Organic Reviews

Intense, rich, straightforward. The aroma is deep-toned bittersweet chocolate with a slight roasty edge. Simplifies in the cup, perhaps under the impact of the roast, but expands again in the finish, with chocolate and hints of flowers.

Rich, round and balanced, with a sweetly understated acidity. Not a lot of nuance, but a hint of mustiness reads as an agreeably peppery chocolate. The finish is smooth, clean and long.

Ken (rating 81) reports: "Full-bodied, rather rich, but simple, with little nuance and a hint of bagginess." Kevin (rating 82): "Nice body, but the quakery appearance of the beans is reflected in a rather dull cup. Roasted at or past its limit given the modest inherent acidity of the green coffee."

Splendid aroma: voluptuously rich, chocolaty and perfectly balanced. In the cup deeply dimensioned with a pruny dry fruit edging toward chocolate, but marred by a slight but pervasive bitterness.

A purists cup: big, authoritative, powerfully but sweetly acidy, complete. The roast rounds the dry fruit tones toward chocolate but leaves the robustly rich acidity intact.

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.

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.

Rich, sweet, with a gentle lift from the acidity, complicated by pronounced chocolate fruit tones (think chocolate-covered cherries). The body reads as bigger than it is owing to the general richness of the cup. Not much range or complexity, but a fundamentally pleasing cup.

Subdued, low-toned, smooth, full, round. Very little at the top of the profile, but a rich, fat fruitiness in the middle. Giddy suggestions of guava darkened toward cocoa and cherry as the cup cooled.

The smoky tones are sweet and floral in the nose, but rather sharply pungent in the demitasse, where the flowers transform to pruny dry fruit with a hint of burned tones. Excellent in milk, which softens and sweetens the sharpness.

Floral notes float shimmering atop the rather sharp, bitter, burned tones of the roast. Not much sweetness, but the subtle perfume of the flowers compensates.

Nicely balanced sweetness and chocolate-toned roast pungency, complicated by a touch of pruny fruit. A bit simple and monotoned, but pleasantly and deeply so, like good minimalist music.

A light-bodied but complexly nuanced coffee: brightly acidy, floral toned, with fruit tones that hint at chocolate in aroma and aftertaste. Not quite enough sweetness to offset the roast-induced bitterness, however.

A hint of ferment pleasantly hovers between chocolate and cherry-toned, overripe fruit. The darkish roast turns the sweet fruit dryly rich.

A ripe, almost overripe, sweetness carries giddily from aroma to finish, anchored by a discreet touch of roast pungency. The lush fruit tones flirt with ferment but stay on the sweet side. A wonderfully juicy, deeply dimensioned coffee.

Acidy but balanced, softly powerful, saturated by elegantly dry cocoa tones and a touch of deep-toned, winey fruit. The cocoa tones linger exquisitely in the aftertaste.

A classic Guatemala in the lighter, softer mode: floral, gently acidy, high-toned but deeply dimensioned. Flowers permeate even the slight bitterness of the roast. A coffee as pure, sweet-toned and brightly complex as a Guatemalan weaving.

The quintessentially smooth, deep, rich Pacific coffee. Not so much complex as dense with sensation. Refined, crisply seductive cocoa tones carry elegantly from aroma to aftertaste.

A coffee that meets us with a smile, giving everything out front: gently brisk acidity, a touch of wine-toned fruit, floral sweetness. Thereafter it stands pat, light-bodied and balanced, perhaps a bit shallow in dimension.

The roast turns the lemony acidity rich and smokily pungent. Not a lot of range or innuendo, but a balanced and satisfying cup.