Coffee Site Review: Coffeereview.com
What is the site about?
Coffeereview.com is a comprehensive web resource for reading cupping reviews of varieties of coffees. Comprehensive isn't a big enough word to describe this site. It has everything you ever wanted to know about coffee including the coffee roast types, coffee roasting process, and even includes their proprietary 100 point scale cupping review process for each coffee bean tasted.
This is one of those sites when you start reading you immediately feel the passion these people have about tasting, roasting and brewing coffees of all kinds and varieties. The knowledge that the sites' founder Ken Davids has about coffee is also without question is above master level.
Who are the founders/content producers?
Kenneth Davids is the founder of coffeereview.com and still a regular contributor of one of their features, Cupping where coffee roasters' coffee is reviewed using their 100 point proprietary coffee review system.
Other than the casual coffee drinker Ken began his passion for coffee in the early 1970's where he opened his first coffee business in Berkeley California and has authored three books on the subjects of buying, brewing, and roasting. Also, Ken's Espresso: Ultimate Coffee earned him a prestigious nomination for the James Beard Award.
Mr. Davids additionally displayed his passion for coffee by assisting with the production, writing, and hosting of an hour long documentary "The Passionate Harvest." This was an hour-long film about the process of harvesting coffee that won him many awards including the Platinum Award at the Houston Film Festival.
When it comes to coffee Kenneth Davids is known as the "Godfather" of coffee by assisting growers, training new cuppers for review, and providing the world his knowledge through literature. Hardcore coffee lovers looking for questions or opinions on coffee beans or coffee roasting recommendations should look to Davids for the answers.
Site usability:
Many sites that are labeled as resources usually contain pages and pages of information but they typically lack in organization and ease of use. You won't find that on this site. The site pages are laid out visually appealing and don't include overrated java scripts or annoying flash pop ups. It's just the information that you are looking for. The links are accurate and take you to the information you want. Here are the site pages and other features included on coffeereview.com
Site pages:
Home- is where you will find snippets of the most recent coffee articles describing opinions on a variety of coffees and blends.
Current reviews-This is where you will find the 12 most current coffee roaster reviews that include: Name of the roaster, type or blend, Country or region of origin, date of review, cupping score, and the complete description and opinion of the coffee beans.
Archives- This page lists reviews dating back to 1997. If there is a particular coffee you like now see what Ken and his team thought of it before.
About us-Here you'll find the detailed biography of Kenneth Davids and other profiles of Cuppers. Also listed are some explanatory articles of how to interpret the reviews and coffee ratings.
Sponsors- Listings of other sites that contribute to the same goal as coffeereview.com. A description of each company and their contact information are listed. Some of the sponsors also sit in the Cupping review board.
Marketplace- A select listing of the coffeereview.com partners that offer their roasts for sale.
Other features:
- An accurate search bar to query the site on reviews, articles, or general reference.
- An opt-in box for a free newsletter subscription.
- A "What's Brewing" section to highlight the goings on both online and offline in the world of coffee
- Coffeereview.com is currently displaying a sweepstakes for submitting your own review and a chance at a $1000 grand prize.
My overall opinion of coffeereview.com
Complementarity speaking, The Coffee Review's site layout is very simplistic and usable. There are no major bells and whistles like annoying pop-ups or flash. It's plainly laid out with links directly to the requested content and categorized very well. A couple of things that impress me the most about this website:
1. The pages are not filled with ad banners. There are one or two and in my opinion, that's ok. The majority of each page is chocked full of actual content.
2. The reviews themselves are written such that if there were a way to taste words you could here. This is as close as you can get to taste what you read with the way the descriptors of the coffee are put together. Davids and his consortium know just how to trigger your taste buds with each sentence.
Thank you Kenneth Davids for putting together such a masterpiece of a site. I will be continuing to use Coffee Review as a valuable and reliable resource for coffee.
Tags: coffee beans, coffee roasting, coffee roasts, coffeereview.com, cuppers, cupping, kenneth davids
