Coffee reviews: Estates' Coffee Review

Counter Culture Coffee Guatemala Antigua - Finca La Tacita
Origin: Antigua growing region, south-central Guatemala
A voluptuously sweet coffee, with roundly integrated acidity, great balance and elegance, and a resonant, cherry-toned fruit that carries through the profile from the intense aroma to the rich, finely clean finish. Complicating notes of fresh cedar, flowers and black currant in both aroma and cup. The fruit turns slightly chocolate toward the finish.
Overall Rating: 94 points

The Roasterie Guatemala Huehuetenango
Origin: Huehuetenango growing region, northwestern Guatemala
Sweet-impressioned, deep aroma complicated by dried cherry and hints of chocolate and cedar. Simplifies slightly in the cup, but a silky sweetness and quiet, vibrant acidity compensate. Almost sugary sweet in the long, clean finish.
Overall Rating: 92 points

Novo Coffee Guatemala Huehuetenango el Injerto
Origin: Huehuetenango growing region, northwestern Guatemala
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.
Overall Rating: 91 points

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Guatemala Finca Dos Marias
Origin: San Marcos growing region, western Guatemala
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.
Overall Rating: 90 points

Terroir Select Coffees El Injerto Guatemala SHB Huehuetenango
Origin: Huehuetenango growing region, northwestern Guatemala
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.
Overall Rating: 89 points

Stumptown Coffee Roasters Panama Esmeralda Especial
Origin: Boquete growing district, western Panama
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.
Overall Rating: 92 points

Terroir Select Coffees Honduras El Mirador
Origin: Finca El Mirador, El Paraiso Department, Honduras
Deep aroma with dry floral and tart berry and chocolate notes. Sweetly high-toned and acidy in the cup, delicately rich, hints of dry berry, sweet herb, flowers. Lightly astringent but refreshing finish.
Overall Rating: 91 points

Caffe Pronto Panama Esmeralda Special
Origin: Finca Esmeralda, Boquete growing district, western Panama
High-toned, complex aroma: lemon, flowers, sweet herbs, perhaps a cedar-toned, semi-sweet chocolate. Smoothes and quiets in the cup, with the semi-sweet chocolate, lemon and herb notes dominating. Slight but pleasing astringency in the finish.
Overall Rating: 91 points

Stumptown Coffee Roasters Honduras Finca El Mirador
Origin: El Paraiso Department, Honduras
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.
Overall Rating: 91 points

Terroir Select Coffees Nicaragua Las Termopilas
Origin: Esteli Department, Nicaragua
Extraordinary aroma: high-toned, delicate but intense, lilac and a chocolaty lemon. The chocolate-lemon and floral notes carry into the cup, but are backgrounded by a sweet but intense acidity. Clean, sweet finish.
Overall Rating: 90 points

Caffe Pronto Guatemala Finca Calahute Alto
Origin: Huehuetenango growing region, Guatemala
Slight cedary roastiness in the aroma, with a peach- or banana-toned dark chocolate that carries into the cup with a rich, pungent sweetness. The low-toned fruit lingers pleasingly in the long finish.
Overall Rating: 90 points

Intelligentsia Coffee Nicaragua Las Termopilas
Origin: Esteli Department, Nicaragua
A quiet, very sweet, delicately chocolate-toned coffee. Caramel and chocolate tones dominate in aroma and cup, gently complicated by floral top notes. Slightly astringent in the long finish.
Overall Rating: 89 points

Counter Culture Coffee Roasters Honduras El Puente
Origin: La Paz Department, Honduras
Gently bittersweet aroma with chocolate, cherry and cedar notes. Roundly rich in the cup, with distinct dry cocoa and surprising floral notes. Sweet and rich in the short finish, with a slight astringent bite in the long. Gains in power and quiet complexity as it cools.
Overall Rating: 88 points

Intelligentsia Coffee Honduras El Puente
Origin: La Paz Department, Honduras
Smoky, cedar- and cherry-toned fruit in the aroma. In the cup round, rich, bittersweet, with a tart, cherryish chocolate - think pie cherries rolled in unsweetened chocolate - and a sweet, floral-toned acidity. The finish strikes me as slightly too astringent.
Overall Rating: 88 points

Coffee Masters Colombia La Carol
Origin: Pitalito growing region, Huila State, Colombia
Intense aroma: cedar, caramel, and a hint of fruit that reads as semi-sweet chocolate. Round and full in the cup, with the pungent, cedar-toned chocolate complicated by a shimmer of orange citrus. The pleasingly pungent cedar tones turn a bit heavy and astringent in the finish.
Overall Rating: 87 points

Ecco Caffe Daterra Reserve
Origin: Cerrado growing region, Minas Gerais State, Brazil
Both Ken and co-taster Ted Lingle remarked on the "lush but elegant" (Ken) aroma and fat, buttery body of this single-origin espresso. In the small cup, dry berry notes and semi-sweet chocolate. Blooms sweetly and richly in milk. Ken found the flavor in cup and milk a bit too simple, limiting his score to a 90, but for Ted the profile throughout was complete, classic, and worth a resounding 95. Nominating reader Teri Bolla clearly agrees with Ted: "incredibly balanced, round, extremely smooth, shows total finesse, abundant chocolate...thick and rich on the palate."
Overall Rating: 93 points

The Roasterie Panama Esmeralda Special, 2005
Origin: Boquete growing district, western Panama
Superb aroma: For Ken giddily floral with blueberry and cherry notes, for co-cupper Rodger Owen "a beautiful burst of lemon." In the cup crisply bright, intensely floral, sweetly and quietly lemon, then (for Ken) rounding toward an orange-toned chocolate. Slight astringency in the short finish but the floral notes had the last, lingering word in the long.
Overall Rating: 92 points

Paradise Roasters Best of Panama Cafe Kotowa
Origin: Boquete growing district, western Panama
A simple, lyrically appealing coffee, alive with floral notes and a vivid little twist that Ken associated with spice and co-cupper Rodger Owen with cedar. Ken also cited cherry-toned fruit in the aroma that leaned toward a delicate chocolate in the cup. Fresh, cleanly sweet finish.
Overall Rating: 91 points

Stumptown Coffee Roasters Panama Don Pachi Estate Geisha
Origin: Boquete growing district, western Panama
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.
Overall Rating: 90 points

Flying Goat Coffee Organic Panama Boquete Casa Ruiz
Origin: Boquete growing district, western Panama
Intense, rather acidy aroma with vanilla-toned chocolate and fruit notes. In the cup the acidity was either sweet and lushly lively (Ken) or a touch too soft (co-cupper Rodger Owen), the flavor a bit too simple (Rodger) or intriguing in its simultaneous sensory allusions to wine and chocolate (Ken).
Overall Rating: 88 points

The Roasterie Decaf Colombia Supremo Pitalito Estate
Origin: Colombia
Mid-toned but rich, deep aroma, with fresh leather, pear, peach and milk chocolate suggestions. Simplifies a bit in the cup, undercurrents of pipe tobacco and a tartly refreshing, sweet fruit, pie cherries perhaps or kiwi.
Overall Rating: 90 points

Cafe Sunrise Finca Buenos Aires Medium Roast
Origin: Honduras
In the aroma flat, rather woody, with low-toned fruit notes suggesting a sort of spicy banana. These odd but pleasant fruit notes persist in the rich though rather monotoned cup, which grows flatter and woodier as it cools. Medium body, clean, rich, rather pleasant finish.
Overall Rating: 84 points

Cafe Sunrise Finca Buenos Aires Medium Roast Decaffeinated
Origin: Honduras
In the aroma shallow in sensation but pleasantly sweet with orange- and aromatic-wood notes. The cup is sweet, delicate, complicated by orange and a hint of milk chocolate but shadowed by flat, woody undertones. Sweet, clean short finish, but in the long the woody, flat undercurrents resurface.
Overall Rating: 84 points

Allegro Coffee Organic Brazil
Origin: Minas Gerais State, Brazil
Quietly but giddily complex. Fruit notes read as a sort of spicy papaya and semi-sweet chocolate in the aroma. The cup reveals dramatic floral notes with the fruit reading as orange, though still with a semi-sweet chocolate tendency that carries from the rich short finish to clean, lingering long.
Overall Rating: 91 points

Martinez Fine Coffees Brazil Cerrado Capim Branco
Origin: Cerrado growing region, Minas Gerais State, Brazil
Sweetly and gently acidy medium-roasted coffee, with a hint of semi-sweet chocolate in the aroma and sweet lemon and tomato in the cup. Rather shallow in sensory dimension, but softens and deepens as the cup cools, revealing floral hints. Balanced finish with a gentle astringency buffered by sweetness.
Overall Rating: 87 points

The Roasterie Esmeralda Special Panama
Origin: Finca Esmeralda, Boquete growing district, western Panama
Intense, high-toned aroma, complex but tightly knit: lemon, dry berry, flowers (tea rose?), milk chocolate. The acidity is powerful but roundly balanced, the body surprisingly full, the flavor explosive: rose water, sweet pipe tobacco, chocolate, all enveloped in a lemony richness. Lemon and chocolate notes carry into the finish, where they soften and enliven a slight astringency.
Overall Rating: 93 points

Kaffe Magnum Opus Zambia AA Plus, Lupili Estate
Origin: Zambia
A changeable coffee both as it cools and from session to session. Constants are a crisp coffee fruit that probably best reads as pear or cherry, a smoky, spicy chocolate sensation, and distinct floral notes that at times resemble an elegant, heady lilac. The finish tends to be heavy, but as the cup cools the long finish is finely floral.
Overall Rating: 88 points