Washed/Wet Reviews

Delicately intense. Very complex aroma and flavor: flowers (plum blossom), ripe lemon, watermelon, moist pipe tobacco, roasted cacao nib. Bright but balanced acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Long, flavor-saturated finish. Turns especially sweet and juicy as the cup cools.

Evaluated as espresso. Ken (91) liked this bright, zesty espresso; his co-taster (92) liked it even better. Both admired the citrus and floral vivacity of the aroma and flavor. Ken and his co-taster both accepted the smooth though rather light mouthfeel as an appropriate complement to the lively aromatics; both enjoyed the emergence of a lower-toned fruit (fig, roasted cacao nib) in the finish. Ken found the sweet-citrus impact in three parts milk a bit more pleasing than his co-taster did, though the co-taster offered an apt descriptor for it: “key lime pie.”

Evaluated as espresso. Crisp, finely structured, quietly distinctive. Dark chocolate and a shifty, anise-toned fruit (orange, blackberry, grape) dominate in aroma and small cup, with backgrounded complications of cedar and butter. Creamy, full yet buoyant mouthfeel. Berry and chocolate in particular persist in a rich, deep finish. Round, quietly balanced in three parts milk.

Floral notes stretch from evanescent, delicate top notes to lushly rich, jasmine-like mid-notes in aroma and cup, with roasted cacao nib and kiwi/lemon complications. Round, rich acidity; lightly syrupy, lively mouthfeel. The finish is drying but long and flower-saturated.

Deeply and crisply sweet; complex. Chocolate, hazelnut, orange zest, flowers in aroma and cup. Soft but lively acidity; lightly syrupy, buoyant mouthfeel. Sweet, gently flavor-saturated finish.

Sweet, floral, clean. Lavender and plum flower, honey, cherry, candied pecan in aroma and cup. Lightly bright and juicy acidity, creamy mouthfeel. The plum-blossom note in particular lingers in a sweet and persistent finish.

Bright and exhilaratingly complex. Jasmine-like flowers, tangerine, raspberry, a hint of hazelnut in aroma and cup. Sweetly tart, floral-toned acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Gently dry, quietly flavor-saturated finish.

Sweet, complex, briskly floral. Honey, lavender-like flowers, cocoaish chocolate, hints of fir and mint in aroma and cup. Softly bright acidity; silky mouthfeel. Very sweet, flavor-saturated finish.

Very sweet, delicate. Rose-like flowers, milk chocolate, orangy citrus, spice, savory date in aroma and cup. Soft, gently backgrounded acidity; light but syrupy-textured mouthfeel. Sweet, deeply flavor-saturated (date, rose) short finish fades slightly in the long.

Evaluated as espresso. Crisp with ripe citrus and dark cocoa notes that carry persuasively and pleasingly from aroma to short milk. The body is light to medium in weight, but smoothly lively in mouthfeel. The lemon-orange-chocolate notes persist deeply into the long finish. Delicate in two parts milk, with the chocolate tendency predictably sweetening.

In structure sugary sweet yet dry in the mouthfeel. Aromatics are shifting and complex: cedar, raspberry, pineapple, spicy rose, unsweetened cocoa. Brisk, gentle acidity; silky to lightly syrupy mouthfeel. Sweetness prevails in a fruit- and spice-toned finish.

Intense, gently but sweetly tart. Lemony peach, almond, fresh-cut fir, brown sugar in aroma and cup. Delicate, lively acidity; leanish but silky mouthfeel. Long, almost sugary sweet short finish, drying in the long.

Evaluated as espresso. Rich, buttery aroma: ripe lemon, cherry, a hint of fresh-cut fir. In the small cup medium body, smooth mouthfeel, crisply complex flavor: the fruit and fir notes resolve toward a dark chocolate with a hint of anise. Deep, sweet, dark-chocolaty finish. The chocolate sensation rounds and softens in two parts milk; think a lemon-toned milk chocolate.

Intense, unusual profile, dominated by a citrus and molasses character that suggests both moist pipe tobacco and sweet black tea. Roundly rich acidity; lightly syrupy mouthfeel. The distinctive flavor complex lingers in the deep, rich finish.

Layers of rose, peach and lemon in the aroma. Silky mouthfeel, medium body, crisp acidity. Flowers move forward in the cup with complex suggestions of rose and lavender and continued complications of ripe citrus and a sweeter stone fruit. The flavor intrigue carries seamlessly from cup to a dry-edged, flavor-saturated finish.

Evaluated as espresso. In the small cup exhilarating floral-toned aroma balanced by orange and caramel, light though smooth mouthfeel, and continued floral tones in the flavor with complications of tart berry, lemon and baking spice. The flowers become even more pronounced in two parts milk, deepened by notes of butter, citrus and cocoa.

"An absolutely mind-blowing coffee" for co-cupper Andy Newbom (93). "Utterly pure yet soaringly intense," for Ken (97). "Say fruit ten times," Andy reports, and then he does, mainly variations of grapefruit, apricot and melon with green apple and Bartlett pear thrown in for the finish. For Ken that entire nuance is wrapped up in the extraordinary, singular explosion of cedary, pungently sweet berry, the quintessential Bourbon character. The acidity is enveloped in sweetness; in Andy's colorful language it "startles and snuggles all at once." For mouthfeel Andy suggests "crème fraîche Meyer lemon chiffon"; Ken sticks with a pedestrian "syrupy." Ken awarded a perfect 10 to the long, balanced, deeply flavor-saturated finish.

Gracefully sweet in the aroma, with soft fruit and floral notes. In the cup, sweet-toned acidity, medium body and delicate flavors of blossoming flowers, honey and summer fruit. Very clean finishing with a lingering sweetness.

A light floral aroma mingles with hints of tangy fruit as well as sweet toast and nuts. Bright, balanced, somewhat winy acidity, lean but silky mouthfeel. Complex flavors combine mild citrus, jasmine, and berries with roasted nuts, chocolate and a hint of juniper. A sweet baker's chocolate finish lingers.