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.

In 2022, Coffee Review blind-tasted more than 2,500 samples from leading roasting companies and coffee producers, 530 of which we reviewed on www.coffeereview.com. The Top 30 Coffees of 2022 represents a further selection: a ranking of the 30 most exciting of these coffees.

This year’s list represents the 10^th year we have compiled our Top 30 list of the most exciting coffees we have tasted over the preceding year. This annual event supports our mission of helping 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 2022, roughly one out of four of the over 2,500 coffees we tested scored 90 points or higher, and over 220 of them – nearly 10% of the total –rated 94 or higher, a tribute to the ever-intensifying innovation and dedication of the world’s leading coffee producers and roasters.

Remember that we cup blind; we determine ratings and main descriptors for a coffee before we learn where it came from and who roasted it. For those curious about how we conduct our testing and rating processes at Coffee Review, see How Coffee Review Works. For what scores mean in respect to the wide range of coffee styles and qualities, see Interpreting Reviews.

However, despite our efforts to make our ratings consistent and meaningful, numbers taken alone have limitations. Visitors 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.

Hard Choices: Narrowing Down the List

All of the 220 coffees that rated 94 points or higher in 2022 are particularly worthy of celebrating, as are the exceptional coffees that hovered just below them in rating. Obviously, not all of the more than 220 coffees earning 94 points or more in 2022 can appear in the Top 30. We forced ourselves to select the 30 we felt were the most exciting.

Joe Bean owner and roaster Ben Turiano (right) with farmer Don Roger Mairena (left) in Jinotega, Nicaragua. Courtesy of Joe Bean Roasters.

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

In each of the 10 years that we have published our Top 30 list, including 2022, 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).

#1 Coffee of 2022

This year, we selected the 97-point Yemen Haraaz Red Mahal Aqeeq ul Station Natural roasted by PT’s Coffee Roasting Co. in Topeka, Kansas as the #1 coffee. The review from May described the coffee as “A gorgeous stunner of a classic Yemen cup: fruit-laden, floral and sweetly herbaceous — a heady coffee, both aromatically and on the palate.” This is the second time a coffee from Yemen has earned the #1 spot. For the past three years, the #1 coffee was produced in Panama. Prior to that, it was Hawaii (2018), Yemen (2017), Kenya (2016) and Ethiopia (2013). Panama coffees also topped the list in 2014 and 2015.

Top 30 Statistics

With five appearances, Colombia was the most frequently cited origin in our 2022 list. Ethiopia and Hawaii were second in number of placements this year with three. Guatemala, Kenya, and Mexico each appeared twice. Panama appeared just once. Filling out the list were 11 origins represented by one coffee each, together with one blend. Two of the total of 30 samples were intended for brewing as espresso.

Average Ratings

The average overall rating of the coffees on the Top 30 list for 2022 is 95.0 out of a possible 100, in line with past averages.

Cost per Pound: From Very High to Reasonable

In 2022, the average price of the coffees on our Top 30 list was $79.34 per pound. (Coffees sold in non-U.S. currencies were converted to U.S. dollars for averaging purposes.)

As in past years, higher-scoring coffees in our 2022 Top 30 tended to cost more than lower-scoring coffees:            

• 96- and 97-point coffees (13) – $125.02/pound
• 95-point coffees (7) – $55.25/pound
• 94-point coffees (8) – $39.09/pound
• 91- to 93-point coffees (2)  – $27.67/pound

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

JBC Coffee Roasters appeared in the Top 30 twice in 2022, with the #11 Kabiufa Papua New Guinea, one of the top values among Top 30 coffees. Courtesy of JBC Coffee Roasters.

Seven coffees were priced at less than $21.00 per 12-ounce bag:

• #28 Jackrabbit Java, Mexico Altura Natural Water Process Decaf, 91 points- $14.00/12 oz.
• #11 JBC Coffee Roasters, Kabiufa Papua New Guinea, 95 points – $18.00/12 oz.
• #27 Old Soul Co, Whiskey Dreams Moka Java, 94 points – $18.00/12 oz.
• #5 Moore Coffee, El Salvador Aida Batlle La Florida Natural, 95 points – $18.65/12 oz.
• #18 Roadmap CoffeeWorks, Tanzania Mbeya Mimba – $18.75/12 oz.
• #22 El Gran Cafe, Espresso No. 3, 94 points – $20.00/12 oz.
• #9 Roadmap CoffeeWorks, Ethiopia Halo Bertiti, 96 points – $20.95/12 oz.

See our complete list of the Best Value Coffees.

Roasters in the Top 30

In 2022, six roasting companies placed two coffees each on this year’s Top-30 list:

• Bird Rock Coffee Roasters (San Diego, California)
• Hula Daddy Kona Coffee (Holualoa, Hawaii)
• JBC Coffee Roasters (Madison, Wisconsin)
• Kakalove Café (Chia-Yi, Taiwan)
• Paradise Roasters (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
• Roadmap CoffeeWorks (Lexington, Virginia)

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.

Tony Gomez, Head Roaster of Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, roaster of the #10 Colombia Sidra Natural Signature Selection and #21 Sumatra Boru Batak. Courtesy of Bird Rock Coffee Roasters.

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 were too much 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 might be more excited about an amazing coffee from a roaster that wasn’t already on the list, rather than a similarly impressive coffee from a roaster that already had two on the list.

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 into account when we narrow the number of candidates from a couple hundred 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.

Roasting Company Geography

Of the 30 coffees on the list, 24 were roasted by companies in the United States. Four coffees were roasted in Taiwan. For the second year in a row, a coffee roasted in Japan appeared in the Top 30. SOT Coffee Roaster from Osaka, Japan roasted the #16 Colombia Wush Wush Dynamic Natural. El Gran Café in Antigua, Guatemala roasted Espresso No. 3, our #22 selection.

Tree Variety and the Top 30

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.”  True, variety appeared 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. However, the range of varieties this year has definitely become more pluralistic.

Miguel Meza (left), of Paradise Roasters, and staff picking ripe coffee cherries.  Courtesy of Paradise Roasters.

For example, in 2021, six of 30 coffees in our rankings were produced from trees of the widely 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. This year, only three of our Top 30 were Geishas: Paradise Roasters Colombia Finca El Paraiso Geisha Letty, Corvus Coffee Narsha Gesha, and RamsHead Coffee Costa Rica Cerro Dragon Geisha Honey. Meanwhile, the Typica variety, at one time the most common and taken-for-granted of all coffee varieties, appeared on this year’s list at position 6 (Hula Daddy Kona Coffee Kahiko), and high-rated lots produced from other traditional varieties were scattered throughout this year’s Top 30.

Processing Method and the Top 30

In addition to tree variety, the other card coffee farmers have been playing to differentiate their coffees over the past decade is processing method, or how fruit skin and flesh are removed from the beans and how they are dried. At one time, most of the fine coffees in the world were processed by the traditional wet or washed method, in which the fruit around the bean is removed immediately after picking and before drying, usually encouraging a bright sweet-tart structure expressing the inherent sensory tendencies of the bean. Eighteen of this year’s Top 30 selections were processed by variations of the washed method, led by the #2 Kakalove Café Guatemala Washed El Injerto Washed Espresso, the #3 Simon Hsieh Ethiopia Aphrodite Washed Espresso, and #7 JBC Coffee Roasters Gachatha Kenya.

Caesar Tu, of Kakalove Cafe, on a recent origin trip to source coffees for his Taiwan-based roastery. Courtesy of Kakalove Cafe.

The most common alternative among farmers and millers attempting to differentiate their coffees by processing method is the ancient but recently revived natural method, in which the beans are dried while still encased in the entire fruit, a prolonged and tricky procedure that, done right, encourages sweetness and fruit and chocolate suggestions. Seven of this year’s Top 30 were processed by variations on the natural method, a small decrease from last year, in which 10 of the top 30 were naturals. Interestingly, this year’s #1 coffee, the Yemen Haraaz Red Mahal Aqeeq ul Station, comes from a coffee culture that has been producing natural-processed coffees continually for 500 years, dwarfing the history of even the oldest of washed coffee traditions. The late-comer revival naturals were led by the #5 Moore Coffee El Salvador Aida Batlle La Florida Natural and the #10 Bird Rock Coffee Roasters Colombia Sidra Natural.

Two of this year’s top 30, down from three in 2021, were processed using variations of anaerobic processing, 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. With the #4 Paradise Roasters Colombia Finca El Paraiso Gesha Letty, the special fermentation was applied to the coffee in the whole fruit, whereas with the #30 Revel Coffee Finca Cerro Azul Aces Lot, it was applied after the beans were pulped or skinned.

Please enjoy our list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2022.

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 An In-Depth Look at the Top 30 Coffees of 2022 appeared first on Coffee Review.

Coffee Review’s list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2021 represents our ninth annual ranking of the most exciting coffees we tested over the course of the year. This annual effort supports our mission of helping consumers identify and purchase superior quality coffees and, in the process, helping drive demand and increase prices to reward farmers and roasters who invest time, passion and capital in producing high-quality coffee. 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 2021, we tasted more than 2,000 coffee samples and published more than 500 reviews. These reviews focus primarily on the highest-rated coffees, which are of most interest to our readers. This year, roughly one out of four of the more than 2,000 coffees we tested scored 90 points or higher, and over 200 of them, an impressive 10% of the total, rated 94 or higher, a tribute to the ever-intensifying innovation and dedication of the world’s leading coffee producers and roasters.

However, it is important to remind our readers that the coffees that appear in the reviews on our website represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of distinction and quality. Remember that we cup blind; we determine ratings and main descriptors for a coffee before we learn where it came from and who roasted it. For those curious about how we conduct our testing and rating processes at Coffee Review, see How Coffee Review Works. For what scores mean in respect to the wide range of coffee styles and qualities, see Interpreting Reviews.

However, despite our efforts to make our ratings consistent and meaningful, numbers taken alone have limitations. You may well take more pleasure in a lower-rated coffee that matches your taste preferences than a higher-scoring coffee that isn’t your 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” paragraph that concludes each review.

Hard Choices: Narrowing Down the List

All of the coffees that rated 94 points or higher in 2021 are particularly worthy of celebrating, as are the exceptional coffees that hovered just behind them. Obviously, not all of the more than 200 coffees earning 94 points or more in 2021 can appear in the Top 30. We forced ourselves to select the 30 we felt were the most exciting and distinctive.

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

Top 30 Origins: Panama Tops the List Again

Miguel Meza of Paradise Roasters, roaster of No. 1 Panama Mama Cata Mokkita, shown in Kona, Hawaii. Courtesy of Miguel Meza.

In each of the nine years that we have published our Top 30 list, 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). This year, we selected the 97-point Mama Cata Mokkita produced by the Garrido family of Mama Cata farm in Boquete, Panama, and roasted by Paradise Roasters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Mokkita, one of two coffees that achieved a 97 rating this year, displayed an exceptional, essentially flawless structure—juicy, complete, balanced, deep—together with striking, tropical-themed aroma and flavor notes the review summarizes as “other worldly.” The Mokkita variety is apparently a distinctive strain of the already rare Mokka (also spelled Moka, Mocca) variety that was selectively cultivated by Mama Cata.

José David Garrido, producer of the No. 1 Mama Cata Mokkita, with Mokkita tree on Mama Cata farm in Panama. Courtesy of Miguel Meza.

Our choice of the Paradise Mama Cata Mokkita means that, for the third year in a row, a coffee grown in Panama topped our list. In 2020, it was the GW01 Finca Sophia Olympus Geisha roasted by GK Coffee in Taiwan. In 2019, the Elida Estate Geisha Green-Tip Natural roasted by Dragonfly Coffee Roasters. Previous No. 1 coffees were produced in Hawaii (2018), Yemen (2017), Kenya (2016) and Ethiopia (2013). Panama also scored firsts in 2014 and 2015.

With five appearances, Ethiopia was the most frequently cited origin in our 2021 list, including the 97-rated Barrington Testi Ayla Double Ethiopia, this year’s second-ranked selection. Hawaii was second in number of placements this year with four. Panama and Colombia each had three coffees on the list, and Yemen two, the only other origin with more than one. Filling out the list were 13 origins represented by one coffee each, together with one blend.

Coffees from Ethiopia appeared five times in this year’s Top 30. A picker from southern Ethiopia harvesting ripe fruit. Courtesy Kenneth Davids.

Top 30 Statistics

Average Ratings. The average overall rating of the coffees on the Top 30 list for 2021 was 95.3 out of a possible 100, in line with past averages.

Cost per Pound: From Very High to Reasonable. In 2021, the average price of the coffees on our Top 30 list was $124.83 per pound. This very high average was driven by a handful of extremely expensive coffees. For example, the top-rated, particularly rare Mama Cata Mokkita cost an adjusted $600 per pound. On the other hand, the second-ranked coffee, the Barrington Testi Ayla Double Ethiopia, cost an adjusted $73.27 per pound, and the No. 7 Simon Hsieh Bull Demon King a reasonable $33.00 per pound.

Bags of 96-point Simon Hsieh Bull Demon King, the No. 7 coffee of 2021. Courtesy of Ron Walters.

What this suggests is that one can’t meaningfully compare the average price of Top 30 coffees from year to year because the mix of coffee prices varies greatly. A handful of very expensive coffees can dramatically skew an average. Nevertheless, as in past years, higher scoring coffees in our 2021 Top 30 tended to cost more than lower scoring coffees:              

One of the selection criteria for the Top 30 coffees is value, measured by price per pound relative to coffees of similar quality. Many of the coffees on our list are priced in line with similar, though usually less distinguished, specialty coffees in the marketplace. Eight of the coffees on the list cost $30 or less per pound. See our complete list of the Best Value Coffees.

Roasters in the Top 30

Five roasting companies placed two coffees each on this year’s Top-30 list: Paradise Roasters (No. 1 and No. 16 ); Hula Daddy Kona Coffee (No. 5 and No. 20 ); JBC Coffee Roasters (No. 14 and No. 28); Kakalove Café, Taiwan (No. 4 and No. 15), and Red Rooster Coffee Roaster (No. 10 and No. 17). This concentration of coffees from certain roasters is certainly not by design. In fact, we make a deliberate effort to increase the number and variety of roasters that appear in the Top 30.

Karen Patterson planting Kona Mocca® seedlings at Hula Daddy, producer and roaster of the No. 5 coffee of 2021. Photo courtesy of Hula Daddy Kona Coffee.

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 high-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 were too much 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 might be more excited about an amazing coffee from a roaster that wasn’t already on the list, rather than a similarly incredible coffee from a roaster that already had two on the list.

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 into account when we narrow the number of candidates from a couple hundred to just 30. But, ultimately, sensory quality and distinction in the cup, as determined by blind-tasting and as reflected in rating, is the entry point for consideration and one of the primary factors that influences where coffees land on the list.

Roasting Company Geography

Of the 30 coffees on the list, 20 were roasted by companies in the United States. A record-breaking eight coffees were roasted in Taiwan. For the first time, a coffee roasted in Japan and another roasted in Peru appeared in the Top 30. SOT Coffee Roaster from Osaka, Japan, roasted the No. 3 Colombia Wush Wush Dynamic Natural and Finca Tasta from Peru both produced and roasted the No. 25 Coral.

Tree Variety and the Top 30

Distinctive tree variety continues to appear to play an important role in the success of 2021’s Top 30 coffees. 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. They include the still-rare and expensive Geisha/Gesha variety (six examples on the 2021 list); the ancient heirloom Bourbon (three), and the indigenous landrace varieties of Ethiopia (three). Wush Wush, like Geisha an Ethiopia variety gone on the road, shows up twice (once as grown in its homeland Ethiopia and once as grown in Colombia). Two strains of the tiny-beaned Mocca/Mokkita appear in the top five coffees of 2021.

On the left, the tiny beans of the rare Mocca variety; center, beans of the ancient Bourbon variety; and right, the somewhat elongated beans of the Geisha/Gesha variety. Courtesy of Kenneth Davids.

Processing Method and the Top 30

The number and variety of processing methods (how the skin and fruit flesh are removed from the beans and how they are dried) has exploded in the past several years, as producers seek new ways to differentiate their coffees and make them more distinctive in the cup. This year, 29 of the 30 coffees making the list arrived with a clearly identified processing method. Of those, over half were processed using methods other than the traditional washed method.

Ten were processed using variants of the dry or “natural” method, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or “washed” coffees. Three were processed using some form of anaerobic (sealed vessel, limited-oxygen) fermentation. One was processed by the honey method (skins are removed, but the beans are dried still enveloped in all or some of the fruit flesh). This showing is evidence of the continuing trend toward use of processing method as a creative tool for crafting distinctive cup profiles.

Please enjoy our list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2021.

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.

Read Reviews

The post An In-Depth Look at the Top 30 Coffees of 2021 appeared first on Coffee Review.

In 2020, COVID-19 devastated lives and businesses, challenging the global specialty coffee community to its core. On the producing side, the pandemic added still another daunting challenge to growers facing endemic low coffee prices and an ongoing battle with leaf rust disease in Latin America. On the consuming side, roasters saw the pandemic shutter their bread-and-butter café businesses while many once-nomadic coffee lovers were forced to become at-home shoppers and brewers.

But growers, importers, roasters and retailers adapted and prevailed, often in remarkable ways. At Coffee Review, exceptional coffees continued to arrive throughout the year from an even greater range of origins than before the pandemic. Farmers and roasters deserve recognition every year, but especially in 2020.

Amplifying the Top 30

As usual, we capped a year of celebrating great coffees and those who produce them with publication of our annual Top 30 list of the most exciting coffees we tested throughout the year.

It’s always difficult, however, and even more so for 2020, to narrow the large number of brilliant coffees we test to an annual list of 30. In 2020, we tasted over 2,000 coffee samples and published more than 450 reviews. About one in four of these coffees scored 90 points or higher, and nearly 200, almost 10% of the total, rated 94 or higher. This is a tribute to the intensifying capacity of the specialty coffee world, from growers through roasters to knowledgeable consumers, to produce, identify, and celebrate distinction in coffee.

(For those not familiar with how we conduct our blind testing and rating processes at Coffee Review, see How Coffee Review Works. For what scores mean in respect to the wide range of coffee styles and qualities, see Interpreting Reviews.)

More Just Than A Score

And although we strive to make our ratings consistent and meaningful across all categories of coffee, scores and rankings taken alone have limitations. Certainly, a high score is an important factor in a coffee earning a spot on our Top 30 list or our list of the top coffees by category. However, keep in mind that our lists recognize the “most exciting” coffees, not necessarily the highest-rated coffees. We consider other factors such as value (price per pound), distinctiveness of style, uniqueness of origin or tree variety, processing method, certifications such as fair trade and organic, and general rarity. That explains why a 91-point decaffeinated coffee can appear on the list in 2020, while dozens of 94- to 96-point coffees do not.

Recognizing A Broader Range of Excellence

But we have come to feel that such flexibility is still not enough to fully recognize the range of excellence we are forced to overlook in the course of determining our top 30. In the early years of the Coffee Review Top 30, a score of 94 was likely to land a coffee on the list. This year, the vast majority of 94-point coffees did not appear on the Top 30 list. Even some 95- and 96-point coffees missed out. In any given year, particular categories or types of coffees are inevitably underrepresented or overlooked in favor of other high-fliers.

Finally, personal tastes vary. We discourage readers from relying solely on a coffee’s overall score to make purchase decisions. A somewhat lower-scoring coffee that fits one’s taste preferences, brew method, or social motivations may well prove more desirable than a higher-scoring coffee that isn’t one’s cup of, er, tea.

Introducing Category Rankings

So, in 2015, we began the practice of identifying fine coffees that merit recognition for excellence in their category even though they may not have attracted the highest scores of the year or landed a spot on our list of the Top 30 Coffees. This additional layer of recognition not only helps more coffee lovers find the types of coffee they enjoy, but it also rewards the farmers and roasters who achieve excellence in a category that may have been overlooked or underrepresented. For more information, visit our expanded rankings post from 2015.

From 2015 to 2019, we announced our top coffees by category in conjunction with the annual Top 30 countdown. However, the category recognition always took a backseat to the more dramatic Top 30. So, this year, for the first time, we’ve dedicated the first tasting report of the year to recognizing coffees that were among the best of the past year in their categories.

Decaffeinated Coffees and Darker Roasts

Most years, we struggle to source and review more examples of quality decaffeinated coffees and darker-roasted coffees. This year was no exception.  However, we hope that consumers who value these coffees appreciated the quality, if not the quantity, of the coffees appearing on this year’s expanded rankings list.

Decaffeinated Coffees

Readers interested in reasons, both technical and commercial, why decaffeinated coffees often fail to match the sensory distinction of untreated coffees will find some answers in our 2015 report on decaffeinated coffees. We cupped fewer than a dozen decaffeinated coffees in 2020 and reviewed just the two excellent samples listed here, with one cracking our Top 30 list.

• Big Shoulders Coffee, Ethiopia Guji Super-Natural Decaf Water Process – 91 points (No. 28)
• Jackrabbit Java, Ethiopia Guji Natural Water-Processed Decaf – 90 points

Darker Roasted Coffees

Over 25 years of reviewing coffees, Coffee Review has not awarded many very high ratings to dark-roasted coffees. And even those that have earned high scores of 94 to 95 points tend to be medium-dark to dark-roasted rather than the ultra-dark “French” roasts that many consumers enjoy.

As noted in our most recent tasting report featuring darker-roasted coffees (Darker-Roasted Coffees: Confessions and Amends, August 2017), we want to help readers “find the very best darker roasted coffees produced today, coffees they will genuinely enjoy without changing their fundamental expectations about how a coffee should taste. This is why, whenever we come across an obviously darker-roasted coffee on the cupping table, we find ourselves pulling for it.”

Yet, for the past several years, Coffee Review has struggled to source and review more than a handful of definitively dark-roasted coffees. Many of these coffees are espressos and many are roasted by companies in Taiwan. Coffee drinkers who are interested  can use our advanced search tool to find darker-roasted coffees that have earned 90 points or higher.

In 2020, we recognize the following fine darker-roasted coffees and espressos:

• Choosey Gourmet (Taiwan), Honeymoon Espresso – 92 points
• Café Feminino, Guatemala Dark Roast FTO – 90 points
• Java D’Oro, Espresso Supremo – 90 points

Other Coffee Types That Often Fly Below the Radar

Blends (Non-Espresso)

The perception and the reality of non-espresso blends have changed dramatically since our first tasting report — House Blends — was published in February, 1997. Then, blends for brewed coffee were often simply a way for roasters to provide coffee drinkers with a consistent, straightforward cup at a reasonable price. Today, we see top roasters producing far fewer blends, as they concentrate their efforts on roasting distinctive and exciting single-origin coffees. On the other hand, the blends we do see are often aspirational efforts aimed at creating a sensory experience as surprising as any fine single-origin coffee, yet less predictable. Witness the following top-rated blends from 2020:

• Thanksgiving Coffee, Mocha Java – 96 points (No. 17)
• RND & Red Rooster Coffee Roaster – All Rise – 94 points (No. 20)
• Red Rooster Coffee Roaster – Funky Chicken — 94 points

Certified Fair Trade or Organic

Red Rooster’s 96-point Ethiopia Shantawene, the No. 8 coffee of 2020 and a top coffee in the Organic and Fair Trade category. Courtesy of Tony Greatorex.

The topic of fair-trade and organic-certified coffees is far too complex to address in a meaningful way here. Those who are interested in exploring the organic-certified category further might start by visiting our most recent tasting report on the subject: Organic-Certified Coffees from Africa: Benefits, Challenges and Complexities.

Suffice it to say that we reviewed a range of outstanding organic and fair-trade certified coffees in 2020, including the following that merit particular recognition:

• Red Rooster Coffee Roaster, Ethiopia Shantawene Washed – 96 points (No. 8)
• Conscious Cup Coffee Roasters, DR Congo Gera Village SOPACDI – 94 points (No. 25)
• Souvenir Coffee, Ethiopia Sidama Telamo FTO Natural – 95 points

Geographic Regions

About four years ago, we noticed that our Top 30 list was beginning to be dominated by coffees from Ethiopia and Kenya along with Central America coffees produced from the Geisha variety. The main reason for this imbalance is tree variety: Ethiopia, the birthplace of Arabica, grows a rich assortment of very distinctive-tasting, often indigenous varieties; Kenya coffees come mainly from the great SL28 and S34 varieties; and the Ethiopia-derived variety Geisha remains the source of some of the world’s most striking coffees, particularly as it is grown in Panama.

So, starting in 2015, we decided to extend special recognition to coffees from geographical regions that tend to rely on equally admirable but less distinctive-tasting tree varieties, plus add a category for coffees from Central America not produced from trees of the Geisha variety. We continue this practice for 2020, even though most (but not all) of these regions turned out to be well-represented on our 2020 Top 30 list.

Asia-Pacific (Not Including Hawaii)

No coffees from this large and varied region appeared on our 2020 Top 30 list, a change from previous years in which Sumatra coffees in particular figured prominently. In 2020 we did review two outstanding Sumatras that hovered just at the edge of the Top 30; they are recognized below. And for the first time we honor a coffee produced in Taiwan, in the growing district of Alishan, long renowned for its tea but now producing small volumes of distinctive coffees.

• JBC Coffee Roasters, Kerinci Palompek Sumatra – 94 points
• Revel Coffee, Sumatra Pantan Musara – 94 points
• Paradise Roasters, Taiwan Geisha Honey – 94 points

Alternative Africas (i.e. not Ethiopia or Kenya)

Boon Boona’s Burundi Karahe was produced by Karehe Cooperative and imported by JNP Coffee, both of which are lead by women. Photo courtesy of JNP Coffee.

We originally created this award category to balance the yearly outpouring of great coffees from Ethiopia and Kenya, origins that have tended to dominate the higher ratings for Africa coffees at Coffee Review. Over the past few years, however, the African Great Lakes region – Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and the far eastern Kivu Province of Democratic Republic of Congo – have generated more and more superb and distinctive coffees. Peace is gradually returning to troubled parts of this region and the great local Bourbon-related tree varieties, excellent terroirs, hard-working producers, and coffee-savvy development efforts have conspired to create more and more exceptional coffees. Here are only three of many we tested in 2020. (For more on this region, see our 2018 report on African Great Lakes Coffees.)

• Boon Boona Coffee, Burundi Karehe – 95 points (No. 12)
• Lexington Coffee Roasters, Tanzania Shimiligwanda – 94 points (No. 23)
• Conscious Cup Coffee Roasters, DR Congo Gera Village SOPACDI – 94 points (No. 25)

The Caribbean

We rarely see many coffees from the Caribbean in the Coffee Review lab. Since we began reviewing coffees in 1997, we’ve only published reviews for several dozen coffees grown in the Caribbean, most of which were from Jamaica. And just six of these coffees earned 90 points or higher. Increasingly more frequent and more destructive hurricanes and tropical storms have crippled entire Caribbean coffee industries in brutal ways that can take years to remedy. Add the 2010 Haiti earthquake, one of the most destructive in history. Finally, aside from the special situation of Jamaica Blue Mountain, a common theme among other Caribbean origins is high internal consumption of coffee coupled with low production. Local markets absorb most coffee produced regardless of quality, discouraging the development of better, export-quality coffee.

However, in the last year or two, we’ve seen a small but concerted effort by innovative, entrepreneurial, and socially progressive producers and roasters to reenergize the production of quality coffees in the Caribbean. In fact, for each of the past two years, a coffee from the Caribbean has earned a spot in the Coffee Review Top 30 (No. 18 in 2019; No. 22 in 2020).  In 2020, we reviewed just two coffees from the Caribbean, both of which earned 90+ points and both still available for sale on roasters’ websites as of January 16, 2021:

• Café Kreyol, Organic Red Honey Ramirez Estate [Dominican Republic] – 92 points (No. 22) Review | Buy
• Davila Kafe, Jacmel Haiti – 90 points Review | Buy

Central America (from Non-Geisha Varieties)

Coffees of the celebrated Geisha (also Gesha) variety have come to dominate the highest ratings we award coffees produced in Central America. Here, however, we recognize three superb Central America coffees that were produced from varieties other than Geisha:

• Paradise Roasters, Coffea Diversa Rume Sudan Winey – 95 points (No. 13)
• Davila Café, Estelí Nicaragua – 94 points (No. 18)
• Peach Coffee Roasters, Costa Rica Cordillera del Fuego – 94 points (No. 29)

South America

A major trend impacting South America in 2020 was an ever-increasing number of coffees differentiated by experimental processing methods. They showed up from all countries, but particularly from Colombia, where coffee authorities are now allowing export of coffees processed using alternative methods in addition to the familiar Colombia wet-processed style. Two of these new style Colombias are honored below. We also recognize a characteristically sweetly mild and chocolaty conventionally processed Peru carrying both fair-trade and organic certification.

• Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, Colombia Granja La Esperanza Java Anaerobic – 95 points (No. 19)
• Durango Coffee Company, La Esperanza Colombian Natural X.O. – 94 points (No. 27)
• SkyTop Coffee, Peru San Ignacio Calazobo Lot 2 FTO – 93 points (No. 30)

Espressos

Fewer coffees than usual intended for espresso brewing appeared on our 2020 list, perhaps owing to the impact of the pandemic closing down or limiting café activity while encouraging sale of coffees intended for conventional brewing at home. Plus, at Coffee Review we canceled our usual annual report dedicated to espressos because of the problems involved in applying the espresso method to a large number of samples using remote procedures.

Michael Johnson (left) and the masked-up JBC Coffee Roasters team, roasters of the 96-point Karimiuki Espresso, the No. 7 coffee of 2020. Photo courtesy of JBC Coffee Roasters.

Nevertheless, we did manage to review a wide range of fine espressos in 2020. The continuing trend to focus on distinguished single-origin coffees rather than on blends seems to be as increasingly at play in the world of espresso as it is in brewed coffee. Here we honor three exceptional 94-rated espresso blends that did not make the Top-30 list, as well as three extraordinary single-origin espressos that did.

Espresso Blends

• Lexington Coffee Roasters, Giusto Organic Espresso Blend – 94 points
• Kakalove Café, Black Swan Blend – 94 points
• Red Rooster Coffee Roaster, Flight Seasonal Espresso – 94 points

Single Origin Espressos

• JBC Coffee Roasters, Karimiuki Espresso – 96 points (No. 7)
• Simon Hsieh’s Aroma Roast Coffees, Kenya AA Ares Phoenix Special – 96 points (No. 11)
• Kakalove Café, Costa Rica Aris Red Honey Lot 1901 Espresso – 95 points

Despite complications the COVID-19 pandemic injected into the challenge of coffee production already under stress from low prices and the Latin-American coffee rust disease crisis, coffee producers and their exporter/importer and roaster allies managed to produce an extraordinarily varied and aspirational range of fine coffees in 2020. We were privileged to sample many of them, and to report on them here and throughout the year. We dedicate this and future reports in 2021 to the tenacity and creativity of the specialty coffee world in the face of continued daunting challenges.

The post The Year 2020 in Coffee: Challenges, Trends, Surprises & Knockouts appeared first on Coffee Review.