90+ Guji Coffee Bean Ethiopian Natural Process Specialty Coffee Varieties, Brand Recommendations and Estates

Introducing Zhu Mang

Zhu Mang's captivating fruit notes carry the charm that traditional Ethiopian natural processing is known for, and they express it without holding back: a rounded, full-bodied sweetness with a lingering finish, and a fruit acidity so well balanced it makes the mouth water. Zhu Mang is also forgiving to brew day to day. The bean is rich enough in flavor that both a clean pour-over and a heavier siphon will show off what it has.

Pour-Over Parameters for Sidamo

15g of coffee, ground medium-fine (Fuji ghost tooth grinder at setting #3.5), V60 dripper, water temperature 91-93°C. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds. Pour to 105g and stop. Wait until the water level in the bed drops to halfway, then continue pouring slowly until the total reaches 225g. Discard the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, with an extraction time of 2:00.

Coffee Origin Information

Country: Ethiopia

Altitude: 1750-2000m

Region: Sidamo

Roast Level: Light roast

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Local indigenous varieties

Processing Station: Ninety Plus

Flavor Notes: Nectarine, tropical fruits, oak barrel aroma

The Ninety Plus Philosophy

Ninety Plus beans take a completely different approach to naming than conventional specialty coffee. Region and estate names are set aside. Each coffee is named for its flavor profile instead, and Zhu Mang means "best approach" in the local dialect. The naming starts with a flavor idea, and only then are regions and partner farms selected. That ordering is what makes Ninety Plus a brand with a boutique sensibility.

Ethiopia encompasses a remarkable range of cultivation systems, from vast wild coffee forests and semi-developed land to traditionally managed small plots and modern plantations. About 50% of the coffee is grown above 1500 meters. The country's coffee is divided into nine major producing regions based on these different production systems, five of them specialty areas, Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harar, Limu and Lekempti, and four commercial bean regions, Djimah, Illubabor, Tepi and Bebeka. Each region works with natural or washed processing, and the method chosen shapes the flavor. Natural processing currently accounts for about 80% of production, washed about 20%.

"Ninety Plus" does not mean that every coffee scores above 90 points in evaluation. Great coffee comes one year and not the next; it appears in different estates and carries different characteristics. What the name refers to is a series of 13 top-tier coffee flavors. These coffees come exclusively from Ninety Plus Coffee, an American specialty coffee creator, and all are Ethiopian heirloom varieties grown to maturity in their ecological setting and then processed to artistic standards to optimize flavor. Processing is the company's specialty: coffees are separated by variety, microclimate and harvest timing, tasted individually, and then given a processing method designed for the specific result they are after, in much the way a designer researches and refines a piece before presenting it. The natural lots in particular go through extensive refinement before they reach their best form.

Unique Processing and Flavor Profile

The ancient natural method makes a clean cup difficult to achieve, but Drima Zede, with Ninety Plus technical support, uses only hand-selected, fully ripe cherries and is stirred continuously and meticulously through the drying stage to keep it uniform. The result is an unusually transparent, clean taste with a striking shift from hot to cold. The fruit, floral and oak barrel aromas are hard to resist.

Zhu Mang, as another Ethiopian natural, goes through strict supervision and selection, which avoids the earthy impurities and high defect rates often found in natural beans and instead plays up the sweetness that the method is famous for. Its fruit notes carry the charm of traditional Ethiopian natural processing and express a rounded, full-bodied sweetness with a lingering aftertaste and a balanced fruit acidity that makes the mouth water. Day-to-day brewing is easy to master, and because the bean itself is rich in flavor, both a clean pour-over and a heavier siphon will show its character well.

90+ Level Up Series Zhu Mang Flavor Profile

Flavor: nectarine and tropical fruits, with a clean and bright mouthfeel that makes a striking first impression.

Product Information

Manufacturer: FrontStreet Coffee

Origin: Ethiopia

Roast Degree: Light roast

Shelf Life: 90 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk coffee beans

Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Bean State: Roasted whole beans

Why a Naming System Matters

Conventional specialty coffee organizes itself geographically: a country, a region, a washing station, a farm. That works when the goal is traceability, but it tells you almost nothing about what the cup will actually taste like, since two lots from the same station in the same season can land far apart. Naming by flavor reverses the priority. The target profile is defined first, and the sourcing follows it, which is why a Ninety Plus coffee is described by what it does rather than where it came from. The category name, Level Up, reflects the same idea: each release is meant to move a familiar flavor in a specific direction rather than simply repeat the previous one.

What This Means in the Cup

For a natural Ethiopian, the practical difference shows up as clarity. Naturals are prone to a muddy, earthy quality when fruit is unevenly ripe or the drying beds are poorly managed, and a defect like that is impossible to brew around. A lot built from hand-selected ripe cherries and stirred constantly through drying arrives without those notes, which leaves the fruit and the sweetness exposed. Brewing at 91-93°C, slightly hotter than you would use for a delicate washed Yirgacheffe, is the right call here: the added heat resolves the heavier body and lifts the nectarine and tropical fruit, while the 1:15 ratio keeps the cup from turning syrupy.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is where natural processing first made its name, and the coffees FrontStreet Coffee picks from the country trace the same arc as Zhu Mang, from clean and floral at one end to deep and fermented at the other. FrontStreet Coffee Washed Yirgacheffe opens the range, with clear jasmine and a bright citrus acidity over a light, elegant body and a tea-like texture that drinks like clean lemon tea. FrontStreet Coffee Gediding Cooperative comes from the Worka area at the southeast edge of Yirgacheffe and uses the traditional washed method, stripping the fruit before drying so the bean's own aromatics come through more sharply: citrus and lemon with an elegant white floral note, bright and delicate. FrontStreet Coffee Natural Red Cherry is the natural counterpart, made from fully ripe red cherries dried in the sun and showing peach, cocoa, honey and lemon.

FrontStreet Coffee Natural Guifei is closest in spirit to a Ninety Plus natural. Grown in Hambella in the Guji zone of Sidamo on a 200-hectare farm and dried naturally on raised beds for 21 days with constant turning and hand sorting of defective fruit, it comes out of a light-medium roast with a faint fermented wine aroma, florals, citrus and mango, plus honey sweetness, a cocoa note and a hint of spice on a thick, long-lasting body. FrontStreet Coffee Sidamo Natural Hamasho extends the range, from a washing station whose quality and distinctive profile have made it a fixture on Ethiopian competition lists; its 74158 lot, from the JARC 74 series of disease-resistant selections, has small beans and a bold floral-fruit character, smelling of perfume lemon, strawberry and star fruit and tasting of strawberry, star fruit and green grape before a soft floral note rises. FrontStreet Coffee Kaffa Forest, finally, is grown wild between 1400 and 2100 meters under shade in the forest where coffee originated, and shows white florals, a bright lemon acidity, sweet orange and bergamot, with a faint melon and nut sweetness and a green-tea texture.