milk with a smoky heaviness that resolves quickly into a milk-sweetened version of the now familiar dark chocolate note.

Complex, authoritative espresso. Ken (92) found dark chocolate and fresh leather notes in the aroma, co-taster Heather Perry (89) nut. Both remarked on an attractive bittersweet citrus character in the cup, which Heather nicely characterized as "blood orange." Ken was particularly taken by the citrusy chocolate finish. But perhaps this coffee's most remarkable performance was in milk, where the crisp fruit bloomed with round, chocolate- and berry-toned assurance.

Fine straight-shot espresso. Rich in the aroma with a delicately pungent note Ken (91) called cedar and co-taster Heather Perry (90) spice. In the small cup dense and syrupy in mouthfeel with dark chocolate and continued spice and orangey cedar notes. Long, resonantly flavor-saturated finish. Loses some power and complexity, though it remains pleasantly drinkable and the orangey/spicy chocolate persists.

Flowers and tropical fruit in the sweet-toned aroma. For co-taster Heather Perry (88), "Floral notes turned to orange, berry, spice and cocoa, complex yet balanced and sweet" in the small cup. Ken (91) agreed. However, Heather found the shot in milk "very rough" whereas Ken liked it: "sweet, balanced, with a banana-toned chocolate."

Both Ken (91) and co-taster Heather Perry remarked on a delicate, slightly pungent quality in both aroma and small cup that that Heather associated with herb and orange peel and Ken with cedar and orange. Medium-bodied, with a flavor-saturated finish. In milk both Heather and Ken found balance, with continued orange-toned and, for Ken, chocolaty nuance.