Roast Review: Luce Coffee Roasters

I’m thrilled to introduce you to this next coffee roaster, which proudly serves the Houston, Texas community – Luce Coffee Roasters! Luce (pronounced loo-cheh) not only serves high-quality and specialty coffee from around the globe, they also host events and competitions to help their community get excited about coffee culture and better understand what they’re sipping on.

Luce sent me two roasts (one for pour over and one for espresso), which I tasted alongside my husband and coffee tasting assistant, James. Read on to see what we experienced! 

Costa Rica- Tarrazu & Tres Rios

First impressions 

We admired the beautiful bag of coffee, which was very on brand with the rest of the coffee fleet you can see on their site. Then, James opened the bag and lifted the coffee towards his nose to take in the scent.

“Oh I smell something fruity… maybe a blueberry or melon.” He pondered for a moment, then added, “it also could be nougat or caramel!”

He handed the bag to me and I inhaled the aroma. It was very potent and bright!

I responded, “I definitely smell the blueberry. It’s almost like dried blueberry or dried cherry because it’s so fragrant.”

James smelled the beans again and said that he was sensing toasted nuts, punchy blueberry, and coconut. 

We agreed that there was an intoxicating sweetness. Would it be honey? Caramel? Fruit? We didn’t know but we were excited to stop guessing and start tasting.

I prepped our trusty Cuppamoka and James boiled the water. We ground the beans and the smell became even more potent! I poured water over the filter filled with beans and watched the fresh brew start to come into form.

Tasting notes

James took the first sip.

“I am definitely still getting the fruit. It is very pleasing, there’s low acidity, it’s quite bright. Yum!”

I noted that it was extremely light in body and very light on the tongue. I noticed a fruit but it was less punchy than I imagined. 

We both enjoyed how different this coffee was. We didn’t  taste any sort of spice, nut, or chocolate, which is in a lot of coffees. The tasting notes were light and pleasant, like melon and honey.

The reveal

Luce describes this coffee as oak barrel aged whiskey,crisp, and dark cherry. We’d recommend sipping on your way to your next big hike or on the weekend while hosting friends.

Papua New Guinea

First impressions 

We were so pleased with the pour over that we dove right into the espresso. I opened up the bag of beans and shook the beans around to release the aroma. 

“Ah,” I said, “the smell is so warming. It has a certain sweetness but I’m not getting any fruit. It’s more like toffee.”

James disagreed with the fruit piece. He said he noted a certain citrus smell and agreed with the warming spices. 

James took out the Picopresso and I heated the water this time. We ground the beans, poured the beans into the filter, and tamped them down. We decided to use the Picopresso Pressure Gauge so we could really perfect our shot.

Tasting notes

I took a sip of the espresso and was instantly warmed by the sweet taste, which was perfect for the rainy day. I also noted a certain citrus taste, as James sensed earlier.

“For me there is a bit of citrus on the tongue, what do you taste?”

James took a sip and replied, “There is a nice hit of citrus as well as acid. It’s so pleasant. I’m almost getting a tingling on the tip of my tongue.”

We agreed that the espresso had a beautiful acidity, was woody, and had a bit of sweetness. We were curious to see what Luce said about the tasting notes!

The reveal

Luce says that this Papua New Guinea roast has notes of orange peel, molasses, and single malt whiskey. Delicious! This is definitely a coffee shop to keep an eye on, as they keep on growing! Make sure to stop by in person if you are in the Houston area, or subscribe to get it delivered to your doorstep.