A really nice Mexican that drinks clean and light. Platform is like a strongly brewed black tea with low bitterness. I get brown sugar and white peach. Super smooth. Reminds me a little of a peach black tea from Republic of Tea.

Cupping Method:My wife got it for me at Aero in Northborough

Notes - gave it a 4.5. Bright and fruity.

Notes: 4.5 like it enough to go back and grab a bag of beans for home.

Cupping Method:Blind Tiger Shop in Ybor City

Balanced, clean, and smooth Ethiopian that basically tastes like a white peach black tea. Its easy to drink rather than complex, but quite enjoyable sipping.

Cupping Method:Pourover at George Howell store in Newtonville, MA

As promised, a little lemon and a little peach, which a short burst of milk chocolate mid-palate. Gets better as it cools and drinks very smooth.

Cupping Method:To go siphon from Euphoria Coffee in Chelmsford, MA

A very cleanly roasted coffee that drinks smooth and low acid. Wonderful rich chocolate aroma on the grind. Id like a little more acidity/fruitiness but the trade-off is a fair deal - extremely smooth.

Cupping Method:Cold brew and pourover

The flavor of this decaf reminds me instantly of the holidays, and I can imagine myself drinking it with my family around the fireplace. I think that's because there's a prominent holiday spice and sugar plum flavor to it. It's also naturally sweet (a touch of maple?) and very smooth. A very good decaf.

Cupping Method:On a cold, rainy day in September at Clover Food Labs

A Sumatran that wows off the bat with an incredible aroma on the grind - deep chocolate, earthiness, and spice. It drinks well as both espresso and filter, with chocolate, earthiness and spice. It gets close to actually being black pepper spicy but I'd say the prominent note is clove.

In the espresso machine, it generates quite a nice crema and has pleasant mouthfeel.

I would like just a touch complexity/acidity, but overall have to say this is pretty tasty.

Cupping Method:I somehow ended up on the Denim website with a sampler to pay $2 for a $5 sampler. These offers usually result in getting some terrible coffee, but in this case that was not the result!

Very pleasant tasty decaf single-origin that is very versatile. Makes a nice filter and espresso. Does well in milk drinks (father-in-law really liked latte). Chocolate with good florality and some citrus notes as espresso, with an orange character when made as filter.

OK, I'm on my 4th shot of this espresso...

My wife and mother-in-law REALLY love their lattes and other milk drinks made with the 49th Epic Espresso

I do really like it myself as an easy-to-drink, smooth espresso with a little bit of complexity. I like the balance and natural sweetness. I'm not getting big florality, fruitiness, or complexity which is what I like in my espressos. But this one's tasty and makes great milk drinks. If I started a cafe I might use this roast! But the 4.5 is just my own sipping score.

Cupping Method:4x espressos pulled at at 95 degree C

A very clean, easy-to-drink coffee that's quite different from your typical Mexican, notably diverging from the chocolate/earthy characteristics. Instead, this is a low acidity light roast that drinks very smooth with black tea and red apple character, plus a touch of pineapple. For a light roast, it doesn't have much complexity, but it's so smooth you could drink a gallon of it in 5 minutes.

I'm not sure these beans are distinct from what you usually get from Mexico, or the character comes from Whiptail's distinctive light roast approach.

Cupping Method:Angel's Cup blind tasting, made using Chemex.

Smooth, very easy to drink light roast. I think it drinks a little bit more like a light-medium, with both chocolate and black tea character at different points in the palate. Smooth and balanced is what stands out here, and it's more like a really excellent breakfast blend than a fruity light roast some who drink Ethiopian single-origins might expect. There's a little bit of plum and red grape character, and the acidity is definitely enough to balance things off. Additionally, it's has a very pleasant natural sweetness, like a light honey touch.

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I used the last of this coffee (about a month after buying it) to make cold brew and got a really good result. Got a bit more orange character with that extraction.

Great that it's organic to boot.

Cupping Method:I purchased this coffee at the Whole Foods in Laguna Beach, CA and brought it back to Boston. I am drinking it at Chemex pourover.

As described an easy to drink dark roast with chocolate, caramel, spice, and vanilla. Good crema, and very nice mouthfeel.

Cupping Method:At Highline Coffee in San Diego in the Westin Hotel. It serves Cafe Moto.

Had cold brew made with this blend. Exactly as advertised, smooth, chocolate, berries. Maybe just a touch nutty.

Cupping Method:At the Invigatorium

Enticing, nutty, nutella like aroma on the grind. Nice fruitiness when hot but drinks very grapefruit. That mostly goes away as it cools. Then you have a lot of berry, pineapple, and black tea, with a bit of natural honey-like sweetness. A distinctly central America light roast that's very easy to drink. You see some with more complexity, but this is very nice.

Cupping Method:Chemex pourover, Angel's Cup blind tasting

Good coffee for a specific purpose:

I really like Jim's Organic Jo-Jo's Java roast for a versatile coffee to have around the house when you have folks with different preferences. Although it doesn't have a mind-blowing single characteristic, it's very tasty.

This blend drinks light, but not watered down. It's smooth, and it definitely carries some natural sweetness that's very enjoyable along the lines of brown sugar. It does not have an overpowering chocolate or nutty characteristic, though both are present.

I experiment with Jojo's Java the following ways while my in-laws (they actually left reviews before me) were here:

-Made good lattes/cortados
-Made a simple, but smooth espresso
-Great hot French press for easy sipping
-Smooth, cold brew (made in French press)

Cupping Method:Multiple ways! See above. Purchased at Donelan's in Lincoln, MA

La Encenada Snapchill is a fruity, tropical Snapchill coffee can that is very tasty and chuggable. Definitely towards light roast.

Notes I get include red berry with a lot of natural sweetness and some tropical notes. Drinks backwards and that impacts the mouthfeel a bit with the fruitiness first and then a cocoa/brown sugar finish.

Can descriptions includes fruit punch and I think this is apt!

Notably, caffeine level seems a bit above normal based on how I feel (thats a good thing!).

Cupping Method:I purchased 2 Snapchill cans at the George Howell location in Downtown Crossing in the Godfrey Hotel (also see Worka Chelbesa review).

I ran out of espresso, so ran over to our local market and was pleasantly surprised to find some good options, including a broad selection from Downeast. We'd had a solid experience with Downeast's flagship espresso, so we grabbed Admiral's Blend. It's also great that it's fair trade and organic, and price very reasonably.

Although it's not specifically designated as espresso, Admiral's Blend plays very nicely in the espresso machine. It produces a bright medium crema. It's chocolatey with that orange hint and good acidity. I think for a light-medium espresso it doesn't have the florality/complexity of some of the single-origin ones I've sampled recently, but this is a very good blend to have for versatile espresso drinks, Americanos, lattes, etc.

Cupping Method:I grabbed a bag of Admiral's Blend from Donelan's our supermarket in Lincoln, MA. Espresso extraction at 95 degree celsius on my Spaziale A53 Lucca.

This convenience format steepable bag from Jaho is pretty tasty. Super smooth, with very fruity but low acidity mid-palate. I think cherry and vanilla as they described it is accurate. Also a lot of natural sweetness and definitely milk chocolate. A very good steepable bag that would be fabulous on the camp site or airplane.

Cupping Method:Bought at Jaho Chinatown and just made it at home becuase I didn't feel like espresso and I was too lazy to make pourover

Characteristic Peru with fruitiness and a little bit of minerality. Red berry and black tea as pourover. Clean finish. Also got a great shot of espresso experimenting with this. Good iced, good hot. Versatile roast for the light pourover, floral espresso drinker.

Cupping Method:Chemex pourover, and also espresso. Part of a 3 bag sampler purchased from Blueprint.

Well done mocha - just the right amount of sweetness, very smooth, cinnamon highlighted mid palate. Enjoyed it a lot and maybe would have even more with some ice. Coffee is maybe a bit of an afterthought here but I cant complain.

Cupping Method:At Revolution Food Hall in Lexington, MA

I cupped this multiple times, and it was between 4.5 and 5 stars when it came down to grading it.

I get the grape character and some tropical flavors, all in a nice acidity. There's some natural sweetness - bag says brown sugar, I get maple, but splitting hairs. It's very nicely balance and smooth - I really enjoyed this coffee.

Cupping Method:Chemex 2x, Hario v60 once

Had a very good latte here made from this roast. It's definitely on the darker side but adds a lot of chocolate and nutty character.

Versatile roast that works in Chemex, espresso milk drinks, and as straight espresso.

As pourover, drinks very smooth and chocolatey, with a touch of orange. Sort of like an upgraded donut shop.

As espresso a touch nutty and very clean. Low/medium crema, smooth with some blackberry notes.

Great that its organic to boot.

Excellent dark roast with blackberry, dark chocolate, and nutty notes. Just the right bitter and smoky. Nice medium crema, pleasant mouthfeel.

Cupping Method:Double espresso with ice cream at New City Creamery in Hudson, MA

Chocolate and black tea, citrus zest, cola, sweet, lemon lime finish. Very nice and balanced throughout, fairly smooth. Has one pine-ish note (very tiny) mid-palate but I didnt love. 4.5 stars

Cupping Method:Pourover, did it with Chemex and v60

A very unique coffee that drinks as described with a big hit of cranberry/hibiscus up front, mellowing out to honey and melon. Doesnt really resemble a regular Colombia single-origin in any way. I like acidity and thats the highlight here, so wont be for everyone.

Cupping Method:Hario v60 twice

Dandelion has a great coffee program. At the time I visited their Las Vegas location they were serving Ritual Coffee Roasters. If you run into a Dandelion but want a coffee, you're in luck!

While I felt this mocha had some textural and balance flaws in the way it's presented, the flavors are really sensational. It has nibs, chile power, cinnamon powder, plus a lot of flavor within the dissolved chocolate mix. The spice and chocolate are really spectacular in quality. It takes some work to get a balanced sip where I think Dandelion's intent was intended.

Had this very good decaf espresso at Eight Cigar Bar in Las Vegas. Did not know it was Lavazza until asking after. Chocolate, nutty, clove, spice and smoke with a big crema, and very nice mouthfeel.