The colonial town of Antigua Guatemala, center of the Antigua coffee growing region, with the Arch of Santa Catalina and Agua volcano.

There was a lot of soulful, old-fashioned coffee pleasure to be had among the 38 single-origin Guatemala coffees we tested for this month’s report, along with a few subtle sensory shocks and surprises. Given the waves of experimentation with processing methods pursued by Central American coffee producers over the last couple of years, I thought we might need to finesse our way through trade-offs between flamboyant fruit-forward anaerobic ferment experiments and classic washed coffee tradition. But only one explicit anaerobic-fermented sample showed up, and that one was rather subdued and unexceptional.

Does that mean the highest-rated among the remaining 37 Guatemalas we tested were predictable or boring? Not at all. Partly because the other great determinant of originality in coffee character, tree variety, is very much in play here. Among the ten top-rated, 91+ Guatemalas we tested, five were produced from trees of the celebrated Geisha variety, the cultivar that transformed specialty coffee history when its grandly structured, floral and cocoa-toned cup emerged in the Best of Panama green coffee competition in 2004. True, the five Geishas represented in this month’s cupping are not as intense and startlingly distinctive as were those early Panama Geishas. Nevertheless, these Guatemala Geishas were more than distinctive enough to infuse the classic balance of washed-process coffees with floral complexity and sweet, juicy brightness. This fusion is particularly clear in two top-rated coffees from familiar Taiwan roasters, the GK Coffee Guatemala El Injerto Malawi Geisha Washed (95) and the Kakalove Guatemala Washed Finca La Hermosa Gesha Peaberry (94). Both deliver classic pleasure with a distinct Geisha lift. (The El Injerto Malawi Geisha, by the way, is produced from seed of a strain of the Geisha variety that has long been grown in the East African country of Malawi, independent from the Panama-grown variety that has created such a stir elsewhere in the coffee world.)

El Injerto is a distinguished Huehuetenango-region farm that produced two of the coffees reviewed this month. Courtesy of Euphora Coffee.

Two Natural-Process Geishas

The impact of Geisha as a cup-transforming tree variety was bolstered almost from the beginning by processing experiments aimed at intensifying its already striking character. Two of the Geishas we review this month were processed by the natural method, the ancient, now updated practice of drying coffee in the whole fruit.

These two samples clearly reveal the contrasting directions taken by the contemporary natural-process cup. The Bonlife Guatemala Finca La Linea Gesha (93) embodies the now familiar style of natural: sweet, lushly fruit-toned, chocolate-inclined, a style often patronized by purists as “fruit bomb.” What this term misses is the fact that there are successful fruit bombs and less successful fruit bombs, and this month’s Bonlife Finca La Linea, in our view, can be counted as a successful one. The fruit tones are ripe though not overripe, and the structure is plush and juicy but free of shadow taint.

Moving in the opposite direction, the Euphora Coffee El Injerto Legendary Geisha (94) is hardly recognizable as a natural: it could be a particularly lush washed-process coffee. Rather than plushly sweet, it is richly sweet-tart, with a deep, ringing acidity.

Lime and Herb

Finally, the Geisha character displays an unusual twisty, vaguely margarita-like edge in the washed-process Kafe Coffee Roastery Guatemala Antigua Bella Carmona Geisha (92). Here the Geisha flowers are freesia-like and herby, the citrus an unusual lime.

Now to Guatemala Coffees Not Named Geisha (or Gesha)

Specialty coffee traditionalists who associate the Guatemala cup with a deep, vibrantly low-toned character and chocolate- and nut-toned nuance will also find pleasure and support in the results of this cupping. The Handlebar Guatemala Bella Carmona (93) in particular forgoes the Geisha edge for more traditional tree varieties, netting an impressive version of a familiar style Guatemala cup at an affordable price. Produced from trees of the Bourbon and Caturra varieties, it is a spot-on classic Guatemala of the old school: vibrant but low-toned, chocolaty, with orange and floral complication.

Luis Pedro Zelaya of Finca Bella Carmona in Antigua, Guatemala. Courtesy of Handlebar Coffee.

For some years now the coffee producers and technicians of the world have been on the lookout for another under-the-radar variety bombshell like the Geisha, with some success (in Colombia Sidra and Chiroso; worldwide, plantings of Kenya’s SL-28), though based on our experience at Coffee Review none of these recently popularized varieties exhibit near the startlingly original character of the original Panama Geisha. Another direction in the new variety search has been exploration of the sensory potential of varieties with unusual bean size and shape. Two such coffees appeared and showed fairly well in this month’s cupping. The Marago-Pache (a large-beaned hybrid of the huge-beaned Maragogype and the Typica-related Pache) from Torque Coffees scored 91 for its delicate, subtly structured cup. A more radically different new variety is the Willoughby’s Guatemala El Socorro Laurina (91). Laurina is different in at least three ways: different bean shape (small and pointy), different tree shape (cone-shaped, resembling a cross between a coffee tree and a Christmas tree), and different in caffeine content: Laurina beans deliver about half as much caffeine as typical Arabica beans. Laurina is a mutant of Bourbon first found growing on Reunion Island (previously Isle of Bourbon), leading to its alternative name, Bourbon Pointu. In the cup we found it quietly distinctive, with savory-edged chocolate and deeply stated floral notes we associated with rose.

Hybrid Varieties, Subtle Processing, Fine Cup

For me perhaps the most original and noteworthy coffee in the cupping did not come from Geisha or any of the other rediscovered and fashionable varieties, but instead from disease-resistant hybrids that incorporate Robusta in their genetics. The Coffea Guatemala Chich’upao (93) was produced from trees of the Costa Rica 90, Parainema and Sarchimor varieties, all members of the taste-suspect Catimor family of cultivars. I can only assume that the refined processing method deployed by the producers, Café de Chichupac, a cooperative of small-holding producers in Rabinal, Guatemala, carried the day and the cup. The processing method involved sealing the whole coffee fruit in nylon bags for two days before it was depulped and dried with skin and pulp removed but fruit flesh intact, this last step making it technically a variation on red-honey processing.

Regardless of processing name, these villagers produced a splendid coffee in a classic Central America mode: gentle, deeply complex, and quite pure. It was achieved with the support and advice of Coffea Guatemala, a small roaster and café in the famous colonial town of Antigua, Guatemala.

Coffee and History

The other reason the Coffea Chich’upao is remarkable for me is its relationship to the social history of Guatemala, a country with a long and painful history of strife between an elite of mainly European heritage and a large population of indigenous people, mostly of Mayan ethnicity (an estimated 51 percent of the total Guatemalan population). Coffee production is, of course, one avenue through which development agencies and other progressive organizations (including businesses like Coffea Guatemala) attempt to give support and voice to indigenous villagers and small-holding producers.

Sebastian Chen of Café De Chichupac cooperative, producer of the Coffea Guatemala Chich’upao. Courtesy of Coffea Guatemala.

The municipality in which the Chich’upaq coffee was produced, Rabinal, carries particular importance in the history of indigenous people in Guatemala. Rabinal Achí is a Maya theatrical play written in the Kʼicheʼ language and performed annually in Rabinal. It is one of the few performance pieces surviving from before Spanish colonization. Rabinal, unfortunately, is also the site of the infamous murders from 1980 to around 1985 of at least 5,000 Maya villagers by the right-wing military government of Efrain Rios Montt during the 40-year-long Guatemalan Civil War.

Another attractive option for the socially conscious coffee buyer is the Wonderstate Organic Guatemala Tojquia (92), produced by farmer Porfirio Velasquez on his small farm of seven acres from standard tree varieties and fastidiously processed by the traditional washed method. Temperate fruits (cherry, pear) in particular weave through its classic cocoa-toned balance. This is the only certified organic-grown coffee among the ten reviewed this month, and Wonderstate has a long and distinguished record of support for environmental and social causes and issues.

Porfirio Velasquez, producer of Wonderstate Coffee’s Guatemala Tojquia, on his seven-acre Huehuetenango farm. Courtesy of Nick Brehany

Famous Farms, Renowned Growing Regions

Other coffees reviewed this month were produced by larger farms, most either in the valley surrounding the town of Antigua Guatemala or in the mountains of Huehuetenango Department near the border with Chiapas, Mexico. Finca Injerto, a third-generation farm in Huehuetenango, is among the most admired Central American coffee estates and the source of two of the three top-rated reviewed coffees: the GK Coffee Malawi Geisha Washed (95) and the svelte natural-processed Euphora Legendary Gesha (94). Finca Vista Hermosa, a third-generation Huehuetenango farm owned by the Edwin Martinez family, produced the unusual Marago-Pache variety from Torque Coffee (91).

Finca El Socorro, source of Willoughby’s very rare, low-caffeine Laurina variety (91), boasts a winning record in Cup of Excellence green coffee competitions as well as a line of coffees from rare tree varieties like the Laurina. Finca Bella Carmona is a green coffee brand associated with a group of Antigua farms that appears here twice, once with the 93-rated Handlebar Guatemala and again with the Kafe Coffee Roastery Bella Carmona Geisha (92). Finally, the Gesha Peaberry from Kakalove Cafe (94) was produced by the relatively new, medium-sized farm Finca La Hermosa in the Acatenango region near the famous volcano of the same name.

Timing and Turnout

The turnout of coffees this month was less robust than usual, possibly because our publication schedule forced us to run the report a bit too early and some of the finest, high-altitude Guatemalas may have not yet made it to the roasters. The timing also may have contributed to a modest fall-off in overall ratings, since it is possible that some of the lower-rated submissions not reviewed here were from last year’s crop.

Nevertheless, this month’s ten 91-plus coffees are varied and powerful expressions of the Guatemala coffee genius, reflecting both its great classic tradition as well as subtle enhancements of new tree varieties and processing innovations.

Managing Editor Kim Westerman and Associate Editor Jason Sarley contributed to this report.

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NBA player Jimmy Butler launched his luxury coffee brand, BigFace, in the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo Credit: Getty Images

Our notions of celebrity in the U.S. have expanded over the decades. Being a Hollywood icon is no longer the only gateway to stardom, as evidenced by the growing pool of “influencers” from many walks of life. From YouTube trendsetters to musicians powerful enough to tip various political scales, the minimum basic requirements are a smartphone, a bit of charisma and an audience. Many household names have entered the coffee space, which, by our reckoning, is quite a mysterious landscape to them. Most celebrity-branded coffees we tasted were so underwhelming that the handful that rose above a score of 87 seemed like small miracles.

At Coffee Review, our goal is to help you find wonderful coffees to drink, coffees we can recommend wholeheartedly. As such, our reports lean heavily into praise wherever it is warranted. Instead of writing negative reviews, we tend to skip over coffees that don’t perform well on the cupping table. But when a growing subcategory of the retail coffee market is getting by on the fumes of marketing dollars and adjacency to famous people alone, it’s time to blow the whistle: With very few exceptions, celebrity-branded coffees are more hype than haute.

The Star-Studded (Ahem) Lineup

We cupped 30 coffees currently available to consumers that have some overt relationship to a celebrity, broadly defined as a well-known public figure. Of those, eight scored 87 or higher, while the range for the remaining 22 was 78 to 86. (For us, anything below 80 is commodity-grade coffee, rather than specialty.) Two of the top three are roaster collaborations with chefs, and the remainder of the top eight range from an athlete-driven brand to an iconic fashion designer’s coffee to two actual bona fide Hollywood stars who drink the stuff and have lent their names to brands. But how much do any of these high-profile folks really know about coffee? And how involved with these brands are they, anyway?

The Relationship Between Quality and Transparency

It might stand to reason that transparency and quality are often correlated; in this context, it proves to be true. The majority of the celebrity-blessed coffees we cupped were as generic as can be — not in terms of the packaging and branding but the beans inside the catchy (often kitschy) bags, boxes and canisters. For people who love coffee, the story of its origin is part of the pleasure, and if a brand doesn’t highlight the story of the coffee beyond its country of origin, then there’s likely “no there there,” to quote Gertrude Stein. Also, most of these brands are ghost-roasted, i.e., “white-label” roasted by an unnamed company for the brand. Those coffees whose roasters are named on the packaging tended to score higher, which makes sense, as their brands are also on the line. The higher-scoring coffees, by and large, also had backstories on roasters’ websites, from specific origin information to, in some cases, details about the farmers who grew the coffees. And the relationship between the roaster and the celebrity, in these cases, is also more transparent.

Eight Celebrity-Branded Coffees We Can (More or Less) Recommend

Clear winners at the top of our list are two coffees (transparently) roasted by Equator Coffees. And their respective attached celebrities are chefs: Thomas Keller, arguably one of the most highly regarded chefs in the world, and Brandon Jew, who’s part of the cadre of younger U.S. chefs making waves.

Chef Brandon Jew visits Equator Coffees to choose the coffee for Double Happiness, a single origin coffee from Ethiopia. Courtesy of Equator Coffees

Double Happiness by Chef Brandon Jew (93) is an Equator-roasted coffee in the company’s Chef’s Collection. Double Happiness is a symbol that represents joy and unity, and proceeds from sales of this coffee benefit Cut Fruit Collective, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization whose work supports Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. It’s a classic washed Ethiopia with notes of bright stone fruit, balanced acidity and rich cocoa nib notes. This was Equator’s first chef collaboration that featured a single-origin coffee rather than a blend.

Perhaps the most highly regarded chef in the U.S., Thomas Keller partnered with Equator Coffees to create the “Sense of Urgency Blend” to celebrate The French Laundry’s 30th anniversary. Courtesy of Equator Coffee

There are five Thomas Keller-Equator coffee collaborations, and the one we review here is the Sense of Urgency Blend (92), named for the sign that hangs under a clock at The French Laundry, Keller’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant. Keller says, “I ask my team to come to work with this sense each day, and it goes beyond just making sure we are prepared and ready to serve. It’s about speed, but it also means investing in what we do with a sense of importance.” The coffee is a blend of Sumatra (Koperasi Ketiara Cooperative), Colombia (La Rosa Women’s Group) and Kenya (smallholding farmers), roasted to medium-dark to highlight the blend’s sweet earthiness and floral nature.

Ted Stachura, Equator’s Director of Coffee, says Equator’s relationship with Keller goes back to the late 90s and that this coffee is designed to celebrate The French Laundry’s 30^th anniversary. One dollar from each bag of this blend sold will go to OLE Health, which has been providing high-quality health care in and around Napa since 1972.

Bigface Coffee is NBA player Jimmy Butler’s luxury coffee brand. Photo courtesy of Kim Westerman

Also in at 92 is BigFace’s Burundi Heza Station, whose presentation is about as blingy as can be in the world of coffee. BigFace is pro basketball player Jimmy Butler’s lifestyle brand, whose genesis dates back to the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, when Butler made coffee in his hotel room and charged fellow players $20 a cup. Akin to the heavy bottles of reinforced glass that house certain $350 cult California Cabs, this mere 8 ounces of coffee is similarly overpackaged in a large, thick, shiny silver box with a raised typeface for the logo (a sort of smiley face cup of coffee) and brand name in all caps, and a label with tasting notes and a QR code for “full analysis,” which just means information about the producer, farm, processing — and, oddly, geographical coordinates. Inside the reusable box is a thick, translucent bag of coffee with the coffee details repeated. While the brand has collaborated with various roasters, it’s not clear who roasts its core products.

This is a nice, spice-toned coffee with notes of nutmeg and baking chocolate, but given that other roasters sell the same coffee for $20 to $26 for 10 ounces — and this one retails at $40 for 8 ounces — it’s probably safe to say that you’re paying a lot for this packaging and virtual proximity to Butler. Make of it what you will. It certainly is a twist on the concept of “startup.”

A Legit Women-Farmed 91 From Sofia Vergara

Colombian actor Sofia Vergara launched her brand of women-farmed coffees, Dios Mio, in 2024. Photo credit: Dios Mio Coffee

Colombian-American actress and CoverGirl model Sofia Vergara sought to find smallholding women farmers in her homeland, and they are profiled on the Dios Mio website, Vergara’s online coffee outpost. While the three coffees — light, medium and dark — have no obvious differentiation beyond roast, we do know that they’re all women-farmed and roasted in Miami Shores, Florida. The medium-roast version is crisply chocolaty, sweetly nutty, and quite respectable in terms of balance and aromatics. At $14.99 for 12 ounces, it’s also a great value. (The company sells a lot of ground coffee; don’t buy that, as it will likely arrive stale given that oxygen in the whole-bean bag we tested was at 13.9 percent. It should be at zero percent, or close to it.)

Two Solid 90s

Kyle McLachlan, of Twin Peaks and Sex and the City fame, is known as a wine and coffee lover, and his partnership with Walla Walla Roastery, called Brown Bear Melange (aka Kyle’s Blend) is just $14 for a full pound of coffee (which makes one consider how much the farmers were paid), and it’s a surprisingly rich, chocolaty dark roast with little bitter downside. Its sweet smokiness is an old-school pleasure that also works well in cappuccino format. Pro-tip: Brew an extra-strong batch, say a 12:1 water-to-coffee ratio, chill it down, and add ice and whole milk for a stout summer afternoon pick-me-up. There are photos of the actor with the roasters, which makes it seem like he really does drink this coffee. It’s better branding than the aspirational bling effect, for sure.

Actor Kyle McLachlan is well-known for his love of coffee, and he collaborated with Walla Walla Roastery to create Brown Bear Melange AKA “Kyle’s Blend.” Photo credit: Walla Walla Roastery

On the flipside of McLachlan’s neo-noir screen image is Mr. Polo himself, Ralph Lauren, the legendary classic American designer whose eponymous brand is perhaps most notable for the invention of the polo shirt, which was, is and always will be synonymous with “preppy” fashion. His empire entered the coffee space when it opened its first café in New York in 2014, and the branding — from bags to swag — is on point: austere, regal, with a font treatment that evokes the 1950s East Coast sailing culture. The coffee, too, delivers exactly that vibe. While we don’t know what’s in the bag (besides coffees from Central and South America), we know it was roasted by La Colombe, and that alone — naming the roaster — further legitimizes the concept. Ralph’s Roast tastes like excellent diner coffee — briskly sweet, nut-toned, gently earthy, and just dandy black or doctored up. It’s a versatile cup that pleases a wide range of palates in its un-fancy but familiar profile.

Iconic American fashion designer Ralph Lauren has his own line of coffees. Photo credit: Ralph’s Coffee

A Middlin’ Trio: Celebrity Brands That Could Have Done Better With Their Resources

It’s not as if scores in the range of 83 to 88 are bad; if these coffees were an English paper, they’d earn Bs. It’s just that with the kinds of resources that folks like Robert Downey, Jr. and Emma Chamberlain have, forgive me for wanting a bit more effort in the quality department.

Downey Jr.’s brand, Happy, which he co-founded with Craig Dubitsky of Method cleaning products, seems like a vague concept. The website lists the young, smiling team members (first names only) who make Happy happen. It’s true that the company also “partners with” the National Alliance on Mental Illness, but nowhere have I found what that actually means. (Emails to the brand were not returned.) What really bugs me is the packaging. I don’t mind the idea of pitching coffee as part of a happy life, but the big plastic bins these coffees are packaged in don’t really seem in line with Happy’s stated sustainability efforts. Are they plant-based? I don’t think so. The Magnificent Medium Roast (88) — said to be, like all the brand’s coffees, roasted by “the world’s largest vertically integrated coffee roaster” — is briskly sweet, gently nutty and wood framed. Just fine, but not likely to evoke paroxysms of joy.

Robert Downey, Jr. and Craig Dubitsky’s Happy Coffee is available at Target stores and Sprouts markets. Photo credit: Happy Coffee

Emma Chamberlain is a YouTube phenom clearly devoted to her coffee and its accessories. The coffee itself is …. meh. One of the whole-bean coffees in her line, Social Dog (87), is a dark-roast blend of coffee from Peru and Nicaragua pitched as a medium roast. It’s a gently drying, sweetly nutty cup, but there’s not much else to it beyond the absence of defects. And while Chamberlain’s name and face are all over the branding, it’s not at all clear who does the actual work of the business. She does have the recipes down if you’re into such things as “cinnamon bun lattes.”

Emma Chamberlain is a YouTube influencer with an affinity for coffee. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

We also cupped three Central Perk Coffees, the Friends-themed coffee shop and brand from celeb chef Tom Colicchio. I sure like the guy’s food, but he’s gone far afield with his foray into coffee. The How You Doin’ Blend, which ostensibly has a nice proletariat appeal, scored highest out of the three at 83, i.e., the low end of specialty where cup quality is concerned. Sourced from Colombia and Brazil, it’s like a Brazil-heavy blend, as it is exceedingly nut-toned to the point of monotony, with wood notes that lean more wood pulp than fresh forest.

Chef Tom Coliccio’s coffee shop and online brand are called Central Perk in homage to the television show “Friends.” Photo credit: Central Perk Coffee

Nice Try, But Definitely No Cigar

Two celebrity brands stand out for their lack of care regarding coffee quality, Hanx and Rudy.

We don’t know anyone who doesn’t love Tom Hanks, but his coffee brand, Hanx, is a sad state of sensory affairs. The good news is that, like Paul Newman’s line of products, 100 percent of proceeds go to support worthy causes, in this case, nonprofits serving U.S. military veterans and their families. The bad news is that the coffee isn’t really drinkable. We could only get our hands on the Hanx First Class Joe, whose ground format didn’t help its blind-cupping chances. At a score of 79, we detected defects that prevented us from classifying this one as specialty coffee.

HANK is actor Tom Hanks’ coffee brand that donates 100 percent of profits to organizations supporting veterans and their families. Photo credit: HANX

Rudy’s Coffee, which is Rudy Giuliani’s brand, launched just after he was indicted in Arizona on conspiracy charges to overturn the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. We rated both the Morning Coffee and the Bold Coffee at 78, as they were flat, acrid, burnt and bitter. Forgive our cynicism, but this seems clearly like a money grab, and with Giuliani’s mug (pun intended) taking up three-quarters of the large, two-pound bag space, we think it’s a coffee only a mother (meaning his mother) could love. (Sprudge reported just last month that the roaster responsible for the Rudy’s lineup is also bankrupt.)

Rudy Giuliani launched his eponymous coffee brand shortly after being indicted in Arizona on conspiracy charges to overturn the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. Photo credit: Rudy Coffee

Sigh … Celebrity-Branded Coffees Are Nothing to Write Home About 

It was an interesting exercise to meticulously blind-cup these 30 coffees, but we only found a few to truly recommend. Hopefully, future collabs backed by big bucks will hire coffee professionals to bring better products to market, as well as pay farmers higher prices.

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Summer is upon us, and that means one thing for many coffee lovers: cold coffee. It sounds like such a simple beverage, but the number of brew methods and packaging technologies currently on the market, many of them proprietary, make choosing a ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee confusing. We decided to cut a path through the complicated landscape of RTD products in hopes of getting some clarity.

According to a recent report by Allied Market Research, if the $33 billion RTD coffee market keeps pace with its predicted compound annual growth rate of 5 percent, the sector will be worth $53.5 billion by 2032. That’s a whole lot of convenience for the consumers who most demand it: younger people such as Millennial and Gen Z coffee drinkers. But do those same consumers also demand quality? And if so, is it possible to find both convenience and quality in one product? If not, is RTD coffee simply a caffeine-delivery system for those on the go? We at Coffee Review, of course, seek quality coffee above all else, however fast or slow the access.

Of the 44 RTD black coffees we tested for this report, ranging in brew method from classic long-steeped cold brew to hot-brewed and high-tech flash-chilled (often nitrogen-infused), only nine scored 90 or higher. This was a surprising finding given that the quality of small-lot green coffee worldwide seems to be rising each year, along with the quality of high-end retail-roasted specialty coffees, of which we cup hundreds each year. Shouldn’t these RTDs, collectively, have been more impressive by virtue of this alone? RTD coffees are, by their nature, convenient, but one thing we learned is that making a good one is not as simple as choosing a high-quality green coffee.

A Range of Contenders, Only a Handful of Standouts

While roughly 80 percent of the RTDs we tested scored below 90, a full 17 percent of these scored in the mid-to-low-80s on our consumer-facing 100-point scale. It’s difficult to know whether the green coffees used for these lower-scoring RTDs or their production methods were most at fault, but our sensory notes recorded many “off” flavors ranging from sour to overly savory (salty) and bitter to somewhat vegetal. Some of these samples used ostensibly good-quality green coffees, in which case, either the roast profile or the brewing method was likely their downfall, or possibly the specific methods used to transform them into RTD format. In other cases, the green coffee was unnamed, which might’ve been a contributing factor to low scores if the undisclosed coffees were poor in quality.

But let’s focus on the good stuff. Of the nine RTDs we review here, two scored 94; two scored 93; two scored 92; two scored 91 (including a decaf!); and one scored 90. What made these nine rise above the others?

We use slightly different evaluative categories for RTD coffees than we do for both cupping and espresso. We don’t score aroma, a key cupping category (because cold beverages don’t have volatile aromas), but we do test with milk, a key espresso category, as many consumers drink their cold coffees in with-milk preparations. (Our ratio of coffee to cold whole milk was 5:1.) The other categories are acidity, body, flavor and aftertaste. Some successful RTD coffees (usually light-roasted) center on vibrant acidity and are designed for people who will likely drink them black. Others (often darker-roasted) are explicitly focused on low-acid profiles and lend themselves to combining with milk. And some manage to strike a balance that works well both black and with milk.

Two Single-Origin Microlots at 94

The two top-scoring RTDs in this report are variations on the classic cold brew theme, meaning they are brewed cold (rather than brewed hot, then chilled). Both are from roasters in Taiwan, and both are presented in little flask-like whiskey bottles that invoke a single-serving specialness and care. (We tested all coffees blind but were delighted to discover the aesthetically pleasing packaging after scoring.)

Euphora Coffee’s Plumeria is as floral as its name implies, but instead of tropical flowers, we got heady, sultry wisteria notes alongside ginger, citrus zest and ripe stone fruit. While its acidity is high-toned and juicy, adding milk knocks this cold brew out of the park, as all the flavor notes coalesce and harmonize, somehow elevated by the fat carried in on the milk—a perfect 10 in our book. This coffee, a combination of microlots from Costa Rica (one washed and one honey-processed), was brewed simply by immersing the coffee in cold water (at an undisclosed temperature and length of steeping), then filtering.

GK Coffee’s Colombia El Paraiso Lychee Rose Cold Drip, which was brewed in the refrigerator by the slow-drip method over four to six hours at a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, starts with a highly pedigreed green coffee grown by Wilton Benitez and processed by the anaerobic thermal shock method (see review for more details about this elaborate multi-step process). Its savory-tart profile is anchored by notes of Asian pear, blood orange, pink peppercorn and pipe tobacco, with a lovely cocoa nib throughline. Adding milk amplifies this RTD’s complex richness.

GK Coffee’s Colombia El Paraiso Lychee Rose Cold Drip tied for the highest score in this month’s RTD report. Courtesy of GK Coffee.

Two Opposite Styles, Each at 93

A single-origin and a thoughtful blend, the former bright and juicy and the latter chocolaty and deep-toned, both land at a solid 93 for their balance and finesse. Four Barrel Coffee’s Halo Hartume Cold Coffee is a light-roast washed Ethiopia that’s brewed hot then chilled quickly without exposure to oxygen before being canned. It’s brightly fruity (think tart guava) and richly floral (lush magnolia) with ballast from baking chocolate, lemon thyme and cedar. It’s fresh, it’s juicy, and taken black, it offers an elemental experience of this origin in an RTD format.

Olympia Coffee’s Cold Brew is manufactured by Cool Crafted Beverage in a proprietary process that involves steeping a precise dose of coffee in mineral-enriched cool or room-temperature water, then canning. The green coffee used is Olympia’s medium-roast Morning Sun blend of coffees from Latin America, which has deep-toned notes of chocolate and hazelnut against a backdrop of vanilla-like florals and complex citrus, perhaps the closest thing we tasted to a “classic” cold brew, in that it is even-keeled and solid both black and with milk.

Olympia Coffee’s Cold Brew scored 93 in this report. Courtesy of Olympia Coffee

A New Technology and a Precision-Tuned Classic Method, Both at 92

Of the 44 coffees we tested, 10 were manufactured by **Snapchill, a company that seems to be on a rapid growth trajectory, partnering with specialty coffee roasters to produce custom RTDs under co-branded labels. The roasted coffee is brewed hot using Curtis Omega large-batch brewers, then filtered with a standard coffee filter. The coffee is then pushed through a secondary micron filter that is intended to remove any remaining nonsoluble particles, which prevents over-extraction in the can. Snapchill’s game-changing technique is to instantly chill the coffee to 38 degrees Fahrenheit without the use of ice and immediately canning to prevent oxidation.

The best exemplar of this style we found is George Howell’s Montecarlos Snapchill Coffee, a single-origin El Salvador that’s cocoa- and caramel-toned, supported by bittersweet walnut, crisp citrus and sweet herbs. It has a particularly nice malic (apple-like) acidity.

Snapchill works with roasters to create customer RTD coffees. Courtesy of Snapchill.

Kyle Bosshardt, director of business development for Snapchill, describes the company’s way of working with roasters: “Our process is very flexible, so we can work with any bean, origin, blend and roast profile. We ask roasters to provide us with information about the coffee they are sending, including flavor and roast profile, and if they have a target TDS [total dissolved solids]. It’s a collaboration to find the temperature at which we ‘Snapchill’ the coffee to arrive at the desired flavor profile, which is the artistry we love to steward for roasters.”

One mystery we couldn’t untangle is the lack of clarity across the board in the Snapchill RTDs we tested. Most of the lighter-roasted products we tested that were produced by brewing methods other than Snapchill were translucent, but all of the Snapchill-processed coffees, regardless of roast level, were opaque, even cloudy, and all contained some tangible amount of undissolved solids. It’s impossible to say how this influenced the flavor, specifically, but it definitely made the texture velvety, at best, and somewhat sludgy in the case of several examples that are not included in this report.

Like so many coffee drinkers who look for quality in a convenient format, I stumbled onto Wandering Bear Extra-Strong Cold Brew in a health food market in rural North Carolina, when I knew I didn’t want to do battle each morning with my parents’ elaborate coffee maker (that has more bells and whistles than I can count)—and it was really hot and humid—a perfect formula for opening up the possibility of discovering convenience and quality in an RTD coffee, which is exactly what I found in Wandering Bear.

I brought it into the lab for my colleagues to test blind, and we all agreed that it was exactly the kind of coffee that could soothe a weary traveler’s soul—and make her morning. This “extra-strong,” i.e., high-dose blend of  certified USDA Organic washed-process coffees from Peru, Mexico and Nicaragua, is produced by a proprietary cold-brew method and flash-pasteurized for shelf stability prior to opening. It was a win on the road for me, and it can fill that niche for anyone looking for a summer daily drinker who wants consistency and a whole 32-ounce carton instead of single-serve packaging.

Two Nitros at 91 (including a decaf!)

Dean’s Beans Nice Nitro Organic Black Cold Brew Coffee is especially good with milk—deep, balanced, pleasantly roast-rounded without tasting burnt. Notes of date, salted caramel, walnut, orange zest and gently smoky cedar make for a familiarly satisfying blend of coffees from Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Indonesia. The added nitrogen gives it a fluffy mouthfeel that we found somewhat addictive.

Dean’s Bean’s Nice Nitro is presented in fun, eye-catching packaging. Courtesy of Brigade Branding.

A surprise hit is the Quivr Nitro Decaf Cold Brew Coffee—yes, decaf—from this Boston-based company that nails the genre with its Select Water Process decaffeinated green coffee selected in partnership with Barrington Coffee Roasting Co., sourced from farmers in Southeast Asia and Central and South America. It displays notes of caramel, sweet herbs and citrus. We didn’t identify it as a decaf in our blind tasting, which is perhaps the biggest compliment we can give it.

Quivr’s Decaf Nitro Cold Brew scored 91 in our blind tasting. Courtesy of Quivr.

A Corporate Success at 90

It’s nice to see that Blue Bottle Coffee, once the darling of the third-wave coffee movement and now owned by Nestlé, is sticking to its branding aesthetics—but how’s the coffee? Based on the Bold Cold Brewed Coffee we scored at 90, Blue Bottle is still striving for quality as well. The cute little cans are nothing to go out of your way for, but they offer an excellent oasis in an airport or other outpost far-flung from your usual local go-to. The Bold Cold is chocolaty, nutty and straight-ahead.

Lots of Room for Personal Preference

For all our difficulty in finding high-quality coffee in the context of convenience, when we did, it was quite good, and just as wide-ranging in style and flavor profile as one would hope. As RTD coffee technologies evolve, and evolve they will, there are a great many kinks to iron out, such as how to avoid extremes of sourness, saltiness and sludginess, but these nine coffees prove that quality can be had across multiple production methods and green coffee choices. Oh, and did we mention, they’re really convenient?

Drop us a virtual line at kim@coffeereview.com and let us know your favorite styles and brands of RTD coffees.

*Note that some of these recommended RTD coffees are only available in their local markets.

**On June 18, 2024, Snapchill voluntarily recalled all of its unexpired products because its current manufacturing process could lead to the growth and production of the deadly botulinum toxin. In a press release announcing the recall, the company said, “The problem was identified when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified Snapchill that the low-acid canned foods process for manufacturing the recalled products was not filed with FDA, as is required by regulation.” No evidence of the growth of such bacteria has been found, and no illnesses have yet been reported.

The post Convenience vs. Quality in Ready-to-Drink Black Coffee appeared first on Coffee Review.

What is a single-origin espresso? Very generally defined, it’s an espresso produced from a single crop of coffee grown and processed in a single country, region, cooperative or farm. In other words, it is not a blend of coffees grown in different places or at different times.

Single-origin (S.O.) espressos allow an espresso drinker to explore the wider world of coffee in the same mindful, informed way as coffee drinkers who taste their coffees brewed as drip or French press. With single-origin espressos, the curious espresso drinker can explore the sensory impacts of variables like tree variety, processing method, growing elevation and, to some degree, roasting strategy — explorations that are difficult to impossible to pursue with blends. Plus, single-origins have the capacity to surprise us, and make the simple act of tasting an espresso shot or cappuccino a memorable mini-revelation that tasting a routine blend, even a very good routine blend, can’t offer us.

Such coffee explorations would seem to be particularly supported by this month’s tasting, as all of the 13 top-rated coffees we report on are identified quite specifically: by specific farm or co-op, by variety of tree that produced them, and often by growing elevation. And we were able to tell something about the roasting by taking Agtron color readings of the beans.

Tasting Colleagues

I was joined in this blind tasting of single-origin espressos by John DiRuocco, vice president of coffee at Mr. Espresso, a long-established (founded in 1978) coffee roaster in Oakland, California. The Mr. Espresso motto, quite justified by its practice, is “Italian inspiration, contemporary taste.”

Kenneth Davids and John DiRuocco tasting espresso coffees at Mr. Espresso roastery in Oakland. Courtesy Jason Sarley.

We conducted the tasting over several days at the lab in the Mr. Espresso roastery, with Brandon Talley, assistant director of coffee quality at Mr. Espresso, pulling the shots on a Faema E71E, and Coffee Review’s Jason Sarley in a supervising support role. As usual, we generated the shots using 18 grams of ground coffee to produce 36 grams of finished espresso, a relatively standard ratio in North American practice. For the “with milk” assessment, the shot was combined with three parts whole milk, heated but not frothed on the steam wand. As always at Coffee Review, the tasting was conducted blind, with Jason delivering the coffees identified only by numbers to John and me.

Importance of Processing Method

When the tasting was finished and the results were tabulated, it turned out that one variable in particular moved to the front of the sensory line: processing method. (Processing method, readers will recall, describes the sequence of procedures that turn the moist seeds of fresh coffee fruit into dry, stable, roaster-ready green coffee beans.) The dramatic impact of processing methods involving anaerobic (limited oxygen) fermentation and its growing number of variations and applications tended to upstage the impact of other variables that create differences among green coffees, like tree variety, growing elevation and various more conventional processing methods.

Old Soul Coffee’s Natural Process “Unicorn Lot” drying at Anny Ruth Pimentel’s Finca Loma La Gloria in El Salvador. Courtesy of Jason Griest.

Thirteen of the coffees we tested achieved ratings of 94 or 95, all of which we review here. Among those top-rated 13 samples, nine, or almost 70 percent, were processed using methods that prominently incorporated anaerobic fermentation. Among the remaining four top-rated samples, two were processed by the conventional wet or washed method (all soft fruit residue was removed from the beans before they were dried), one by the honey or pulped natural method (skins were removed, but the fruit flesh or mucilage remained on the beans during drying), and one by the natural method (the beans were dried inside the entire fruit).

A stage in the multi-staged fermentation procedure for Royal Flamingo Coffee’s Colombia Red Fruits at Edwin Noreña’s Campo Hermosa in Colombia. Courtesy of Royal Flamingo Coffee.

The impact of the anaerobic ferment could be felt in the often striking sweetness and surprising aromatic complexity among all of the nine anaerobic-process samples. However, the only sample that displayed explicit anaerobic character in its candyish sweetness and perfume-like flowers was the Royal Flamingo Colombia Red Fruits Campo Hermosa Edwin Noreña (94). John very much admired this coffee at 95 and felt it was coherent and complete in its originality, with its intense aromatics supported by a sound structure. For me, however, there was a bit too much strawberry gummy and not quite enough coffee, though I managed a 92. But I suspect many readers will go with John’s take on this one. Give this striking coffee a try.

John and I switched sides with the quietly melodic, elegant Speckled Ax Ethiopia Dame Dabaye (John 92, Ken 95, net 94), which I found pure, poised and flawless. John found it a pleasing but straightforward washed Ethiopia espresso. But, again, try it; you may not be blown away, but I strongly doubt you will throw any of it away either.

Tree Variety

The celebrated Geisha/Gesha variety of Arabica, with its elongated beans, fine structure, and intensely floral, cocoa and stone-fruit character, has been one of the main vehicles that ambitious coffee growers have relied on over the past couple of decades in their often successful attempts to differentiate their green coffees and attract recognition and higher prices for them. Authentic Geishas, particularly those grown from seed of the original Panama strain (Geisha T2722), continue to impress with their grand but balanced structure and intense floral, fruit and cocoa aromatics.

Young coffee trees at Edwin Noreña’s Campo Hermosa in Colombia.

But Geishas may no longer seem as new and different as they once did. So applying anaerobic processing to a coffee from a respectable but otherwise unremarkable tree variety is an alternative way to surprise the buyer with aromatic fireworks and seductive sweetness. And at lower prices than might be expected for coffee from Geisha trees, with their often stingy yields and fussy needs. Of course, producers can double down and apply anaerobic processing to their Geishas, as is the case with the Big Shoulders Coffee’s anaerobic natural Marcela Gesha Espressso (95), Euphora Coffee’s anaerobic washed Colombia Buenavista Ataraxia Geisha (94), and AOI Coffee’s Ethiopia Growers Reserve Gesha Village Gaylee Special Fermentation (94), all of which pursue a distinctive cup by means of both distinctive tree variety and anaerobic processing.

Origin and Single-Origin Espressos

Seven of this month’s 13 highest-rated samples were produced in Colombia, all in southern or south-central Colombia. Of the remaining six, three were produced in Ethiopia, one in Rwanda, one in El Salvador, and one in Hawaii.

Why the preponderance of Colombias, obviously a popular origin, but until recently not the go-to origin for coffees intended for espresso? (Traditionally, that would be Brazil.) Mainly because a cluster of farms in southern Colombia appear to have mastered the use of complex methods of anaerobic fermentation, which, performed skillfully, can transform a high-grown, potentially acidy coffee into a lower-toned, richly complex, espresso-friendly coffee.

MK Coffee’s Rwanda Rulindo Red Bourbon drying in the “honey (fruit flesh) at Juru Coffee in Rwanda. Courtesy of Linking Coffee and Juru Coffee.

True, some of the other successful coffees in this month’s tasting used simpler, more direct applications of anaerobic methods than the Colombia farms. But, all in all, only two out of this month’s top-rated 13 samples were processed using legacy methods traditionally associated with the origins that produced them: The Wonderstate Colombia Sierra Morena Pink Bourbon (95) is a traditional washed-process Colombia, and the Speckled Ax Ethiopia Dame Dabaye (94) a traditional washed Ethiopia. Local tree variety may contribute to the success of MK Coffee’s Juru Rwanda Rulindo Red Bourbon Honey (94), though the honey processing method is atypical for a Rwanda.

Stay tuned, but it appears that the expectation that we can make consistent associations between coffee origin and coffee cup character continues to erode as ambitious farmers all over the world tinker with tree variety (e.g., Geisha) and processing method.

Roast Color and Espresso

Traditionally, Italian practice is to roast for espresso to around what Americans might call a darkish medium roast. However, when a taste for espresso drinks and European-style cafés first developed in the U.S. in the 1980s, roasters went really dark for espresso brewing. They aggressively dark-roasted high-grown Central America or Colombia coffees, producing intense, bitter coffees that required the softening, buffering impact of hot frothed milk to render them drinkable. Later, many American specialty roasters migrated toward something more like the original Italian tradition: moderately dark- to medium-dark.

Today, of course, on the leading edge of the U.S. specialty coffee scene, taste in roast style has completely flipped, regardless of brewing method. Rather than everything dark, as was the case 20 years ago, today virtually everything is light. Sometimes very light, regardless of intended brewing method.

Of the seven U.S. coffees reviewed this month, six are light-roasted. Only one, the Speckled Ax Ethiopia, was roasted modestly darker, to a little past second crack, classifying it as a moderately dark roast. The six coffees from Taiwan roasters were a bit darker roasted than the U.S. samples, tending toward medium or medium-dark, though none could be called outright dark roasted.

Omni Roasts and Acidity

Most of this month’s coffees probably qualify as what some in the coffee world call omni roasts—roasts that the roaster feels will do well when subjected to almost any brewing method.

This practice—one roast for all brewing methods—has a practical advantage for coffee sellers, of course. Fewer products, a more compact inventory, and perhaps simpler communication. The increased technical sophistication available today in managing roast, facilitated by computer control and monitoring, may help roasters apply roasting practices that tend to round sharpness and soften and integrate acidity in lighter roasts, making them more espresso-friendly.

The potentially bright, aggressive acidity characteristic of high-grown, light-roasted coffees has always presented a problem for espresso brewing. Some years ago, when the practice of pulling espresso from such bright, lighter-roasted coffees took off, I recall tasting some rather imbalanced espressos. Although we still run into an occasional rather sharply acidy single-origin espresso at Coffee Review, our tasting for this month suggests that roasters are becoming increasingly skillful at sourcing and light-roasting single-origins for all-purpose brewing, and, by implication, for espresso.

Acid-Reducing Anaerobics

The fact that there were so many anaerobic-fermented coffees among the espressos we tasted this month may have helped the acidity-reducing cause. Anaerobic processing tends to reduce or soften acidity, often replacing it with a backgrounded lactic tang, while encouraging a sweetness that helps balance any bitter edge to the acidity.

Single-Origin Espressos in the Café

When we decided on this month’s topic, we were a little afraid that single-origin espressos had had their day and were on their way out of fashion.

Perhaps. However, we received a reassuringly large number of submissions for this topic.

Roasters who sent us top-rated coffees and with whom we subsequently corresponded were largely divided about the value of single-origin espressos in their cafés. Generally, Taiwan roasters were more positive than were North American roasters, and for good reason, given brewing espresso at home appears more popular in Taiwan than in the U.S. Mark Shi of Taiwan’s MK Coffee reports: “Since Taiwanese cafes banned on-site drinking during the Covid-19 pandemic and most customers were working from home, I found that many people who drank coffee every day bought automatic espresso machines at that time, so for the beans suitable for espresso (including blended beans and single-origin beans), the demand is trending higher and higher.”

Arthur Chen of Taiwan’s Balmy Day Coffee Office (Ethiopia Anaerobic Washed G1 Wild Rose S.O. Sidamo, 94), offers an extended recommendation for how roasting for espresso should be conducted (slowly), concluding that single-origin espressos “… should be like a taste bomb, allowing the flavor of the coffee to be concentrated and focused, so that the single-origin coffee flavor can bloom in the mouth like fireworks.”

American Single-Origin Skeptics

A generally more skeptical attitude among American roasters regarding single-origin espressos is voiced by Old Soul Coffee’s Jason Griest (El Salvador Finca Loma La Gloria Natural Process “Unicorn Lot”, 94). Jason writes, “Single origin espressos can be fun, but we find a ‘good’ one elusive to find and so, rarely have one on the bar at our shops.” Jason echoes the position of many North American roasters, who feel that an espresso coffee needs to be versatile above all: “Our main espresso blend called The Remedy is made up of three components, designed to complement each other in terms of body, acidity and sweet/bitter notes that can be enjoyed both as a straight shot and with milk.” Lee Paterson of Hawaii’s Hula Daddy (Kona Espresso Special Selection, 94) points out that “Since most of our sales are to North America, where drip coffee is king, espressos are a small part of our business.”

Anny Ruth Pimentel’s Finca Loma La Gloria in El Salvador. Courtesy of Jason Griest.

Tim Coonan of Big Shoulders Coffee (Marcela Gesha Espresso, 95) takes a more encouraging middle-ground position: “Our S.O. espresso program serves three purposes. These are coffees that are challenging for roasters and baristas alike. So it’s educational for us. We find these are appreciated by those regular customers who are looking for an opportunity to both learn more about coffee and also [are] willing to explore some boundaries in the process. These are customers who also enjoy their espresso solo, not with milk.”

American Single-Origin Enthusiasts

Taking a wholehearted pro-single-origin position are Bryan and Beth Brzozowski of Royal Flamingo Coffee (Colombia Red Fruits Campo Hermosa Edwin Noreña, 94), who are planning to extend their successful e-commerce and wholesale business to a brick-and-mortar café this year. They write, “Single-origin espresso is something we’ve become known for in our coffee community and has played a major role in our e-commerce and wholesale growth. When we open our café next month, we’ll be leaning hard on single-origin espresso. … For example, we’re planning to have a few options on the menu where customers can order a drip and a shot of single-origin espresso comes alongside (a pair we are calling the Barista’s Boilermaker).”

Wilson Alva of Finca Sierra Morena, producer of Wonderstate Coffee’s Colombia Sierra Morena Pink Bourbon. Courtesy of The Coffee Quest.

Summing up the pro-single-origin side is Caleb Nicholes of Wonderstate Coffee: “We believe that single-origin espressos have a distinct and important role in specialty coffee. In all of our café locations, we offer both a single-origin espresso, which is roasted lighter, as well as a deeper roasted blend. Having a lighter-roasted espresso option gives us the opportunity to introduce our customers to a very light-roasted espresso experience that is very much reflective of a coffee’s variety, micro-climate and processing style. While brighter, more fruit-driven and aromatic espressos can be jarring for some coffee consumers, it is an excellent way to expand perceptions around what espresso can be. We love to surprise our customers with something they have never tasted before, and single-origin espresso is one of the best ways we have found to do that.”

Single-Origin Espressos at Home

Of course, café owners need to please nearly everyone who comes in the door. Consumers only need to please themselves—or at most their families and guests. So perhaps the single-origin espresso game, with its potential for coffee exploration and sensory revelation (along with its risk for temporary disappointment) is best played by consumers at home. If so, we feel that the coffees we review this month offer an excellent and diverse starting point.

John DiRuocco Reflects on the Tasting

John writes: “Roasters from all over the world submitted their finest offerings from familiar to exotic. It was an exciting challenge to describe and evaluate these coffees. The vast assortment of processes and varieties translated to a thrill ride of aroma, acidity, and fruit. As a roaster based in Italian coffee tradition, our approach to espresso at Mr. Espresso is based on the idea of balance and roundness, something that can be enjoyed several times a day, every day. What set the best of the coffees we tasted apart for me were not only flavor profiles that contained explosive fruits, intricate floral flavors, and intense acidity, but those that were balanced by a pronounced sweetness and round body to create a memorable espresso experience.”

Thanks to the roasters who greatly enriched this report by sharing their ideas and experience regarding single-origin espresso coffees: Matt Bolinder, Speckled Ax Coffee; Bryan and Beth Brzozowski, Royal Flamingo Coffee; Chris Chao, AOI Coffee Roaster; Arthur Chen, Balmy Day Coffee Office; Tim Coonan, Big Shoulders Coffee; Jason Griest, Old Soul Coffee Co.; Albert Hsu, OLI Cafe; Miguel Meza, Paradise Coffee; Caleb Nicholes, Wonderstate Coffee; Lee Paterson, Hula Daddy Kona Coffee; Mark Shi, MK Coffee Roasters; May Wang, Euphora Coffee; Zhou Tzuchiang, Bargain Cafe.

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A view of the Pacific Ocean from Hala Tree’s coffee farm in Captain Cook, Hawai’i. Courtesy of Hala Tree.

When most of us think of Hawaiʻi, we think of perfect beaches, iconic sunsets and unparalleled relaxation. When coffee lovers think of Hawaiʻi, “Kona” is often the first word that comes to mind. But while the Hawaiian Islands are, indeed, a paradise, they’re also a place where coffee is a critical part of the economy — an economy that’s been hammered over the past few years by the Covid-19 pandemic and by devastating wildfires, not to mention agricultural pests and diseases specific to the coffee industry.

This month, we not only take a look at the islands’ coffees — roasted by locals — we also scope out what residents, most of whom can’t afford to buy Hawaiʻi-grown coffee for daily drinking — like to have in their morning cup.

Brandon von Damitz of Big Island Coffee Roasters surveying coffee trees at Silver Cloud Farm. Courtesy of Braden Tavelli.

There are three main kinds of Hawaiian coffee roasters: coffee farmers who roast their own green coffees, roasters that sell only Hawaiian-grown coffees (mostly to an international market), and roasters that sell both Hawaiian coffees and coffees from other origins.

The Current Context of Coffee in Hawaiʻi

While Hawaiʻi contributes only 0.04 percent of the world’s coffee production, coffee is the second most profitable crop grown in the state, a close second to macadamia nuts (College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai’i at Manoa).  Most of the coffee grown in the state is exported. During the 2022–23 harvest season, Hawaiʻi farmers produced 24.8 million pounds of coffee, down 9 percent from the previous year (USDA). One of the chief reasons production is down is the emergence of coffee leaf rust (CLR), a fungal disease that has devastated entire coffee industries elsewhere in the world. It first appeared on Maui in 2020, then several weeks later on Hawaiʻi Island, known as the Big Island, which produces the vast majority of the state’s coffee crop. (For reference, the Big Island has more than 1,400 coffee farms, while Maui has just over 300, Kauaʻi has three, and O’ahu and Molokai each have one.)

Coffee cherries ripening on Monarch Coffee Farm in Kona, Hawai’i. Courtesy of Monarch Farm.

Before CLR, coffee berry borer (CBB) was the biggest threat to the state’s coffee crop. CBB was found in Kona in 2010, O’ahu in 2014, Maui in 2016, and Kauaʻi and Lānaʻi in 2020 (College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawai’i at Manoa) . This beetle, endemic to Central Africa, was responsible for decimating almost all of Maui’s small crop that year. Management techniques are now in place to somewhat curb its potential for destruction, but it remains a force.

Lastly, there were several wildfires in 2023, and the unprecedented scale of the fire that destroyed the town of Lahaina, Maui, has affected the state’s economy overall, both in terms of its largest industry, tourism, and in terms of the loss of dozens of coffee-related businesses. Maui Grown Coffee, the island’s largest producer, has not yet resumed operations, and many coffee shops were destroyed or displaced.

One of Hawaiʻi’s strengths as a producing region is that its coffee prices are not, as they are in most origins, tied to the commodity coffee market. In the 1980s, Kona’s rising star and the marketing brilliance behind it allowed the region to sell its coffees for much higher prices than any other origin. Today, the average price of unroasted Kona coffee is $26.50 per pound, while the average price for Arabica coffee is $2.03 per pound. So, why aren’t Hawaiian coffee farmers paving their driveways with gold? Two simple answers: Yield is down, and costs are higher than anywhere else in the world where coffee is grown.

We review many Hawaiʻi-grown coffees each year, but this report looks at the state’s current coffee scene from a broader perspective, as we invited roasters based anywhere in Hawaiʻi to send us samples from any origin. We received 45 samples: 31 roasted on Hawaiʻi Island, seven on O’ahu, three from Maui, and four from Kauaʻi.

We review here the 14 top-scoring coffees, 11 Hawaiʻi-grown and three grown elsewhere.

Hawaiian Farmers Roasting Their Own Green Coffees

There’s a long local history of coffee farmers roasting up small batches of their coffees to sell at farmers markets and farm stands, but these are, by and large, not the best representation of these coffees. Farmers are not typically trained roasters. There are some notable exceptions to this rule, and we cupped six coffees from roasters who are also farmers, and who paid precise attention to both sides of the operation.

Laura Ross (left), roaster, and Karen Paterson, co-owner of Hula Daddy Kona Coffee. Courtesy of Hula Daddy.

The highest-scoring coffee in this report was Hula Daddy’s wildly impressive Laura’s Reserve SL34 (97), produced at the company’s farm in Holualoa (North Kona) and roasted by Laura Ross, who’s been with Hula Daddy for more than a decade. Co-owner Karen Paterson, who founded Hula Daddy with her husband, Lee, in 2002, says, “The major challenge of growing coffee in Hawaiʻi is labor costs. With benefits, our average hourly pay is over $25. A Central American grower pays workers less than $2 an hour performing the same work, and labor rates in African countries are around $20 a month.” Hula Daddy sells only retail-roasted coffee (as opposed to green coffee or wholesale), both onsite and online, all exclusively from the Patersons’ own 10-acre farm. Its primary customers are buying coffee for home use, and only 10 percent live in Hawaiʻi. The SL34 is an aromatically intoxicating Kona version of a variety of Arabica traditionally grown in Kenya and is exuberantly complex.

Kraig Lee of Kona Farm Direct raking coffees drying on a concrete patio. Courtesy of Kona Farm Direct.

Kraig and Leslie Lee of Kona Farm Direct have been growing traditional Kona coffee for more than 25 years. In the past eight years, they’ve begun experimenting with new varieties, including Geisha. Kraig Lee says, “No doubt, the unique Kona soil and environment can produce some of the best quality coffees in the world, but there are dozens of ways you can screw it up. If you don’t pay attention to the details, you can turn great coffee into average or worse. I am so fortunate that I have employees who pride themselves in taking care of the land, picking only ripe cherries, and properly processing and drying the beans.” Kona Farm Direct’s 100% Kona Classic (94) is a lively, balanced Typica, sweet-toned, chocolaty and rich.

Lorie Obra, co-founder of Rusty’s Hawaiian in Pahala Hawai’i. Courtesy of Rusty’s.

Rusty’s Hawaiian is another longtime family farm, based in the Ka‘ū growing region on the east side of Hawaiʻi Island south of Hilo. Founded by Rusty and Lorie Obra in the late 1990s, Rusty’s was on the cusp of making a name for Ka‘ū coffee, a region in the shadow of Kona. When Rusty died of cancer in 2006, Lorie committed to actualizing their dream, and Rusty’s, now a world-class roaster as well, put Ka‘ū on the map. Rusty’s Classic Ka‘ū Peaberry (94) is lush, decadently sweet, deep-toned and sensuous. Lorie’s daughter, Joan, and son-in-law, Ralph Gaston, moved from the mainland to Pahala (where Rusty’s is located) full-time in 2011, and the couple run the operation with Lorie, who’s still going strong in her seventies. Gaston says that there are many challenges involved in farming coffee in Hawaiʻi: “The increased cost of production, primarily due to the spread of coffee leaf rust, has been difficult to deal with. This means more for treatment of CLR, managing that with the treatment for coffee borer, increased costs for fertilizer, not to mention rising labor costs. It’s a lot of pressure on the cost of production.” A full 40 percent of Rusty’s online customers are based in Hawaiʻi, and the remaining 60 percent are from the West Coast (California, Oregon, Washington) and Alaska, with a small percentage in Canada, Japan, Germany and Korea.

Kona’s Heavenly Hawaiian is one of several Hawaiian farmer-roasters working with non-traditional varieties of Arabica. The Kona Geisha Champagne (94) submitted for this report has elegant notes of nectarine, star jasmine and cocoa nib, a profile very similar to the traditional Geishas of Panama.

Brewing a pour-over at Monarch Coffee Farm in Kona, Hawai’i. Courtesy of Monarch Coffee.

Monarch Coffee’s “Hapa” (meaning “half”) (93) is a post-roast mélange of light-, medium- and dark-roasted Kona Typica, a comfortingly familiar Kona profile that’s crisply chocolaty and sweetly nutty. Abby Munoz, director of operations and daughter of co-founders Greg and Susy Stille, describes Monarch’s relationship with its customers as collaborative: “The values our customers hold dear — quality, sustainability, ethical sourcing, community involvement and enriching experiences — guide their purchasing decisions and loyalty to our brand. … This connection goes beyond a transactional relationship; it’s a shared journey towards a more sustainable and community-focused way of living.” She also speaks to the challenges of selling Kona coffees exclusively, saying, “Compared to other major coffee-producing countries, Kona’s output is minuscule, and restricted growing regions with strict geographical regulations that limit production area means limited supply, which leads to higher production costs. Logistics and sustainability are also big challenges for us. Due to the island’s remote location, shipping costs are a major hurdle.” Munoz also mentions CLR, volcanic eruptions, the effects of climate change, high labor costs and labor shortages as additional challenges for small farms in Hawaii.

Jean Orlowski of Hala Tree Coffee conducting a farm tour. Courtesy of Hala Tree.

Hala Tree’s SL28 Honey (93) is another variety associated with Kenya that, produced in the context of Kona terroir, is floral, citrusy, cohesive and confident. Hala Tree co-owner Danielle Orlowski says, “Having high production costs pushes us to make sure we produce one of the best coffees in the world. This is accomplished by paying attention to details, from farming to processing. Being in control of the process from tree to cup is what ensures our quality.”

Kona-born Mark Takizawa has a five-acre farm, Kona Hills Coffee (not to be confused with the large-scale 1,900-acre farm by the same name), where he’s done everything himself since 1987. His 100% Kona Extra Fancy (92) is a classic profile with notes of baking chocolate, date and hazelnut.

Hawaiian Roasters That Sell Only Hawaiian Coffees

Miles Mayne, of Silver Cloud farm, checking on coffee drying on raised beds. Courtesy of Braden Tavelli.

Big Island Coffee Roasters sent in a collaborative coffee in partnership with farmer Miles Mayne. This Ka‘ū Giant Maragogipe (95) is the result of co-founder Brandon von Damitz and Mayne’s many yeast experiments over three harvest seasons. The version they landed on uses K1-v1116 yeast from Lalvin, with anaerobic fermentation for 72 hours. This uniquely composed, big-beaned Maragogipe cup is driven by notes of stone fruit, hop-like florals, resiny amber and distinct tangerine. Co-founder Kelleigh Stewart acknowledges the challenges of working exclusively with Hawaiʻi-grown coffees, but also speaks to the opportunities it affords: “When people ask, ‘Why is Hawaiʻi coffee so expensive?’ this initiates a dialogue for deeper engagement and understanding of the supply chain. There’s so much more supply chain transparency and ethics with Hawaiʻi coffees. And the chain is much shorter because there’s little room for middle people. And a much greater percentage of the purchase price goes directly to the farmer. … So, while dealing with an ‘expensive’ product poses challenges, it’s easy for us to be proud of our farmer relationships, knowing we’re fostering an ethical, transparent supply chain. I often turn the question around and ask people, ‘Why is the rest of the world’s coffee so cheap and undervalued?’”

Pacific Coffee Research (PCR) has an interesting backstory. A women-owned business founded as Hawaiʻi’s first education and coffee training center, PCR offers analysis of green and roasted coffees, Q-grader courses, barista training, equipment procurement and maintenance, and much more. And now, PCR has its own line of retail-roasted coffees developed in partnership with local farmers with an emphasis on women producers. The 100% Ka‘ū Navarro (93) submitted for this report, a blend of Pacamara and Catuaí, is from Delvin and Nette Navarro’s Ka‘ū farm. Centered around fruit and floral notes, this blend is complicated by a compelling sweet herbaceousness. Co-owner Madeleine Longoria Garcia also notes the limited supply of Hawaiian-grown coffee, the impacts of CLR and the 2023 wildfires as significant challenges of working exclusively with Hawaiʻi-grown coffees.

The Pacific Coffee Research team. Courtesy of PCR.

But in addition, she argues, “The price model used in Hawaiʻi should be replicated globally. In order to have financially sustainable businesses, growers need to be able to sell their products based on their real costs and required profit margins versus having their products’ worth being dictated based on where the C-market happens to land on any given day. Our global industry talks about this all the time, as we don’t have a financially sustainable industry, and no one is really doing very much to change that. The current model gives buyers too much power when it comes to price and strips growers of negotiation power because everyone is looking at the C-market.”

Hawaiian Roasters That Sell Both Local and Global Coffees

Little-known fact: It’s illegal for roasters in Hawaiʻi to import green coffees from Africa. This outdated law hearkens back to concerns about agricultural contamination, but it’s still on the books, and it’s why you’ll see coffees from Central and South America and Indonesia at local island coffee shops — but not African coffees.

Teodoro Garrido, founder of Mama Cata Farm in Boquete, Panama. Courtesy of Klatch Coffee.

Well-known to the virtual pages of Coffee Review, Hilo-based Paradise Roasters used to have a roasting facility in Minnesota. Now that the company is fully Hawaiʻi-based, owner Miguel Meza specializes in rare microlots from the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Panama and, of course, Hawaiʻi. For this report, we review the richly floral, fruit-saturated Panama Mokkita Natural Mama Cata Estate (96) with notes of wild strawberry, lavender and black sage. Meza says, “We did not start out as a roaster of Hawaiʻi-grown coffees, but rather as a specialty coffee roaster. Due to the extremely high cost of producing coffee in Hawaiʻi, 10 times that of most other countries, the market for Hawaiʻi-grown coffees is limited as a daily-drinking coffee for most consumers. Moreover, we like variety and want to offer the widest array of sensory experiences possible with coffee, some of which cannot (yet) be found within coffee just from Hawaiʻi.” He adds that, “Like every other producing origin, the majority of the coffees produced in Hawaiʻi are commercial quality, not specialty. As a very small producing region, the quantities of high-quality coffee from Hawaiʻi are quite limited. Many of our Hawaiʻi coffees we produce from the cherry stage to ensure quality and apply proprietary processing techniques on them to create a diversity of cup profiles.”

Maui-based Origin Coffee Roasters submitted a JN Farms Double Anaerobic Red Bourbon (94) produced in Ka‘ū, an aromatically wide-ranging cup with notes of spice-toned florals and sweetly tart fruits. Owner Heather Brisson-Lutz loves Hawaiʻi-grown coffees but finds that she needs to also provide coffees from other origins for her local customer base: “It is challenging to market coffees not grown in Hawaiʻi in our local markets, but we have found that many of the local residents enjoy these coffees because they offer different flavors, and their price points are friendlier for daily coffee drinkers. We want to keep our coffees accessible not only in price point but also in terms of flavor profiles, processing methods and varieties.”

Kailua, O’ahu-based ChadLou’s Coffee Roasters sells both Hawaiʻi-grown and international coffees. The Cruz Loma Anaerobic Washed Ecuador (93) we review here is equal parts sweet, tart and savory (think dark chocolate, macerated kiwi and tarragon). Its popular coffee shop caters to both visitors and locals, offering a large menu of specialty coffee options as well as artfully designed bags to take home.

Hanalei Coffee Roasters is a micro-roaster on Kauaʻi’s North Shore in the stunningly beautiful town of Hanalei. Its Sunrise Blend (92) of coffees from Maui and Honduras is a friendly, easygoing and affordable coffee with notes of golden raisin, cashew, orange zest and cane sugar. The roaster has a selection of 100 percent Hawaiian coffees in addition to its coffees from Central and South America.

Maui Oma Coffee Roasting Co.’s 100% Hawaii Three Island Blend (92) is a combination of coffees grown on Hawaiʻi Island, Maui and O’ahu. Cocoa-toned and richly nutty, it’s a good introduction to the coffees of the Hawaiian Islands for newcomers to the genre. Maui Oma is located in Kahului, Maui, and primarily works with Hawaiian coffees but also has a selection of coffees from Central and South America and Indonesia.

Supporting the Hawaiʻi Coffee Industry

Whatever your coffee jam might be, Hawaiian roasters offer the world in a cup. In addition to buying coffee directly from the roasters featured in this report, you can support Maui’s wildfire recovery efforts here:

MauiGrown Coffee – Go Fund Me

Maui Food Bank

People’s Fund of Maui

The post Hawaiʻi Coffee Roasters’ Unique Place in the Global Coffee Scene appeared first on Coffee Review.

Every year in December, Coffee Review’s editorial team hustles to choose the topics for the following year’s editorial calendar. This, our January report, shares some thoughts on the topics we chose and how we chose them.  See our full 2024 Editorial Calendar.

In November, as Coffee Review compiles its annual Top 30 Coffees list, we carefully consider the factors that made the coffees we tasted in 2023 so exciting. We contemplate the thousands of samples cupped over the course of the year and the nearly 600 reviews we published. The Top-30 list is primarily designed to recognize and reward the farmers and roasters who produce these fine top-scoring coffees, but it also serves as a buying guide for coffee lovers.

In addition, the process serves to inform and inspire Coffee Review’s choice of report topics for the upcoming year’s editorial calendar. We inevitably discover exciting new coffees and trends, new roasters and roast styles, emerging origins, new varieties and processing methods, as well as old favorites that spur our ideas for exploration in the coming year.

Our list of potential topics always exceeds our ability to cover them. This is even more true in 2024, as we’ve decided to trim the number of scheduled reports from 10 to 5. Normally, we begin our cuppings in January and wrap up the year with our final report in November. In the coming year, to establish a more sustainable pace and better serve our readers, we have decided to publish reports every other month rather than every month. It will give us a little more breathing room, and it will open the door to adding a couple of impromptu reports on exciting topics that pop up during the year.

So, how do we choose topics?

From the point of view of sourcing samples, we strive for a topic that will generate a sweet spot of between 30 and 100 coffees. If we choose too narrow a topic (or a poorly timed one), we may not be able to source enough quality samples for a meaningful cupping and report. If we choose too broad a topic, we will be inundated with samples, and testing too many coffees limits our time for researching and writing the report and reviews.

Remember that Coffee Review also accepts both roasted and green samples for blind review throughout the year as part of our fee-based services. Not surprisingly, roasters and farmers usually try to put their best foot forward, which means we typically receive high-end coffees from popular origins that often earn deservedly high scores. That’s fine with Coffee Review, as our mission is to help consumers find superior quality coffees. However, because we already receive many coffees from such high-profile origins, we tend not to feature those popular origins as report topics. We try to choose topics that will tease out exciting coffees that we might not otherwise have an opportunity to review.

Roasters often don’t submit many decafs, dark roasts, or coffees from lesser-known origins for standalone review because they may not garner attention-grabbing high scores. And because our mission is to help consumers find and enjoy superior quality coffees — not “out” coffees, roasters or farmers that don’t earn a high score — one tends to see only the cream of the crop reviewed on our website. We cup a lot of unremarkable coffees over the course of the year to uncover the 500-plus coffees that merit 90 points or higher. If one casually reads Coffee Review, one might incorrectly think every coffee gets a 90-plus score, when in fact, only 10 to 15 percent of coffees we cup earn a score of 90 points or higher.

For each report, we test anywhere from 30 to more than 100 coffees that relate to the report topic. Based on our tasting, descriptions and ratings, we choose 10 or more coffees that we review in detail, and that provide the descriptive backbone for each report.

These are the report topics we have chosen for 2024, based in large part on what we are excited to explore in the coming year.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2024: COFFEES ROASTED IN HAWAII

We often start the year with a regional report, exploring what local roasters are up to in a particular area of the United States. Last year, the topic was “10 Ski Country Coffees.” This year, in sharp contrast, we will report on coffees roasted in Hawaii.

Hawaii, in general, and the renowned growing region of Kona, in particular, are famous for growing excellent coffees. Many of the farmers who grow coffees in Hawaii also roast their own coffees for sale at their local tasting rooms and online. Many of these producers are well known to Coffee Review readers, as several have regularly appeared on our Top 30 Coffees list each year. However, not all coffee roasted in Hawaii is grown in Hawaii. There are many quality roasters on the islands who put out fantastic coffees from other great origins, as well.

Coffee Review cups and scores coffees on a blind basis. We evaluate coffees. We don’t endorse companies. We don’t play favorites. However, it would be disingenuous to suggest that we don’t have friends in the coffee industry. After the tragic wildfires on the island of Maui in August 2023, we’ve heard directly from our friends that it has been tougher than usual to operate a business in Hawaii, both emotionally and financially.

So Hawaii is a great topic any time, but it is a particularly timely topic now. We’re excited to evaluate the coffees that roasters in Hawaii are currently producing for locals, tourists and coffee lovers on the mainland and around the world.

APRIL/MAY 2024: SINGLE-ORIGIN COFFEES DESIGNED FOR ESPRESSO BREWING

Coffee Review regularly evaluates espressos for standalone review that do not appear in our tasting reports. Roughly 20 percent of the reviews we’ve published over the years have been for coffees designed for espresso brewing. Of late, however, it seems like we receive fewer requests for espresso reviews. This decrease may go back to changes in the coffee marketplace during the peak of Covid. Competitions and events that featured espresso brewing were canceled, and there was a dramatic drop in espresso consumption at cafes and coffee shops. Consumers drank more coffee at home, where fewer people have espresso machines.

For our part, as a possible indicator of excitement levels, half as many espressos appeared on our Top 30 Coffees lists over the past four years compared to previous years. From 2020 to 2023, the average number of espressos on the list was just 2.25, down from 5 in 2019 and 4 in 2018, an average of 4.5.

Evaluating espressos at Coffee Review is more complex and time-consuming than evaluating non-espressos, so we have to gear up physically and mentally for tasting reports that require espresso brewing. One of the benefits of Coffee Review’s revised editorial calendar is that we have more time to conduct an espresso-focused cupping and publish a report on coffees designed for espresso brewing.

We haven’t published an espresso report since Darker-Roasted Espresso Blends in August 2021, so we’re looking forward to evaluating the current offerings from roasters who are producing single-origin espressos in 2024.

JUNE/JULY 2024: READY-TO-DRINK PURE BLACK COFFEES IN CANS OR BOTTLES

When the heat of summer starts to kick in, overall coffee consumption tends to wane. This is when refreshing iced coffees and chilled ready-to-drink (RTD) canned and bottled black coffees take off. So, summer is the perfect time to test RTD coffees.

The availability and popularity of RTD coffees has exploded since Coffee Review first reviewed them in our July 2014 report titled Bottled Iced Coffees. Almost all the submissions for that first report were not only blends, but blends of mostly unnamed components and, frankly, generic in profile.

At the time, Coffee Review Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Davids observed:

“The best of these bottled cold coffees seemed to us to deliver a product worthy of the North American specialty industry: less distinctive and less pronounced in character than analogous hot-brewed coffees, but smoother, more refreshing, yet still distinctive enough to surprise and engage.”

Indeed, five RTD coffees earned scores of 90 points or higher, including the 94-point Cold Brew by Slingshot Coffee in Raleigh, North Carolina.

In our 2018 report — Cold-Brewed Black Coffees: Quality in a Can? — we were impressed by the complexity of the handful of top-scoring cold-brewed coffees we tested, but were left wondering if the RTD trend was just a passing fancy.

At the time, we noted:

“Specialty coffee companies small and large are intensely at work trying to bring some of the sensory refinement and differentiation available in whole-bean coffee to the arena of ready-to-drink cold black coffee in cans and bottles.”

The 24 RTD coffees we tested for that 2018 report averaged 89 points, from a low of 75 to a high of 94, and for the first time, an RTD coffee — the 94-point Reserve Cold Brew from States Coffee & Mercantile — appeared on our Top 30 Coffees list, appearing at #21.

So, why did we dip into this category again in 2020, despite a lack of overall enthusiasm about the genre in 2018? Well, it wasn’t lost on us that the growth of the cold brew segment is much more than a passing fancy. RTD black coffee is here to stay, and quality 1s on the rise. Of the 37 RTDs we tested in July 2020’s RTD Rising: Single-Origin Cold Coffees Elevate the Game, 11 scored 92 points or higher, including Corvus Coffee ‘s 94-point Guji Uraga Nitro Cold Brew, which earned the #21 spot on our list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2020.

With Cold Black Coffee: Simplicity Rules the Post-Pandemic RTD Landscape in July 2021, we revisited cold-brewed bottled coffees in the context of a changing, post-Covid marketplace. The pandemic brought into focus what is basic and fundamental, and the 10 RTD cold-brewed coffees we reviewed in that report, rated 92 to 94, displayed the common denominator of simplicity, in the best sense of that word: classic and direct.

In our June/July 2024 report, we will once again test the variety and quality of RTD coffees as they march on into the summertime coffee mainstream.

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2024: DECAFFEINATED COFFEES FOR BREWED APPLICATIONS

The rule of thumb is that about 10 percent of consumers drink decaffeinated coffee. So, why are only 2 percent of reviews on coffeereview.com decafs?

Part of the reason is obvious. Ninety percent of coffee drinkers don’t drink decaffeinated coffee, so they tend to be overlooked by the vast majority of coffee drinkers. Furthermore, because decaffeinated coffees generally don’t match the quality of their caffeinated counterparts, many roasters consider them only as a necessary evil generated for a small fraction of their customer base. In relationship to Coffee Review, most roasters don’t submit decaffeinated coffees for review because they generally don’t earn eye-popping scores that might help drive sales.

Coffee Review certainly isn’t biased against decaffeinated coffees. We simply evaluate what we find in the cup. Unfortunately, when decaf is in the cup, it often just doesn’t excel. That said, Coffee Review certainly appreciates a quality decaf. In fact, decafs have appeared on our annual Top 30 Coffees list five times since 2013.

In our most recent report about decafs, in 2015, Kenneth Davids made two broad observations that may still fairly describe the reputation and trends regarding decafs in 2024:

“Observation one: Most decaffeinated coffees continue to be bad, in some cases close to foul.”

“Observation two: On the other hand, great coffees clearly can survive and transcend the rigors of decaffeination. Four decafs from this [report’s] cupping attracted ratings ranging from 89 to an impressive 93.”

With our August/September 2024 report, we will revisit these observations as we seek to help decaf drinkers find and enjoy superior-quality decaffeinated coffees.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER: GUATEMALA-GROWN COFFEES

People walking in the main street of Antigua with the Agua volcano in the background.

In 1997, when Coffee Review was founded, Guatemala was a coffee heavyweight. In our first large-group “calibration cupping” in July 1997, we selected Guatemala Coffees for the topic. It was just our fifth tasting report and our first ever report dedicated to a single country of origin. It was sandwiched between Supermarket Coffees in June and Decaffeinated Coffees in August. Davids described Guatemala as “one of the world’s classic coffee origins.”

Two years later, in our July 1999 report — New Crop Guatemalas — he opened with:

“Guatemala is rivaled only by Kenya as coffee insiders’ favorite origin.”

Guatemala is still a classic origin and an insiders’ favorite, but not to the extent it was 25 years ago. We still cup coffees from Guatemala regularly, and they generally score well to very well. Since 1997, we’ve published more than 600 reviews of coffees that were solely from Guatemala or featured Guatemala as a named component in blends. As such, Guatemala coffees have been involved in 8 percent of all the coffees we have ever reviewed.

Why choose Guatemala as a report topic in 2024? In short, it’s overdue. We haven’t featured Guatemala coffees as the topic of a tasting report since Suave and Idiosyncratic: Coffee of Guatemala in September 2013.

AN EVENTFUL YEAR AHEAD FOR COFFEE

We’re looking forward to an exciting year of tasting and reporting.  See our full 2024 Editorial Calendar.

The post 2024: Coffee Review’s Year in Preview appeared first on Coffee Review.

In 2023, Coffee Review blind-tasted more than 3,000 coffee samples from hundreds of leading roasting companies and coffee producers around the world. We ultimately published nearly 600 reviews on CoffeeReview.com over the course of the year. The Top 30 Coffees of 2023 is our editors’ ranking of the 30 most exciting of these coffees, representing roughly 5 percent of the coffees we reviewed.

This is the 11^th year we have compiled our Top 30 list. This annual event supports our mission to help consumers identify and purchase superior-quality coffees, while also helping recognize and reward the farmers and roasters who produce these coffees. The Top 30 celebrates and promotes coffee roasters, farmers, mill operators, importers and other coffee-industry professionals who make an extra effort to produce coffees that are not only superb in quality but also distinctive in character.

In 2023, only about one out of four of the more than 3,000 coffees we tested scored 90 points or higher. But over 215 of them — around 8 percent of the total — earned 94 points or more, a tribute to the ever-intensifying innovation and dedication of the world’s leading coffee producers and roasters.

However, we always offer the caveat that scores alone have limitations. Coffee lovers may well take more pleasure in a lower-rated coffee that matches their taste preferences than a higher-scoring coffee that isn’t their style. We do our best to characterize a coffee’s character in the “Blind Assessment” paragraph of our reviews, and even more succinctly in the “Bottom Line” that concludes each review. We encourage readers to look beyond our overall scores and rankings to identify the coffees that they find the most exciting and enjoyable.

For those curious about how we conduct our testing and rating processes at Coffee Review, see How Coffee Review Works. For what scores mean with respect to the wide range of coffee styles and qualities, see Interpreting Reviews.

Difficult Choices

All of the coffees that rated 94 points or higher in 2023 are worthy of celebrating, as are many of the unique and exciting coffees that didn’t score quite as high. Obviously, not all of the coffees earning 94 points or more can appear in the Top 30. We forced ourselves to select the 30 we felt were the most exciting.

As in past years, we selected and ranked our Top 30 coffees based on quality and distinctiveness (represented primarily by overall rating), value (reflected by most affordable price per pound and price relative to similar coffees), and consideration of other factors that include uniqueness of origin, style, processing method, tree variety, certifications such as Fair Trade and organic, and general singularity.

In each of the 11 years that we have published our Top 30 list, including 2023, our top pick has been a single-origin coffee — meaning a coffee from a single country and region (and usually from a single farm or cooperative).

Wilton Benitez Pink Bourbon Colombia, roasted by JBC Coffee Roasters, Coffee Review’s #1 coffee of 2023. Courtesy of JBC Coffee Roasters.

#1 Coffee of 2023

This year, we selected the 98-point Wilton Benitez Pink Bourbon Colombia roasted by JBC Coffee Roasters in Madison, Wisconsin as the #1 coffee. The review from July describes the coffee as “an elegant, decadent, pied piper of a coffee with its mesmerizing aromatics and addictively complex cup with notes like blackberry jam and frankincense — you’ll find more descriptors than you can count on both hands.” This coffee takes its originality and complexity in part from a particularly meticulous version of the trendy anaerobic processing method.

This is the first time a coffee from Colombia has earned the #1 spot. Coffees from Panama have earned the top spot five times, in 2014, 2015, 2019, 2020 and 2021. In 2017 and 2022, the top coffee was from Yemen. Coffees from Hawaii (2018), Kenya (2016) and Ethiopia (2013) have previously earned recognition as Coffee Review’s #1 coffee of the year.

Top 30 Statistics

Ratings and Price

The average overall rating for coffees on our Top 30 list for 2023 is 95.6 out of a possible 100, in line with, but slightly higher than, past averages.

In 2023, the average price of the coffees on our Top 30 list was $124.56 per pound. (Coffees sold in non-U.S. currencies were converted to U.S. dollars for averaging purposes.) However, that figure is skewed upward by the extremely high-priced (~$1,750 per pound) #3 Princesa Carmen Geisha from Taiwanese roaster GK Coffee, which was a Best of Panama competition winner that attracted an extraordinarily high price as a green coffee at the 2023 Best of Panama auction. If you remove this coffee from the calculations, the average price drops to $68.48 per pound, which is lower than the average of $79.34 in 2022.

Husband and wife team Gary and Kai-yun Liao at GK Coffee (roaster of 2023 coffees #3 and #6) in Yilan, Taiwan. Courtesy of GK Coffee.

As in past years, higher-scoring coffees in our 2023 Top 30 tended to cost more than lower-scoring coffees:

• 97- and 98-point coffees (4) ~ $492.00/pound (yes, skewed)
• 96-point coffees (12) – $95.33/pound
• 95-point coffees (11) – $49.52/pound
• 93- to 94-point coffees (3) – $26.22/pound

Value

One of the selection criteria for the Top 30 is value, measured by price per pound relative to coffees of similar quality and style. Many of the coffees on our list are priced in line with similar, though usually less distinguished, specialty coffees in the marketplace.

Roadmap CoffeeWorks (roaster of 2023 Top 30 coffees #22 and #26) tasting room in Lexington, Virginia. Courtesy of Roadmap CoffeeWorks.

Seven coffees were priced at less than $30 per pound, or the equivalent of $22 per 12-ounce bag:

• #7 Red Rooster, Ethiopia Shantawene Washed, 96 points – $22.00/12 oz.
• #12 Kakalove Café (Taiwan), Kenya Washed Kiambu Windrush AA, 96 points ~ $10.52/8 oz.
• #17 Speckled Ax, Sumatra Lintong Kardon, 95 points – $21.00/12 oz.
• #23 Buon Caffe (Taiwan), Kenya Machakos, 96 points ~ $12.65/8 oz.
• #24 Peach Coffee, Blue Sunda Estate Java, 94 points – $19.00/12 oz.
• #26 Roadmap CoffeeWorks, Tanzania Nyasi Furaha, 94 points – $19.00/12 oz.
• #29 Bassline Coffee, Bali Kintamani, 93 points – $21.00/12 oz.

If you are interested shopping for Top 30 coffees that are still available for sale, visit our Shop for the Top 30 page, which provides links to the roasters’ websites where the coffees may be available. At the time this article was published, 14 of the Top 30 coffees were still available for purchase.

Origin

With seven appearances, Colombia is the most frequently cited origin in our 2023 Top 30. The probable reason is the surge in innovative processing methods among some Colombian coffee producers, particularly those in the southwestern departments of Cauca and Huila. In fact, four of the Top 30 coffees, including two of the top four, were grown by the same Cauca producer, Wilton Benitez. With the Benitez coffees, the usual emphasis on fastidious agricultural and harvest processes and admired tree varieties was bolstered by a strikingly detailed and innovative approach to processing, or fruit removal and drying, which involved a double-anaerobic fermentation of the whole fruit in sealed tanks with yeast added, and sterilization of the cherries with ozone gas and ultraviolet light. Modifying cup character through such complex processing methods brings coffee closer to the world of wine, and may well signal a fundamental change in how fine coffee will be created and understood in the future.

Wilton Benitez, producer of JBC Coffee Roasters’ #1 coffee of 2023, at his processing facility in Colombia.  Courtesy of JBC Coffee Roasters.

Hawaii and Kenya were second in number of placements this year with three coffees each, while Ethiopia, Panama and Peru each appear twice. Filling out the list were 11 origins represented by one coffee each. Two of the 30 samples were designated as intended for brewing as espresso.

Tree Variety

When describing last year’s Top 30 list, we wrote: “There are stars and superstars among the hundreds of varieties of Arabica grown in the world today, and coffees from these distinguished varieties continue to dominate the very highest ratings at Coffee Review.”  Variety appears to be as important as ever in both the production and marketing of the fine single-origin coffees we celebrate in our latest Top 30 list.

Laura Ross and Karen Paterson checking on trees at Hula Daddy Kona Coffee, grower and roaster of Coffee Review #2 Kona Pointu. Courtesy of Hula Daddy Kona Coffee.

For example, this year, seven of our Top 30 coffees were produced from trees of the celebrated Geisha (also spelled Gesha) variety, the Ethiopia-derived variety that burst onto the world coffee stage during a green coffee competition in Panama in 2004, breaking all rating and price records. The most rare variety on the list appeared at #2, the 97-rated Hula Daddy Kona Coffee Kona Pointu. Bourbon Pointu (botanical variety name “Laurina”) is a natural mutation of the famous Bourbon variety, first detected on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The Bourbon Pointu is famous for its naturally low levels of caffeine, bean shape (small and tending to be pointed at the ends, hence “pointu”), and pungently fruit-toned cup.

A hint of a possible trend showed up with the appearance of a coffee of the Sidra variety at #4, and coffees from trees of the Pink Bourbon variety at #1 and #20. Sidra and Pink Bourbon have long been thought to be natural hybrids of the Bourbon and Typica varieties, but the latest genetic research indicates that both are Ethiopian varieties that were carried to Latin America, much as Geisha was. Neither variety has been traced in its movement from Ethiopia to Latin America, although in both cases the typical cup suggests Ethiopian character and florality.

Processing Method

Remarkably, in 2023, processing method was disclosed for every coffee on the list, perhaps indicative of the increasing awareness in the coffee world of the importance of processing method in determining cup character. Half (15) of the 30 are traditional washed coffees, meaning fruit skin and flesh were removed before the coffee was dried, usually promoting a clean, sweet-tart cup with a generally familiar “coffee” character. Two more are wet-hulled, the mainly Indonesian variation on the washed method that encourages complex spice and savory notes. Six of the 30 are naturals, meaning the beans were dried in the whole fruit, a practice that typically encourages sweetness and fruit.

Tim and Patricia Coonan, owners of Big Shoulders Coffee and roaster of the #13 Colombia Wilton Benitez Thermal Shock Geisha. Courtesy of Big Shoulders Coffee.

Seven of this year’s Top 30 coffees, an increase of just two from 2022, were processed using variations of the anaerobic method, in which a fermentation step takes place in sealed, reduced-oxygen containers. This demanding procedure, done right, generally encourages a lactic sweet-sour structure and often surprising and original aroma and flavor notes.

Roasters in the Top 30

In 2023, five roasting companies placed two coffees each on this year’s Top-30 list:

• GK Coffee (Yilan, Taiwan) – #3 and #6
• Hula Daddy Kona Coffee (Holualoa, Hawaii) – #2 and #21
• JBC Coffee Roasters (Madison, Wisconsin) – #1 and #9
• Kakalove Café (Chia-Yi, Taiwan) – #5 and #12
• Roadmap CoffeeWorks (Lexington, Virginia) – #22 and #26

This concentration of coffees from certain roasters is certainly not intentional. In fact, we make a deliberate effort to minimize repetition and maximize variety among roasters that appear in the Top 30.

The Kakalove Cafe team at their roasting facility in Chia-Yi, Taiwan. Courtesy of Kakalove Cafe.

To that end, this year we consciously limited appearances in the Top 30 to a maximum of two coffees per roaster, regardless of how many highly rated coffees that roaster produced. While that may seem like an arbitrary limit — and it is — it’s important to remember that our list represents our rendering of the most “exciting” coffees of the year, not necessarily the highest-rated. We felt that it wouldn’t be very exciting (to us or others) if the Top 30 list was dominated by a handful of roasting companies that produced a particularly large number of highly rated coffees over the course of the year. Instead, we felt readers would be more excited to read about amazing coffees from a broader variety of roasters.

The family team on their farm at Rusty’s Hawaiian, producer of the #8 Grand Champion Red Bourbon Natural. Courtesy of Rusty’s Hawaiian.

That said, Coffee Review has been, from its inception, committed to starting with what we actually experience in the cup, not with product categories or marketing considerations or fashion. It is true that we take into account extrinsic factors like value, rarity and sustainable intentions when we narrow the number of candidates from hundreds to just 30. But ultimately, sensory quality and distinction in the cup, as determined by blind-tasting and reflected in rating, is the entry point for consideration and one of the primary factors that influences where coffees land on the list.

Midtown Sacramento location of Temple Coffee Roasters, roaster of the Ethiopia Halo Beriti Single-Origin Espresso, #15 coffee of 2023. Courtesy of Temple Coffee Roasters.

Roasting Company Location

Of the 30 coffees on the list, 23 were roasted by companies in the United States. Six coffees were roasted in Taiwan, up from four in 2022, continuing a trend of increasing coffee quality and presence in Taiwan. Both Kakalove Café and GK Coffee – roasters in Taiwan – appeared on the list twice.

Revel Coffee (#11 Colombia Calderon Honey) roaster Gary Theisen monitoring a batch of coffee on a Loring Kestrel at his roastery in Billings, Montana.  Courtesy of Renata Haidle.

For the third year in a row, a coffee roasted in Japan appeared in the Top 30. SOT Coffee Roaster from Osaka, Japan roasted the #25 Colombia El Paraiso Geisha Luna Washed.

Please enjoy our list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2023.

All the best from Coffee Review for a happy and prosperous new year, full of both coffee surprises and the reassurance of the fine and familiar.

The post A Deeper Look at Coffee Review’s Top 30 Coffees of 2023 appeared first on Coffee Review.

Finca La Loma in Costa Rica’s Tarrazu growing region. Courtesy of David’s Nose.

At the experimental tip of the specialty coffee world, the excitement never stops. The latest processing twist from Colombian and Central American coffee growers involves putting natural fruit, herbs or spices into the fermentation tank with the coffee during processing. The fermentation tanks are usually sealed, making this fermentation anaerobic as well. Readers of our March 2023 report know that anaerobic fermentation tends to create tangy sweet (sometimes very tangy sweet) profiles with surprising flavor notes. The most extreme anaerobics can be excessively sweet with artificial-tasting, cologne-like flower and candyish notes. But we also learned with that March report that not all coffees processed this way go over the edge into cologne/candy territory. Many are extraordinary profiles that may offend purists, but are balanced and complete, profiles that read as coffee, yet exceptional and original coffee.

In this latest report, we tiptoe on into the next, more controversial processing frontier: anaerobic-fermented coffee that also has had fruit or spice added to the sealed tanks during fermentation. In some cases, the fruit may be familiar to North Americans. Various red fruits, including strawberries, were deployed in Korean roaster Prism Coffee Works’ El Vergel Rojo Fruit Infused, reviewed here at 93. With other samples, the fruit was less familiar, as with the 94-rated Colombia Santa Monica Castillo Honey Lulo from Virginia-based roaster Red Rooster, in which tart little fruits Colombians call lulo were added to the tank.

Names assigned to fruit-added processing methods vary — fruit infused, co-fermented, fruit macerated, additive fermented — possibly a symptom of the controversy that has developed around the practice in the specialty coffee world. That controversy also may have contributed to the relatively few samples we received for this report: 26 samples from 15 roasters (six U.S.), as opposed to the 90 samples from 90 roasters that filled our lab when we sent out a call for the straightforward anaerobic coffees (no additives) for our March 2023 report.

Nothing Like the Old Flavored Coffees

Before getting into the controversy part of the story, however, one important point needs to be made: These coffees do not resemble the old, once-popular artificially flavored coffees. Here, nothing intrudes on the character of the coffee as explicitly as did those artificial flavors with their cloying pop-culture nature and metallic finish. In fact, I found it difficult to identify the specific fruit added to the tank, even if I knew the name and was generally familiar with the taste of the fruit. I would get fruit, yes, but nail the specific identity of that fruit? Close to impossible.

Co-fermenting coffee cherries with raspberries at Finca Campo Hermoso in Colombia. Courtesy of Jared Hales, Hacea Coffee Source.

Recall that the fruit is added as an integral part of fermentation, a complex chemical process the details of which remain relatively unstudied. In other words, these coffees are not the result of a simple additive process. They don’t take already processed coffee and add already processed fruit to it. The fresh fruit and fresh coffee react together to create a unique chemical event. Certainly, this explains the complexity of the fruit sensations that emerged in surprising and unpredictable ways in these coffees.

And the Controversy …

Nevertheless, producers who add fruit to the tank are being accused of cheating on the implicit rules of fine coffee. The Cup of Excellence (COE), for example, which manages a series of highly respected juried green coffee competitions, prohibits addition of fruits, spices or other nontraditional ingredients to coffees entered in their competitions. The World Barista Championships include a regulation with a similar broad intent.

How many roasters share this position? It’s hard to say, but the relatively lukewarm response to this report could suggest that many roasters are not yet all in with this latest processing innovation. On the other hand, they may simply be approaching it with caution and deliberation.

Enthusiasm and Reservations

True, some roasters seem sold. Caleb Walker of Montana’s RamsHead Coffee Roasters, whose Colombia Campo Hermosa Co-Fermented Honey (93) showed a particularly intense, juicy brightness, reports, “Personally, I am really enjoying fruit-infused coffees. The unique process of fruit infusion brings out a brightness that is difficult to find in a standalone natural. The fruit infusions seem to add another dimensional layer of flavor to the cup profile.”

Virginia’s Red Rooster Coffee Roaster submitted Colombia Santa Monica Castillo Honey Lulo, a coffee co-fermented with lulu fruit. Courtesy of Tony Greatorex.

More typical, however, was ambivalence. “More often than not, I am not a fan of these coffees — I find them to taste and smell artificial … and sometimes they are just downright bad. Unique, sure, but also unpleasant,” writes Haden Polseno-Hensley, co-owner and co-founder of Red Rooster Coffee. But Red Rooster definitely makes exceptions for the best of these coffees, including this month’s Colombia Santa Monica Castillo Honey Lulo, a strikingly original coffee comprehensively summed up by co-cupper Kim Westerman as delicately fruity, tartly floral, richly musky and enigmatically savory.

And although Youngjun Cho of Korea’s Prism Coffee Works complains that “many [fruit fermentations] have a strong artificial flavor and do not taste like coffee,” he found a persuasive exception in his 93-rated El Vergel Rojo Fruit Infused, which showed a striking juxtaposition of sweetness and umami in the structure, supporting flowers and berry on the sweet side and salted caramel on the umami. “These are great ‘fun’ coffees for beginners,” he concludes.

Starter Coffees?

The appeal of these coffees for coffee beginners and jaded regulars was a common theme running through roaster comments. Ted Stachura of California-based Equator Coffee, whose Colombia Las Flores Mint Macerated (93) was one of my personal favorites, with its herbs, flowers and deep but tactful sweetness, writes, “I see these co-fermented coffees as an avenue to excite the palates of even the most casual coffee drinkers. While it may be difficult for the average coffee consumer to detect subtle flavor nuances in traditionally processed coffees, there is no mistaking the flavors in the fruit-/spice-infused coffees we have recently been introduced to. My hope is that these creatively fermented coffees can be a gateway for weary coffee drinkers to start thinking about our favorite beverage in new ways.”

The Anaerobic Impact

What struck me most about the sensory character of these infused coffees, however, was how important the impact of anaerobic processing was to their originality, more important perhaps than the added fruit or spice. With the best of these coffees, the fruit infusion encouraged attractive and intriguing aroma/flavor complications, certainly, but the underlying structural originality of most of these profiles seemed ultimately driven by their tangy lactic-acid structure, the result of anaerobic fermentation. The fruit mainly contributed additional aromatic complication and originality.

For example, Gary Liao of Taiwan’s GK Coffee submitted a coffee that was co-fermented with fruit but not anaerobically fermented. Passionfruit was simply combined with the freshly pulped coffee in a conventional open-top fermentation tank during traditional wet processing of the Colombia Finca Monteblanco Purple Caturra Passionfruit Washed (92). The result is a smooth, intriguing coffee, but not as original or striking as most of the other co-fermented coffees. It impresses with a quite satisfying but rather classic profile driven by tart fruit and almond notes.

The Latest Producer-Driven Innovation

This practice of adding fresh fruit or herbs to the fermentation tank is, of course, just the latest in a string of product innovations pioneered at the farming end of the coffee supply chain, rather than at the consuming end. Until around 2004, the innovations in coffee that got consumers involved and excited all originated in the consuming context: selling whole bean coffee out of bins, for example; roasting all coffees dark; the complex innovations of espresso cuisine; and the infamous artificially flavored coffees mentioned earlier. In all of these cases, good, consistent-quality coffee was simply the raw material for changes wrought by city-centered roasters and cafes, most in North America and Europe.

Things started changing around 2004, when producers began selling high-quality natural, or dry-processed coffee rather than the usual clean wet-processed types, kicking off a whole sequence of innovations in processing designed to excite consumers and satisfy our apparent need for novelty: natural processing, honey processing, various versions of anaerobic fermentation, and now fruit infusion. At the same time innovations in variety, led by the revelation of Geisha/Gesha in 2004, similarly shifted the locus of innovation from consuming to producing context.

A Plus for Producers?

The fact that this latest coffee style was pioneered by coffee farmers or producers has been taken as a continued indication of the new importance of producers and producing countries as centers for change and innovation in coffee. This is true, and for those of us who, for various reasons, political and aesthetic, tend to pull for producers and the Global South, a happy development. What may be arguable is whether co-fermentation is, in the big picture, a positive development for a wide range of producers. It certainly highlights producers as artists and innovators and helps focus consumers on their contributions and importance.

But, as more than one submitting roaster pointed out, what exalts the creativity of some well-positioned producers with good connections may not help less-fortunate producers stuck at the end of a bad road. Achieving good results with earlier innovations, like natural and honey processing, requires knowledge and care from the farmer, but not quite the meticulous control demanded by anaerobic processes.

Euphora Coffee’s May Wang points out: “Adding fruit during coffee cherry fermentation can have an impact, but it requires extensive research and experiments to determine how it affects the flavor characteristics of coffee. The fruit fermentation method necessitates careful control of all controllable variables for producers, which may result in increased labor costs. In the world of fermentation, microorganisms and sugar molecules must interact in a very specific way to achieve a thorough transformation of the content. Failure to monitor external variables such as temperature and oxygen levels could lead to the production of poor-tasting coffee beans.”

Polseno-Hensley of Red Rooster adds: “I believe processes like [co-fermentation] are based on producers feeling that they are forced to innovate, largely due to the fact that growing exotic and delicate high-elevation varietals is getting more challenging because of climate change. Small producers are turning to the idea of additives in processing to enhance the fruit and acidity of heartier disease-resistant varieties that would not normally fetch such high prices.”

Also, we in North America often carry around a mental picture of “coffee producer” as a fellow in a white shirt and sombrero from Central or South America, whereas coffee producers range from isolated villagers high in the mountains of Papua New Guinea to all-women co-ops in northern Sumatra to industrialized Brazilian farms. Whether the wider community of coffee producers gradually buys into these new possibilities will determine their long-term impact on the coffee world.

A Last Note

Those outside the specialty coffee tradition probably don’t grasp how ambivalent many of us feel with respect to co-fermented coffees. We support creativity and excitement, but for many of us, the notion of altering the basic taste profile of coffee, sometimes rather radically, by combining coffee with other non-coffee stuff is disturbing, even when accomplished with the subtlety displayed by this month’s coffees. The stubbornness with which the rules committees of the two leading coffee competitions (COE and WBC) resist allowing co-fermented coffees to compete in their events suggests, I think, the persistence of this fundamental unease. Are we considering the excellence of coffee production from tree to bean as a coherent act of tradition and passion, or are we are we simply celebrating cute tricks at the end of that process?

Difficult to say, of course. Probably best to enjoy the rich vein of ambivalence running through roaster comments this month and, above all, experience the answers proposed by the nine excellent co-fermented coffees we review here.

Thanks to the roasters who greatly enriched this report by sharing their ideas and experience regarding anaerobic coffees: Youngjun Cho, prism coffee works, Korea; David of David’s Nose Coffee, Taiwan;Tony Greatorex, Red Rooster Coffee, USA; Gary Liao, GK Coffee, Taiwan; Haden Polseno-Hensley, Red Rooster Coffee, USA; Ted Stachura, Equator Coffee, USA; Caleb Walker, RamsHead Coffee, USA; May Wang, Euphora Coffee, Taiwan; Van Wang, Riika Café, Taiwan.

The post Fruit- and Spice-Fermented Coffees: The Cup and the Controversy appeared first on Coffee Review.

Welcome sign at Finca El Divisi in Colombia’s Huila Department. Courtesy of Chromatic Coffee.

I’ll start with a familiar story. Around 2004, a Panama coffee farmer, Price Peterson, found a field of coffee trees growing on his property that was different in appearance from other trees. He entered the coffee from those trees as a separate lot in the 2004 Best of Panama green coffee competition, and that coffee, competing as the “Geisha” variety of Arabica, blew away that year’s competition, that year’s coffees from any other place in the world, and everyone who tasted it.

Coffee from this newly rediscovered variety tasted startlingly complex and different and continues to taste that way even when planted elsewhere, so long as the seedlings represent the authentic Geisha as rediscovered in Panama, and growing conditions are appropriate.

This is not the place to go into the confusion and debate that has developed over the past decade around Geisha, from debates about how to spell the name to Geishas that don’t taste like Geishas. What is important for this report is the fact that a previously unrecognized variety of Arabica coffee was found simply growing in a Panama coffee field, and that previously unrecognized variety went on to change the world of specialty coffee.

True, Geisha/Gesha was subsequently traced back through Costa Rica to Kenya and Tanzania to a specific region in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, the possibility remains that there could be another Geisha growing in someone else’s field of anonymous trees, another botanical and sensory gold mine waiting to be discovered.

Perhaps it is that possibility, the potential emergence of another game-changing variety of Arabica from anonymity, that has encouraged attention to a cluster of new coffee varieties that have popped up over the past three or four years on roaster websites and in our reviews. In particular, we have heard a lot about Pink Bourbon, Chiroso and Sidra, all coffee varieties that are new and relatively unfamiliar to most fine coffee enthusiasts, and all apparently first selected from fields in Colombia or neighboring Ecuador.

New Names and Claims

For this month’s report, we sample some of these relatively new varieties. Do they actually taste that different or superior to more familiar varieties like Typica, Bourbon, Caturra, Castillo or Catuai, varieties that typically make up the coffee samples from Colombia and Central America we test at Coffee Review? How well do these newer varieties stand up when compared to samples from that sensory powerhouse Geisha? What, roughly, can consumers expect when they buy a coffee from trees of one of these relatively new varieties?

Working the covered drying beds at Finca El Diviso in Colombia. Courtesy of Chromatic Coffee.

We were particularly interested in tasting those varieties that apparently were selected informally and turned out to taste different or exciting enough for other farmers to plant them and help establish them as relatively stable varieties. All three have created some internet buzz. Again, they are Sidra (sometimes called Sidra Bourbon), Pink Bourbon (note it is pink Bourbon, not yellow or red), and Chiroso (sometimes called Chiroso Caturra). We were able to source 14 samples said to be produced from trees of these varieties.

Other Newcomers

We also tested a smattering of coffees from other varieties that are not typically grown in Ecuador, Colombia or Central America, but which were recently brought in and established on farms there. They include the Ethiopian Wush Wush variety (a popular choice with 10 samples), the Kenyan SL28, and the fascinating Java, a variety first established in Java in the early 19th century with seed brought directly from Ethiopia, then refined by geneticists in Cameroon before rerelease as a stable (and often outstanding) variety under the Java name in the 1980s. This month we review a fine Java grown in Colombia at Finca El Roble by Jairo Ivan Lopez and Corvus Coffee, rating it at 95 for its clean, intense sweetness and its cocoa and rich berry notes suggesting the similar flavor complex in some Geisha profiles.

Processing coffee cherries at Finca El Roble in Colombia’s Quindio Department. Courtesy of Corvus Coffee.

We also tested single samples from a half-dozen other varieties, including Centroamericano and Milenio, both deliberate crosses between a tough, disease-resistant hybrid (Sarchimor) and an Ethiopia variety admired for its distinctive cup character (Sudan Rume). The goal with such F-1 crosses, as they are called, is to produce a variety robust enough to stand up to the stress of climate change while delivering the sensory complexity of fine Ethiopia coffees. In other words, a win-win. Centroamericano and Milenio were part of the first wave of F1 hybrid varieties created by a consortium including French research institute CIRAD, a regional network of national coffee institutes in Central America (PROMECAFE), and the tropical agricultural research and higher education center CATIE. F1 hybrid varieties are still relatively new in coffee agriculture. Only a handful have become commercially available to farmers in the past 15 years, including the Milenio reviewed here, produced by the Las Lajas micro-mill in Costa Rica and reviewed at 92 as sourced and roasted by Seattle’s Fulcrum Coffee Roasters.

Processing Hijinks Make Evaluation Challenging

Of the three emerging varieties we particularly focus on, Pink Bourbon has attracted the most internet praise. Chiroso and Sidra also have received good press, but not as much of it.

Our sampling of roasted coffees produced by these three newly publicized varieties was relatively modest in number (a total of 15). And evaluating their potential in the cup was complicated by the fact that some of these samples were processed by experimental anaerobic processing methods deliberately designed to intensify their complexity and distinction.

Fermentation barrels at Finca El Diviso where many anaerobic coffees are processed. Courtesy of Chromatic Coffee.

So, it’s difficult to tell how much of the surprise and excitement displayed by some of these samples comes from the new, unfamiliar tree variety and how much from the application of ingenious new processing methods. However, I personally have concluded that the often pleasing complexity and juicy structure of the best of these samples are mainly associated with their innate character. In other words, in my opinion (mine alone), the processing wrinkles may have intensified complexity and intensity, but the best of these samples were intrinsically impressive.

The New Variety Scorecard

Of the varieties we tested and focused on, Sidra considerably surpassed the others in average ratings, including both the Ethiopian Wush Wush and the much-admired Pink Bourbon and Chiroso. Given the relative few samples of each variety, however, it could just be the luck of the Sidra. Remember that we cup our samples blind; we have no idea of the identity of a sample at the moment we cup it.

• Sidra, seven samples, average rating 93, high 95 low 91
• Chiroso, five samples, average rating 89, high 94 low 84
• Pink Bourbon, three samples, average rating 90, high 92 low 89
• (For general comparison, Wush Wush 10 samples, average rating 88, high 93 low 81)

Three of the Sidra samples in particular — the top-rated Chromatic Coffee Colombia Finca El Diviso, the Euphora Coffee Ecuador Sidra, and the Kakalove Colombia Las Flores Sidra, all rated 95 — were particularly impressive, and all quite different, though alike in their thrilling floral and fruit intricacy and complex, nuanced layering of foundational tastes. The Chromatic Finca El Diviso is jammier, deeper, more fruit- and chocolate-toned than the others. The Euphora Ecuador Sidra is also deep, but floral, with a particularly exciting bright acidity that shimmers at the heart of the profile. The Kakalove Las Flores Sidra is a bit quieter, more balanced and complete than the others, with a characteristic Geisha-style layering of flowers and cocoa.

Typica-Bourbon Hybrids? Nope

The most prevalent explanation for why these three varieties are surprising and exceptional in the cup runs along these lines: They are complex and exciting because they are spontaneous hybrids of Bourbon and Typica and they embody the best of both of these varieties. Some internet accounts particularly emphasize the “better because they’re both” argument.

The pride New World farmers must take in celebrating the special virtues of new varieties that seem to brilliantly fuse the character of the two fundamental pillars of Latin American coffee, Typica and Bourbon, is understandable.

However, if genetic evidence is to be believed (and what else might we believe?), we are looking at three more examples of “Ethiopian escapees.” In other words, three more versions of the Geisha story. According to Christophe Montagnon, leading tropical agriculture geneticist and head of coffee genetics research firm RD2 Vision, Sidra, Pink Bourbon and Chiroso all have no relationship whatsoever to either Bourbon or Typica. They are part of a “Core Ethiopia” genetic group, consisting of Ethiopian “landrace” varieties selected for good performance by farmers.

Which farmers, and where did they do that selecting? The trees are not telling, and so far, no one has been able to trace any of these three varieties back through history, as was possible with Geisha/Gesha. So, we have the unraveling of this mystery to look forward to. But wherever the selection happened, most likely farmers or their technical advisors did the selecting, so I say score one for the coffee grassroots.

Two More Varieties: Chiroso, SL28

We review one Chiroso from Taiwan roaster at 94, the GK Coffee Colombia El Roble Chiroso Washed, which impressed with its delicacy, the way its flowers edged toward herb, displaying an engagingly fresh, gardeny character. The highest rated coffee in this month’s report not grown from Ethiopian-related plant material is the 94-point Equator Coffee Guatemala El Injerto SL28, in which the pungent, resinous note characteristic of the great Kenya SL28 variety sweetens and rounds beautifully in a mango and lavender direction.

Coffees drying at Finca El Injerto in Guatemala’s Huehuetenango Department. Courtesy of Equator Coffee.

Thanks and a Deeper Dive on Coffee Variety

Special thanks to Miguel Meza of Paradise Roasters and Christophe Montagnon of RD2 Vision for their generous advice on this report.

Senior Editor Kim Westerman and Associate Editor Jason Sarley co-cupped all samples and contributed to review language and ratings.

For more on coffee variety, I recommend the following resources:

Chris Kornman, Daily Coffee News, “The Coffee Roaster’s Complete Guide to Coffee Varieties and Cultivars”. Lucid and thorough.

Christophe Montagnon, “Arabica Coffee Cultivars Wheel” and associated materials . Authoritative and scholarly.

World Coffee Research’s “Coffee Varieties Catalog”. Meticulous and easy to access.

Or those muscular readers not afraid of heavy books can consult the varieties chapter in my recently published volume 21^st Century Coffee: A Guide. 

The post New Coffee Varieties: Sidra, Chiroso, Pink Bourbon, Wush Wush appeared first on Coffee Review.

A farmer in the Dukundekawa Cooperative in Ruli, Rwanda, in the Gakenke District. Courtesy of Three Keys Coffee.

Although the term “fair trade” has been in use for over 75 years, it is not linked to one specific group or organization. Conceptually, fair trade is a global movement that includes producers, consumers, various nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations, and for-profit businesses; it is a system designed to build a more equitable trading model for a range of products, including coffee. In 1973, the first fair-trade-identified coffee was purchased from smallholder farms in Guatemala by a Dutch organization called Fair Trade Original. By 1988, a new fair trade label, Max Havelaar, was established in the Netherlands. The name came from the protagonist in the 1860 novel Max Havelaar, who opposed the exploitation of coffee workers in Dutch colonies. The character fought against the corrupt Indonesian government on the island of Java, which was a Dutch colony at the time.

In 1997, Fairtrade International (originally the Fairtrade Labeling Organization) was established to unite the fragmented fair trade movement behind a common set of standards. A separate organization called FLOCERT, established in 2003 in Germany, uses Fairtrade International’s standards to certify the production process and audit the sales of products. In 1998, Fair Trade USA (known at the time as TransFair USA) was founded and worked in collaboration with Fairtrade International for 13 years as one of 19 national member organizations. In 2012, Fair Trade USA decided to separate from Fairtrade International, which allowed the organization to make its own rules.

The fair trade system is designed to help farmers gain access to a “fair” or economically sustainable price for their products. Coffee Review last reported on fair trade-certified coffees in November 2015. In the eight years since, we have continued to see an evolution of the coffee industry, bringing higher-quality specialty coffee to a broader range of coffee drinkers. Fair trade-certified coffee is intrinsically bound to this expansion. As this report demonstrates, we see a mirroring of everything that is happening in the wider coffee market within the fair trade segment.

This month, we considered nearly 40 coffees that passed through a fair trade certification process in one of many possible pathways and selected 11 coffees for review. Some of these are the highest-scoring among those we cupped, while others are supermarket brands that scored lower but are familiar to many.

Ethiopia: A Fair Trade Powerhouse

The assortment of fair trade-certified coffees we evaluated this month, like the specialty coffee market as a whole, expressed a range of origins, flavor attributes and roast levels. The good news is that if you look for them, you can find outstanding fair trade-certified coffees, such as the complex and well-balanced 92-point Ethiopia Sidama Boa Bedegelo from Orange, Massachusetts-based roaster Dean’s Beans. The package bears the seal of the Fair Trade Federation, which is a trade association of fair trade enterprises committed to equitable and sustainable trading partnerships. Dean’s Beans’ roastmaster and green coffee buyer, Brendan Walsh, says, “We’ve been committed to fair trade since Dean founded the company in 1993. As we see it, fair trade certification is a much-needed aid to millions of small-scale farmers around the world.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, four of the fair trade coffees reviewed for this month’s report are from Ethiopia, an origin known for its massive fair trade-certified cooperatives, a diverse range of indigenous heirloom coffee varieties, and expressive, often floral-toned flavor profiles. Another 92-point Ethiopia coffee, Gerbicho Lela, with sweet citrus and a tea rose-like floral quality, was submitted by Noble Coffee Roasting in Ashland, Oregon.

The Complexity of Certification

Here’s where the fair trade story becomes more complicated. Although this Gerbicho Lela was produced by members of the fair trade-certified producers’ cooperative of the same name, Noble does not maintain fair trade certification and therefore cannot display a fair trade seal on its bags. There are a number of reasons a roaster might choose not to hold fair trade certification, including administrative hurdles and costs. Still, Noble Coffee founder and CEO Jared Rennie says his company “supports the work that the fair trade movement has done at origin and the many real improvements in the quality of life of millions of people since the movement began decades ago.” He adds, “We buy a lot of coffee from fair trade-certified cooperatives all over the world, and we are big proponents of the principles that guide these cooperatives.”

There were a handful of other roasters who sent in coffee for this month’s report who, like Noble, purchased fair trade-certified coffee and supported the principles of the movement without themselves becoming a certified link in the supply chain. Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Red Rock Roasters, on the other hand, has been certified by Fair Trade USA since the early 2000s. Red Rock’s 90-point natural-processed Organic/Fair Trade Ethiopia Sidamo showed flavors of strawberry, honey-roasted nuts and dessert wine. This coffee was produced by the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union, and with both roaster and cooperative certification, the entire supply chain is transparently fair trade.

Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Red Rock Roasters is a fair trade-certified roaster. Courtesy of Red Rock Roasters.

Diversity of Fair Trade Origins

In addition to Ethiopia, we received entries from a variety of coffee-producing countries, including a solid 91-point submission from Rwanda roasted by Three Keys Coffee in Houston, Texas. This lively, fruit- and spice-toned Rwanda Reverb was produced by Rambagirakawa, an all-women subgroup of the Dukundekawa Cooperative. Although at the time of review, Three Keys did not hold fair trade certification, CEO Kenzel Fallen says that after years of sourcing fair trade coffee, the company just signed final certification documentation with Fairtrade America. Previously, she says, Three Keys was “of the mindset that because we knew the prices paid were well beyond fair trade minimums, we didn’t need to pay for a seal to prove that. However, many customers ask and look for a label for verification, so we decided this year to pursue formal certification because we want to take a more public stance to affirm our commitment and reassure our customers.” This notion of trusting the roaster seems to be a common sentiment where specialty roasters are concerned. Consumers can read about the coffee and make assessments based on price, but the addition of a fair trade seal supports a roaster’s message via an objective third-party verification system.

Three Keys Coffee Reverb is a fair trade-certified coffee from Rwanda. Courtesy of Three Keys.

From Latin America, the 91-point Guatemala Tojquia, roasted by Wonderstate Coffee in Viroqua, Wisconsin, is a single-producer lot that exhibits flavors of star anise and caramel. The farmer who produced the coffee is a member of a fair trade-certified co-op, and this lot was purchased under fair trade terms. The roastery, however, is not fair trade-certified, so you will not find a fair trade symbol on the bag. Wonderstate co-founder Caleb Nicholes says, “We have developed our own minimum price for all of our coffees … and have committed to increasing our minimum by 5 cents each year to cover rising costs of production.”

Homer Alarcon is the producer of Amavida’s Peru Gesha Natural. Courtesy of Amavida.

Like Wonderstate, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida-based Amavida Coffee does not maintain fair trade certification, but its berry jam and sugar-sweet 91-point Peru Gesha Natural was also produced by a single farmer who is a member of a large fair trade-certified cooperative. Not only are these coffees delicious, but they are examples of fair trade-certified coffees from a diverse range of producing countries.

Porfirio Velasquez is the producer of Wonderstate Coffee’s Guatemala Tojquia, from the Huehuetenango region. Courtesy of Wonderstate.

Speaking of diversity, we evaluated a small number of fair trade coffees from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, another home for large fair trade-certified cooperatives. One of those lots rose above the rest, the deep-toned, accessible and subtly savory Sumatra Highlands coffee from Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Colectivo Coffee (reviewed at 87 points). This coffee was grown in the Gayo Highlands on the northern tip of Sumatra in the Aceh Province by the coffee farmers’ co-op Kopepi Ketiara, and Colectivo’s website displays the Fair Trade USA seal.

A more unusual entry was the 92-point Kenya Endebess from Seattle, Washington-based Fulcrum Coffee Roasters. Famous for its washed-process coffees, Kenya produces very few coffees dried in the whole fruit. This coffee was produced by members of the Othaya Farmers Cooperative Society Limited. Again, with this coffee, the co-op holds fair trade certification but the roaster does not. These coffees round out the geographic circle of fair trade origins and further demonstrate the tremendous range of flavors that can be found within the fair trade subcategory of specialty coffee.

Women farmers of the Koperasi Ketiara Cooperative in the Gayo Highlands of Sumatra, Indonesia.

Fair Trade and National Chain Markets

Once a niche product found only in select natural food stores, fair trade coffee is now widely available to shoppers online and in traditional grocery stores and supermarkets, particularly in North America and Europe. We would be remiss to ignore the assortment of fair trade coffees that can be found at some of these large national grocery chains. Those who seek fair trade-certified coffee in grocery and big box stores are typically presented with a small collection of often darker-roasted options. Just as with non-certified coffees, it is more challenging to find lighter-roasted single-origin fair trade options. Although these next three coffees do not dazzle in the way that some of the previous samples do, they are serviceable choices that many coffee drinkers will certainly appreciate.

We start with a pair of house brands that can easily be found at the ubiquitous Whole Foods Market. Allegro Coffee, the Thornton, Colorado-based specialty coffee subsidiary of Whole Foods, roasted the crisply chocolaty 85-point Colombia El Premio de Timana. Another Whole Foods entry comes from the company’s 365 house brand, the simple but softly sweet 82-point Hometown Blend. Curiously, this is one of just a few blends that came across our cupping table, yet it was an example of an easy-drinking, value-forward fair trade-certified coffee among other blends that were so darkly roasted that nothing but charred flavors remained in the cup. Both of these widely available coffees were purchased at the Whole Foods Market in Oakland, California, and are likely available in many other locations. In neighboring Alameda, California, we purchased a couple of fair trade coffees from Trader Joe’s, including the house brand’s Organic Fair Trade Shade Grown Ethiopian, which we rated 83. Although lacking specific origin details, this staunchly dark-roasted coffee yields soft hints of dried fruit, along with more pronounced flavors of lightly smoky walnut and carob.

All three of these coffees displayed the Fair Trade USA logo as proof of certification. Still, in addition to certification, the retail price is often one of the only guideposts consumers have for determining that a fair price was paid by the roaster. When a 12-ounce package of coffee is sold for a paltry $9.99 (in this case, the aforementioned Trader Joe’s Ethiopia), even with a fair trade seal, the price calls into question the possible compensation received by the people who grew the coffee.

Recent Fair Trade News

On Aug. 1, 2023, Fairtrade International implemented a change to its pricing guidelines for coffee. For the first time in a dozen years, the floor price and organic premium for fair trade-certified coffees were increased. With the cost of living gradually escalating year over year, and the more recent global inflationary spike we all have been witnessing, there are some who argue that this increase is very late in coming. It is, however, a sudden and significant increase in the cost of goods that surprised many fair trade roasters and importers.

For washed Arabica coffee, the baseline price will increase by 29 percent, with an additional 33 percent increase for the organic premium. There is also a more modest but still significant 19 percent increase for lower-valued Robusta coffees. What does this boil down to in dollars and cents? For fair trade and organic-certified washed Arabica coffee, the floor price has gone up from $1.70 USD per pound of green coffee to $2.20, with an additional 20 cents per pound social premium provided to the cooperative to be spent in whatever way the organization decides. This new $2.40 base price for fair trade- and organic-certified Arabica coffee is for free on board (FOB) terms, which excludes costs associated with insurance, storage, transportation, importer margin, interest and certification fees.

For context, over the past five years, the price for commercial (non-specialty) Arabica coffee traded on the volatile New York Board of Trade commodities market has fluctuated dramatically between $0.87 and $2.55 per pound. No matter how low the commodity market drops, fair trade-certified growers are guaranteed a minimum price that is intended to cover the cost of production. During periods of high commodities pricing, fair trade prices typically increase due to supply and demand dynamics from within and outside of the fair trade system.

Disagreement Among Fair Trade-Certifying Bodies

To complicate matters, the changes Fairtrade International has put into place were not accepted by Fair Trade USA, the primary certifying agency in the United States. After conferring with stakeholders, Fair Trade USA decided not to implement the price increase at least through the end of 2023. Originally, Fair Trade USA had voluntarily chosen to accept Fairtrade International’s price structure, but now the organizations are diverging. Fair Trade USA’s founder, Paul Rice, says, “A significant increase in Fair Trade price and premium at this time would severely reduce demand and ultimately hurt the very farmers and families that we aim to serve.” The two organizations continue to share a common goal of empowering farmers and enabling them to develop sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their communities.

Coffee drying in the sun on concrete patios at the Dukundekawa Cooperative in Ruli, Rwanda, in the Gakenke District.

Although deciphering fair trade programs is becoming more nuanced, buying certified coffee is still a way to support a movement that helps farmers achieve sustainability in business. One of the fair trade movement’s greatest challenges has been to increase demand for certified coffees. Currently, many of the 900,000 FLOCERT-certified coffee farmers located in 31 different countries sell only a portion of their produce under fair trade terms. The remainder is sold into the market at prevailing prices, which sometimes fall below the cost of production. Choosing to buy coffee from a roaster that pays more to the grower, whether through the fair trade system or not, is one way to ensure coffee farmers are getting a fair shake.

If the price of coffee in your grocery store or online is extremely low, you can be sure the farmer did not receive a living wage for their labor and expertise. As we can see from the majority of coffees reviewed this month, high-quality coffee demands higher prices, whether the roaster is certified under the fair trade system or not. Not all coffees, however, even certified coffees, have corresponding prices that indicate fair compensation for the producer. Consumers who care that the people who produce coffee are getting a fair price need to do their homework. If the price of a fair trade coffee seems low, don’t be afraid to ask the roaster for more details.

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