Estate Reviews

Deep, complex aroma: slightly smoky cedar, chocolate and vanilla with floral top notes. Settles out to a rich semi-sweet chocolate in the cup with shimmery hints of flowers and vanilla. Rounds and sweetens as it cools without losing complexity. Very rich in the short finish, slightly astringent in the long.

A cabernet sort of coffee: boldly and richly dry, with fruit that reads as a wine-toned dry cherry or black currant with a rounding halo of chocolate. Tartly rich, long finish.

Intense, very deep aroma, with buttery or perhaps toffee-like notes and hints of flowers and wine. In the cup very sweet and very acidy, though never sharp. Continued hints of flowers and white wine. Rich, complex, slightly astringent in the finish.

This light-to-medium-roasted coffee is gently acidy with a floral and high-toned fruit character that quite simply represents the fresh, delicate taste of the coffee flower and fruit itself, carried with a roastmaster's tact from coffee to cup. The downside of this respectful roast is a slight, residual vegetal or tea-like character that some palates will find elegant and refreshing and others, well, too tea-like.

A simple, rich, deeply dimensioned dark-roasted cup. Sweetly roasty in the aroma with semi-sweet chocolate notes. In the cup the roast continued to dominate with mildly charred wood tones overlaying semi-sweet chocolate and perhaps some dry berry notes. Rich, clean finish with continued dry chocolate notes.

Exquisitely delicate aroma suggests a fine Oolong tea, with extravagant floral notes but a distinct (and coffeeish) hint of chocolate. The chocolate strengthens in the cup, with a tartly sweet, lemon-toned acidity. The lemon-chocolate notes outlast a gentle astringency in the long, pleasing finish.

A crisp, malty fruit runs through the profile, suggesting a low key bouquet of possibilities: peach, cedar, chocolate, black currant, cherry. The finish is particularly impressive, rich, sweet, long, and nuanced with persistent berry and cherry tones.

Exceptional aroma: floral notes complicated by vanilla for co-cupper Rodger Owen and lemon and pineapple for Ken. In the cup brightly but sweetly acidy and delicately smooth in mouthfeel with a subtly balanced flavor that disappointed Rodger but excited Ken with its jasmine-like floral notes and (for Ken at least) a rich, chocolaty lemon.

A tribute to the tartly sweet, invigorating sensation coffee insiders call acidity. In the aroma richly fruity and orange-toned; in the cup giddy with rich, high-toned acidity laced with fruit suggesting oranges and tart cherries. The acidity softens and sweetens voluptuously in the finish.

The low-toned aroma is charged with cocoa and spicy fruit (apricot?) notes. In the cup a dry-yet-sweet, almost sugary fig-like character dominates, enlivened by a soft shimmer of acidity. The finish is sweet, rich and long with chocolate and dry fruit notes.

Low-key, richly pungent aroma: raisins, dried cherries, chocolate. In the cup gently pungent, softly acidy, with a tightly knit complexity, again suggesting dried fruit - raisins, cherries, with a touch of chocolate.

In the aroma high-toned and delicate, complicated by sweet spice and suggestions of flowers and chocolate. The cup is low in acidity and dominated by a crisp nutty fruit, raisins and walnuts perhaps, with a continuing shimmer of floral chocolate. A very slight astringency surfaces as the cup cools.

In the aroma rather subdued but complex with chocolate, cherry and a bracing whiff of cedar. The cup is delicate when hot, with a lovely, lyric balance of sweetness and a gentle shimmer of acidity complicated by slightly tart, cherryish chocolate notes. As the cup cools the profile simplifies and flattens, however. I had this coffee rated 90 until it cooled.

The aroma is rich and rather deep with apple, pipe tobacco and semi-sweet chocolate notes. In the cup lively when hot, but almost immediately contracts in sensory range, turning monotoned and heavy, though still with pleasant allusions to the dry apple and chocolate notes.

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 delicately intense, sweetly acidy cup. In the aroma spicy and floral with milk chocolate undertones. Perfectly balanced and lyric in the cup, with floral notes and a sweet, high-toned temperate fruit, pear or cherry. The chocolate resurfaces in the long, gently astringent finish.

An unusual bittersweet, gently spicy tendency runs from aroma through finish. The aroma is caramelly but pungent, with a hint of milk chocolate. The cup is low-toned and dominated by a sweet/sour/bitter fruit; tamarind and lemon perhaps. In the cup the background milk chocolate is more pronounced, rounding the bright fruit. The finish is slightly but richly astringent.

A bold, sweetly acidy coffee with a shifting, subtle complexity. In the aroma low-toned, lushly rich fruit (apricot, papaya, even banana) leaning toward milk chocolate. In the cup brighter and higher-toned, with lemon, flowers and continued suggestions of milk chocolate. Rounds and richens as it cools, the fruit tones landing somewhere near cherry.

Sweet, low-toned, resonant in dimension. Distinct raisin and milk chocolate notes in the aroma. In the cup big-bodied and creamy, with a tightly woven, deep-toned, caramel- and chocolate-toned complexity.

Aroma and finish are balanced and understated, almost simple, but the cup transcends limitation with its big-bodied, sweet-toned opulence. There is nuance here: roast-influenced cedar and dark chocolate in the aroma, caramel and perhaps raisin in the cup, but the sensory payoff is the fatly silky body and round, resonant depth.