Single Serve Capsule Reviews

(As brewed in a Keurig B70 Platinum single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 6- and 8-ounce servings): Round, roast-toned aroma with a suggestion of aromatic wood. In the cup light body, especially in the eight-ounce serving size, good sweetness and a soft smoky chocolate. The roasty aromatic wood carries into the finish. Displays most intensity when brewed at the six ounce serving size.

(As brewed in a Keurig B70 Platinum single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce 10- and 12-ounce servings): Caramel, toast and a suggestion of orange in the aroma. Simplifies somewhat in the cup, with intensified caramel and fleeting hints of orange, chocolate and cedar, all more noticeable in the 10-ounce serving size. Sweet finish.

Sampled as an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. In both aroma and flavor roasted nut, aromatic wood and milk chocolate with hints of flowers, fruit and honey. Full body with a lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The finish is rich and sweet in the short but heavy in the long. In two parts milk deeply bittersweet with continued chocolate and aromatic wood notes.

(As brewed in a Keurig Platinum single-serve home brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce an 8-ounce serving size): Sweet-toned aroma with suggestions of caramel, smoky scorched wood and toast. In the cup, medium-bodied and lightly syrupy in mouthfeel, with a continued bittersweet, gently scorched wood character complicated by muted caramel and chocolate notes, all of which carry into a rich, briskly astringent finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig Platinum single-serve home brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce an 8-ounce serving size): Sweet but subdued aroma, with toasty and vaguely fruity notes. Soft and delicate flavor, showing hints of caramel and perhaps, honeydew melon-like fruitiness. The simple caramel sweetness lingers into the finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig Platinum single-serve home brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving size): Sweet-toned, roundly floral aroma. In the cup lively, floral-toned acidity; medium-bodied but silky mouthfeel, and continued floral character complemented by orangy citrus. Sweet though rather short finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig Platinum single-serve home brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving size): Softly sweet and toasty aroma. In the cup, silky mouthfeel and simple flavor that hints at fruit, toast, and sweet chocolate. In the finish the chocolate suggestion further sweetens and lingers agreeably.

(As brewed in a Keurig Platinum single-serve home brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving size): Soft, smoothly simple roasty tones dominate aroma and flavor. Medium to full in body with very little if any acidy character. Slight roughness in the finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig Platinum single-serve home brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving size): A gentle ultra-dark-roasted cup with hints of chocolate and caramel in the aroma. In the cup mildly pungent with rougher flavor notes that lean toward aromatic and lightly charred wood. The charred wood note becomes more pronounced in the mildly astringent finish.

(As brewed in a Keurig Platinum single-serve home brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving size): Delicately roasty aroma with distant hints of fruit and possibly a sweet winy note. Soft acidity and simple flavors that flirt with caramel and toast. The roast tone reemerges in the finish, along with intensified sweetness.

(As brewed in a Keurig B70 Platinum single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving size): Soft, caramel-like aroma with hints of milk chocolate and toast. An uncomplicated cup, medium body, flavor notes of cedar, caramel, nut and orange-toned citrus. Sweetness carries into the mildly nutty finish, with distant suggestions of molasses and chocolate.

(As brewed in a Keurig B70 Platinum single-serve brewing device using a "K-Cup" capsule to produce a 6-ounce serving size): Muted aroma of orangey fruit, caramel and wood. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel and simple flavors: nut, raisin and caramel. Muted sweetness in the finish fades rather quickly to a mildly astringent nut-like character.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Sweet, juicy-impressioned fruit dominates in the aroma (papaya? cherry?) with a hints of fir and leather. Syrupy mouthfeel and great richness and depth of sensation in the small cup, with continued low-acid fruit and fresh-cut fir notes. Superb finish: long, deep. In two parts milk good presence and chocolate-toned fruit, though just a touch flat and woody.

Evaluated based on a one-ounce shot produced from a Nespresso capsule on a matching Nespresso D290 brewer. Sweet-toned, lush aroma, with clear chocolate notes and hints of leather, fruit and flowers. In the small cup heavy body with a creamy though slightly rough mouthfeel, and deep, leather and fir-toned, cocoaish chocolate smoothing and sweetening in a long, rich finish. Good presence and body in two parts milk, but remains rather stolid, not quite fully opening and blooming.

Produced from an IllyCaffe iperEspresso capsule on matching FrancisFrancis! X7 iperEspresso brewer. Outstanding crema production. In the aroma tropical fruit, a hint of flowers, fruit-toned chocolate. In the small cup lightly syrupy mouthfeel with continued fruity chocolate notes anchored by a hint of aromatic wood. A rich short finish fades rather quickly to woody sweetness. A little overpowered by two parts milk, but impressive in body and flavor: more chocolate and aromatic wood and a reappearance of the tropical fruit and floral notes that last displayed early on in the aroma.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Chocolate-toned fruit and leather in the aroma. Lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The leather turns toward aromatic wood and the chocolate and cherry fruit notes deepen in the cup. Simple, slightly astringent finish. Sweetens but maintains crisp presence in two parts milk.

Produced from an ESE pod on a FrancisFrancis! pod brewer. Subdued aroma: vaguely sweet, some leather and cherryish chocolate. In the small cup lean-tending but lightly syrupy mouthfeel, sweet with aromatic wood notes rounding toward a crisp dark chocolate. Sweetly rich short finish saturated with dark chocolate fades toward a slight astringency in the long. In two parts milk light-bodied but balanced in flavor with milk-rounded dark chocolate and aromatic wood notes.

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.