So, after 3 weeks of having numerous FL mangoes everyday, 100+ lb consumed its time for some reviews.
First some bad and good news. There is much excitement about some newer Zill varieties, including many ahh's and wows. So, I expected to have almost divine experience, even had an open mind of mangoes possibly challenging durian as my favorite fruit. Well, it did't really happen that way. Premier mangoes did not challenge premier durians. Sorry to say on this sacred thread to mango fans. Good news, my respect and appreciation for mangoes increased dramatically. Actually its battling few other fruits for my Nr. 2 favorite fruit of all time. Perhaps one variety is even wining the battle for entire mango family. While most varieties I think fall anywhere between just ok to very good, I only want to review excellent mangoes. Only varieties I would be glad to have everyday for the rest of my life, and what makes them so special.
Maha Chanok: Its probably the hardest mango to put any flavor description on it. Its not a typical mango flavor, not orange or guava. Pleasingly unique and very nice. Actually I can understand why some call it crazy complex and some bland mango. I feel like whether you like it or not, it has a lot to do with every individual and his taste perception.
NDM: Love flavor of this mango. It is also one of the sweetest mangoes I tried. Major factor is silky smooth, almost gelatinous texture, making overall experience very enjoyable. I come across couple NDM specimens that also had few floral tones mixed in, making it rather complex mango. Floral tones are exception and you won't find them in every NDM.
Carrie: Finally a break from all those mild tasting FL varieties!! Strong flavor plus piney taste made of of my favorites. Supposedly has very short window for perfection. I tried 5 Carries in various stages, and they were all excellent mangoes. Failed to see all that fuss about window of perfection and hate relationship some people have to this variety. Also refrigerated Carries are simply awesome. Refrigeration actually increases overall appeal with Carrie. It isn't necessarily true with other varieties.
COC: First of all many thanks to very kind forum member for giving me last fruit hanging on his tree. Very underrated mango. I think only 2-3 forum members are growing it, so its one of the reason you never hear anything about this mango.
I find COC similiar to Lemon Zest in many ways as I had them one after another. Strong citrusy taste/acidity with plenty of sweetness. Actually both sweetness and citrusy acidity are even stronger on this mango than on LZ. However, its just not as balanced overall as LZ, therefore I put it just a half step behind LZ. Also fruit was very clean and good size. A must try IMHO. One day after I tasted, bsbullie and Cookie Man posted how much they like this mango. I guess my experience wasn't a fluke than.
Duncan: Most people consider this anywhere from good to excellent. I had the same opinion. I changed my mind when Alex (squam256) picked the most perfect fruits out of big pile of Duncans. I peeled them like potatoes (this method eliminates any chances of bitter skin), cut off the slice and wow! The most perfect Duncan of my life. I felt like it was right up there with all premier varieties. Something irresistible about that mellow delicate taste working with few tones in the background. And I'm not even a fan of mild tasting mangoes mind you! I felt like a fool for never requesting Duncan budwood. Another factor to overall appeal is silky smooth texture. Different from all mangoes. Even some gelatinous tones, although not the same gelatinous as NDM. Again fruit must be perfect and almost overripe for me in order to compete with other premier varieties.
Keshar: I'm cheating here, because fruits were actually imported from India. I tried four Indian varieties in grown in FL, and none of them were as good as Keshar. Flavor can be described as very concentrated mango flavor, a mango flavor on steroids. Not comparable to any other mango.
Coconut Cream: I had very high expectations from this mango, and probably its the reason for my disappointment. Not as buttery as I expected and coconut flavor not as strong as in Bounty candy bar. Nevertheless its one of the very best and absolutely deserves premier mango status.
Lemon Zest: Everything has already been said about this mango. Tuned almost to a perfection. My firs LZ tasted like lemon and orange fused together, and than this new variety of citrus fused with mango one more time. Second LZ tasted a lot more "lemony", and think it was the only fruit deserved its LZ name. After that every LZ tasted somewhat the same. "Lemony", "orangey" tones with mango fusion. I want to mention that I find Brett Borders as the most accurate mango reviewer. I think he correctly argued people calling it crazy complex. I agree with his description. LZ isn't much complex, rather simply pure and sublime.
Sweet Tart: You bite few times, and than you stop and think. What's going on here? There is explosions of sweet, acid, and tart. Tart being most prominent flavor. Sometimes I think I don't like this mango. Too much tart. But than I would change my mind one minute later, and think this is an awesome mango! I guess its just one of the tricks this mango plays with your mind. Some people never get used to strong tart component, so you have to try for yourself. If you like it, than you really going to like this mango. Also its the only mango you taste long after last bite. For this reason at one point I made a habit to finish every mango meal with ST.
Orange Sherbet! The King of Florida mangoes! More "orangey" than LZ, sweeter than LZ or NDM, more creamy and buttery than CC or any other mango for that matter. Sweet and sublime orange flavor ice cream in mango form! I guess OS will always be compared to LZ. I had 12 LZ total from five different sources and six OS. Two times I had OS right after LZ. So think I got pretty good grip on comparing these mangoes. Every time I found everything about OS better than LZ (except size). Couple pictures here. LZ and OS for comparison, and few OS one day before being ripe. Absolutely the most anthracnose free post harvest mango variety I encountered in FL. Always very clean, and Walter Zill never sprays. As I finish my last OS, frustration and even anger sets in for not having this mango available to public. So sad, OS I will miss you dearly!