What 90+ Danchimeng Coffee Brands Exist and Danchimeng Coffee Brewing Steps

Depending on how strongly the fruit influences the cup, these coffees can be ranked from low to high fruit character as W2, H2, and N2. The three codes also map neatly onto processing methods: W2 = WASHED; H2 = HONEY; N2 = NATURAL:

W2: Low fruit character; emphasizes brightness, acidity, and floral aromas.

H2: Moderate fruit character; emphasizes sweetness, fruit texture (rather than fruit aroma), and tea-like sensations.

N2: High fruit character; emphasizes boldness, sweet-tart balance, and jammy dried-fruit flavors.

Coffee Profile

Roast Level: Light roast

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Local indigenous varieties

Processor: Ninety Plus

Flavor Notes: Nectarine, tropical fruits, oak barrel aroma

About Ninety Plus

"Ninety Plus" does not simply mean coffees scoring above 90 points. Great coffee appears one year and may not the next; it may emerge from different farms, each with its own flavor character. Rather, "Ninety Plus" is a premium coffee series built around 13 flavor profiles. These coffees come exclusively from Ninety Plus Coffee, an American specialty coffee creator. They are all Ethiopian heirloom varieties, grown in carefully managed ecological environments and processed to near-artistic standards with dedicated flavor optimization. Processing is Ninety Plus's specialty: the company separates lots by variety, microclimate, and harvest timing, cups each individually, and designs a specific protocol for every flavor profile — like a fashion house crafting distinct designs, refined painstakingly until each lot reaches its most beautiful expression.

The ancient natural method rarely achieves a clean flavor profile on its own, but with Ninety Plus's technical support only the most mature cherries are hand-selected, and the drying cherries are stirred constantly and carefully to ensure even drying.

Ninety Plus beans also use a naming approach completely unlike conventional specialty coffee: no region or estate names. Each bean is named for its flavor profile. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Ninety Plus "Zhu Mang" means "best approach" in the local dialect. The company starts from a flavor concept, then names it, and only then selects the region and partner farms — evidence of a brand run with true boutique sensibility.

Ethiopian Coffee Regions

Ethiopia hosts every style of coffee cultivation: vast wild coffee forests, semi-developed land, traditional small plots, and modern plantations. About 50% of Ethiopian coffee grows at altitudes above 1500 meters. The country is divided into nine major coffee regions based on these four production systems — five specialty regions (Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harar, Limu, and Lekempti) and four commercial-bean regions (Djimah, Illubabor, Tepi, and Bebeka). Each region uses natural or washed processing, and the method chosen shapes the flavor profile. Today natural processing accounts for roughly 80% of output and washed processing about 20%.

Danch Meng | FrontStreet Coffee 90+ Danch Meng

Name Origin: Danch Meng is a coffee under Level Up, a sub-brand of the Ninety Plus company — Ethiopian green coffee launched jointly with green coffee trader Bodhi Leaf in 2013. "Danch Meng" translates locally as "perfect approach." The beans are grown by smallholder farmers in the Kilenina Abay Tolmenso area of Yirgacheffe. With Ninety Plus's professional flavor-processing pedigree behind it, FrontStreet Coffee's 90+ Danch Meng carries very distinctive Yirgacheffe character thanks to the company's natural processing technology.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia SNNP, Kambata region

Altitude: 1700m - 2000m

Processing Method: Natural

Flavor: Cocoa, black raspberry, plum, juicy, floral aroma, blueberry, dark chocolate

Drima Zede

Net weight: 227g
Packaging: Bulk
Origin: Ethiopia

Level Up Drima Zede

Country: Sidamo

Altitude: 1750-2000m

Region: Sidamo

Hand Brew: For FrontStreet Coffee's Sidamo: 15g of coffee at a medium-fine grind (Fuji Royal ghost-tooth grinder, setting 3.5), V60 dripper, water at 91-93°C. Start with a 30g pour and a 27-second bloom, then pour to 105g and stop. Once the bed has drained to half, pour slowly up to 225g. Cut the brew before the tail. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, total extraction time 2:00.

Level Up Brand Details

"Danch Meng," transliterated, means "good path." This batch of FrontStreet Coffee 90+ Danch Meng comes from Kambata in Yirgacheffe, and thanks to Ninety Plus's natural processing technology it delivers a very distinctive Yirgacheffe flavor signature.

Level Up is a sub-brand of the renowned Ninety Plus company, launched jointly by Ninety Plus and green coffee trader Bodhi Leaf in 2013. Quality control for the Level Up team is handled by Semeon Abay, and the project director is Ashenafi Agraw, former chairman of the Sidamo Farmers' Cooperative Union.

Ninety Plus is an American coffee company unlike typical green coffee traders: it champions origin-level sourcing — finding great beans and building long-term relationships. To find those beans, its team works shoulder to shoulder with local farmers, establishing its own brands and partner brands. The company also places enormous emphasis on post-harvest processing, with green coffee methods all its own. Even the naming is unique: instead of naming beans by region, Ninety Plus names each coffee after its flavor profile, determined through rigorous cupping.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the fruit-forward Ninety Plus style appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's Natural Huakui (Flower Queen) from the Hambella area of Guji, Sidamo, is a must-try. The 200-hectare farm dries its mature cherries on raised beds for 21 days, raking them constantly for even drying and hand-sorting out defective beans every three to five days. A medium-light roast reveals light fermented wineyness, florals, citrus, and mango, with honeyed sweetness, a cocoa-and-spice undertone, thick body, and a long finish.

For the classic Ethiopian profile instead, start with FrontStreet Coffee's Washed Yirgacheffe — crisp jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity in a light, elegant, tea-like cup, like a clean lemon tea. And for a taste of Ethiopia's wild side, the FrontStreet Coffee Kaffa Forest coffee, grown wild under shade at 1400-2100 meters and roasted medium-light, offers white florals, bright lemon acidity, sweet orange and bergamot, and a green-tea-like finish.