The Story and Legend of 90+ Chelan Coffee Beans Sidamo Natural Specialty Coffee

"Ninety Plus" is not a label for every coffee that happens to score above 90 in a cupping. A great coffee can appear one year and vanish the next, and it may come from entirely different estates with entirely different flavor profiles. Rather, Ninety Plus is a premium series built around 13 distinct flavor profiles. Every one of these coffees comes from Ninety Plus Coffee, an American specialty coffee creator. They are all Ethiopian heirloom varieties, grown to full maturity in ecological environments and processed to an artistic standard in the name of flavor. Processing is where Ninety Plus truly excels: they separate lots by variety, microclimate, and harvest timing, cup each one individually, and then design a specific processing method for each flavor profile, much the way a fashion designer approaches a collection. They pour meticulous research and genuine care into finishing every lot, treating each as a work approaching art. Natural-process products, in particular, go through extensive refinement before being presented in their most beautiful form.

Hand-Pour Sidamo

Use 15g of coffee at a medium-fine grind (Fuji Royal grinder setting 3.5) in a V60 dripper, with water at 91-93°C. Start with a 30g pour and let it bloom for 27 seconds. Pour up to 105g and pause. Once the water level drops halfway down the coffee bed, resume pouring slowly until you reach 225g, avoiding the tail end of the pour. The water-to-coffee ratio is 1:15, with a total extraction time of 2:00.

Coffee Information

Country: Sidamo

Altitude: 1750-2000m

Region: Sidamo

Roast Level: Light roast

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Local indigenous varieties

Processing Station: NinetyPlus

Flavor Notes: Nectarine, tropical fruits, oak barrel aroma

Ninety Plus beans follow a naming convention completely different from ordinary specialty beans. They carry no region or estate name; instead, each coffee is named after its flavor profile. "Zhuhmang," for example, means "best approach" in the local dialect. The team begins with a flavor concept, names the coffee, and only then moves on to selecting regions and partner farms. This is what makes Ninety Plus a brand with a genuinely boutique approach.

Ethiopia's Coffee Regions

Ethiopia embraces an unusual range of cultivation methods, from vast wild coffee forests and semi-developed land to traditional smallholder plots and modern plantations. Roughly 50% of its coffee grows above 1,500 meters. Based on these four production styles, the country is divided into nine major coffee regions: five specialty areas, namely Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harrar, Limu, and Lekempti, plus four commercial regions, namely Djimmah, Illubabor, Tepi, and Bebeka. Each region relies on either natural or washed processing, and the method shapes the flavor. Today, natural processing accounts for about 80% of production, while washed accounts for about 20%.

Natural processing is an ancient method that rarely delivers a clean flavor. With Ninety Plus's technical support, however, Drima Zede involves hand-selecting only the ripest cherries, followed by painstaking, constant stirring during natural drying to ensure uniformity. The result is an exceptionally clean, transparent profile with dramatic shifts as it cools. Its fruit, floral, and oak barrel aromas are utterly captivating.

Zhuhmang, also an Ethiopian natural, is supervised and sorted with equal strictness, steering clear of the unpleasant earthy notes and high defect rates common in ordinary natural beans. Instead, it plays up the compelling sweetness that natural processing is known for. Its delightful fruit character carries the enchanting aromas of traditional Ethiopian naturals, expressing a round, full-bodied sweetness with a lingering finish and just the right amount of mouth-watering fruit acidity. Zhuhmang is also easy to brew day to day. The beans themselves are flavor-rich, and whether you choose a clean pour-over or a fuller siphon brew, they express their inherent character beautifully.

90+ Level Up Series - Zhuhmang

Flavor profile: nectarine and tropical fruits, with a clean, bright mouthfeel that surprises from the very first sip.

Shelf Life: 90 days
Net Weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk coffee beans
Sugar Content: Sugar-free
Origin: Ethiopia
Roast Level: Light roast

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the clean, fruit-driven character of Ethiopian naturals appeals to you, FrontStreet's washed Yirgacheffe is the classic place to start. It delivers the jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity that coffee professionals associate with Yirgacheffe, a town in southern Ethiopia where spring-like weather, drifting mist, and cool humidity have long nurtured distinctive floral and fruity notes. The cup is light and elegant, with a tea-like quality that drinks like a crisp, clean lemon tea.

For a natural-process expression, FrontStreet's Sun-Dried Huakui comes from the Hambella area of Guji, Sidamo. Grown on a 200-hectare farm and dried on raised beds for 21 days, the cherries are turned regularly and defective beans are hand-sorted every few days. The light-to-medium roast reveals gentle fermented wine notes, florals, citrus, and mango, with a dense body and a long, honeyed, cocoa-tinged finish.