How 90+ Zhumang Coffee Is Created and How Zhumang Coffee Bean Grades Are Classified

The Ninety Plus Coffee Series

"Ninety Plus" does not simply refer to coffees scoring above 90 points. Great coffee appears in some years but not others, sometimes from different estates and with varying flavor characteristics. "Ninety Plus" is actually a premium coffee series built around 13 distinct flavor profiles. These coffees come exclusively from Ninety Plus Coffee, an American specialty coffee creator, and all are heirloom varieties from Ethiopia, cultivated in pristine ecological environments and processed to artistic standards for flavor optimization.

Processing is Ninety Plus's specialty. The company separates its coffees by variety, microclimate, and harvest timing, tasting each lot individually. Processing methods are deliberately designed for each flavor profile to achieve specific characteristics - much the way major fashion houses approach design. Meticulous research and heart go into what amounts to artistic craftsmanship: natural products undergo extensive refinement and improvement before being presented in their most beautiful form.

Drima Zede: Purity in Natural Processing

Traditional natural processing rarely achieves pure flavors, but Drima Zede, with Ninety Plus technical support, uses only hand-selected, fully ripe coffee cherries. During natural drying, meticulous constant stirring ensures uniformity. The result is an exceptionally transparent, clean flavor profile with dramatic changes between hot and cold temperatures - the fruit, floral, and oak-barrel aromas are captivating!

Candle Light: Ethiopian Natural Excellence

As an Ethiopian natural, Candle Light undergoes strict supervision and selection, avoiding the frustrating earthy impurities and high defect rates common to natural coffees, and instead highlighting the captivating sweetness that made natural processing famous. Candle Light's enchanting fruit notes inherit the charming aromas of traditional Ethiopian naturals, expressing a full-bodied, lingering sweetness with perfectly balanced, mouth-watering fruit acidity.

Candle Light is also quite approachable for daily brewing. The beans themselves are rich in flavor, and whether brewed as fresh drip filter or rich espresso, both methods beautifully showcase their inherent character.

Flavor Profile and Characteristics

Ninety Plus Level Up series Candle Light flavor: nectarine, tropical fruits, a clean and bright texture - astonishing from the first sip.

Detailed Specifications

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Sidamo

Altitude: 1,750-2,000m

Roast Degree: Light roast

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Local native heirloom varieties

Processing Station: Ninety Plus

Flavor: nectarine, tropical fruits, oak barrel aromas

The Ninety Plus Philosophy

Ninety Plus coffees use a completely different naming approach from typical specialty beans, without estate or regional names. Each coffee is named according to its flavor profile - Candle Light, for instance, means "best approach" in the local dialect. Starting from a flavor concept, they name the coffee first, then select regions and partner farms. That is the boutique business style behind the Ninety Plus brand.

Ethiopian Coffee Cultivation

Ethiopia features a range of coffee cultivation methods, from vast wild coffee forests and semi-developed lands to traditionally managed small plots and modern plantations. Approximately 50% of Ethiopian coffee grows at altitudes above 1,500 meters. Based on these four production methods, Ethiopia is divided into nine major coffee regions: five specialty coffee areas - Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harar, Limu, and Lekempti - plus four commercial coffee regions: Djimmah, Illubabor, Tepi, and Bebeka. Each region uses either natural or washed processing, and the choice affects flavor: currently natural processing accounts for about 80% and washed processing about 20%.

Brewing Recommendation

Hand-poured Sidamo: 15g of coffee, medium-fine grind (Fuji ghost-tooth grinder at 3.5), V60 dripper, 91-93°C water. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds, then pour to 105g and pause. Once the water level drops halfway, pour slowly up to 225g in total, and avoid the bitter tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the floral-and-fruit elegance of Ethiopian naturals appeals to you, FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia lineup offers a natural ladder of discovery. The FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe house coffee is the ideal first step: jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a gentle tea-like body - the flavor of a cool, misty highland town, at an entry-friendly price.

For natural-process depth, the FrontStreet Ethiopia Huakui, from the Hambella area of Guji in western Sidamo, dries whole cherries for 21 days on raised beds with constant turning and hand sorting every three to five days. Roasted medium-light, it unfolds pale fermented wine aromas, florals, citrus, and mango with honeyed sweetness, a cocoa-spice undertone, thick body, and a long finish. The FrontStreet Red Cherry natural offers another take: only fully ripe cherries, sun-dried three to five weeks and turned every 2-3 hours early on, yielding citrus acidity, berry juiciness, honey sweetness, and creamy smoothness.

Brew either with a V60, 15g of coffee at a 1:15 ratio and 90-91°C water: bloom with 30g for 30 seconds, pour to about 125g by the one-minute mark, then finish to 225g by around 1:35, with drawdown between 2:00 and 2:10.