Ninety Plus Coffee: What Varieties Are Available? What's the Price for Half a Pound?

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Ninety Plus Coffee: A Legacy of Excellence

Ninety Plus Coffee, a premium specialty coffee supplier from the United States, was founded in 2006. In the decade since its establishment, Ninety Plus has already made coffee professionals worldwide recognize its unique charm, leading an unprecedented wave of specialty coffee enthusiasm. Since its first coffee in 2007, it has consistently been the precious first choice for industry experts and competition participants. Today, 90+ coffee beans have become synonymous with world-class specialty coffee, with taste and quality far surpassing any other precious coffee varieties.

Understanding the Level System

Within Ninety Plus Coffee's flavor profile, there is a "Level" designation, indicated by the number following the "L" in the product name. For example, L12 means Level 12. This Level roughly correlates with price, representing a green bean grading model. Based on quality, quantity, production cost, and starting with Ninety Plus's already excellent green beans, they continue to grade them into:

Level 7: Single-origin harvest. Rare varieties with delicate flavors and special characteristics are hand-selected, then processed using Ninety Plus's unique methods to achieve standards exceeding Ninety Plus baseline.

Level 12: Single-origin harvest. The website uses "indisputable and unforgettable" negative adjectives to indicate that beans of this grade are definitely unforgettable flavors for every coffee professional.

Level 21 (L21), Level 39 (L39): These are mostly Gesha varieties cultivated in Ninety Plus's Panama estates. Ethiopian Nekisse Red with special Red processing also belongs to Level 39 (L39).

Level 95 (L95), Level 195 (L195): These are beans from high-level microenvironments in Panama estates, processed through patented drying technology after lengthy screening processes, achieving designed top-tier taste standards. Most are processed under the personal supervision of founder Joseph. Annual production may only reach ten to dozens of kilograms, making them collector's items.

Featured Ninety Plus Coffee Varieties

Kemgin (Formerly Ginseng)

Name Origin: This coffee comes from the town of Nekempte in western Ethiopia, characterized by its lively, clean taste with light fruit, citrus, and ginseng flavors. The "kem" in Kemgin references Nekempte, while "gin" references "ginseng." Kemgin-flavored coffee is now produced in the Wollega, Sidama, and Yirgacheffe regions.

Ginseng was officially renamed "Wild Ginger." Compared to 2015's ginseng, besides floral notes, it retains the rare juice-like body of washed beans. This year's Wild Ginger brings higher sweetness, gradually transforming the original peach flavor to uncommon orange candy flavor, so we highly recommend trying this year's Wild Ginger.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Wellega, Sidama, and Yirgacheffe regions.

Altitude: 1750-2000m.

Processing Method: Washed.

Flavor Profile: White peach, lime, honeydew melon, ginseng, carob.

Hachira | N2 Level 12

Name Origin: Originating from the Aricha region series developed by Ninety Plus with S.A. Bagersh from 2006-2008. This coffee was named "Hachira." Hachira coffee has noticeable fruit juice qualities, rich floral aromas, typically carrying elderberry or blackberry flavors, sometimes with basil herbaceous notes.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Achira region.

Altitude: 1750-2000m.

Processing Method: Natural.

Flavor Profile: Rich floral aromas, noticeable fruit juice qualities, with elderberry, blackberry, basil herbaceous flavors, and also lactose-like sweetness.

Nekisse Red | N2 Level 39

Name Origin: Red-processed Nekisse is like her vibrant, strong younger sister. Sugar-sweet, possessing her sister's classic aromatic wood and nectar flavors, yet independent and aware of her charm, unafraid to express it. Tasting it feels like deeply experiencing a richer, deeper Nekisse, as if someone outlined Nekisse's contours and drew bold eyebrows on her enchanting face to highlight the most beautiful details.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Wellega and Sidama regions.

Altitude: 1750-2000m.

Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented "Red Processing" - close to but surpassing natural processing.

Flavor Profile: Red processing enhances blueberry, cherry, and dark chocolate flavors while maintaining fruit-chocolate balance and multi-layered texture. Subtly balanced - a rare excellent coffee.

Nekisse | N2 Level 12

Name Origin: In 2009, this coffee was named "Nectar from Shakisso," meaning it possesses flavors like nectar from Shakisso town in Ethiopia's Sidama province. Nekisse的特点是奶油般顺滑的口感，强烈莓果酱感，有些批次甚至带有柑橘和多种热带水果的混合风味。尽管最初是在Shakisso产区种植，但后来的Nekisse都产自于Wellega和Sidama产区，只是保留了这个名称。我们觉得Nekisse在希达莫种植保持了最初的花蜜和浆果感的风味，这让它与其他所有其他来自埃塞的咖啡都区分开来。

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Wellega and Sidama regions.

Altitude: 1750-2000m.

Processing Method: Natural.

Flavor Profile: Clean, multi-layered texture. Balanced with peach, berries, passion fruit, cream, milk chocolate flavors. A classic excellent coffee. From hot to cold, it continuously brings surprises of night-blooming jasmine, blueberry, aromatic wood, and cocoa.

Tchembe | N2 Level 7

Name Origin: Although this year's Tchembe comes from Yirgacheffe, the name is taken from Haricho and Bolo variety coffees from the Amaro Mountains, which when naturally processed produce carob and banana flavors. Tchembe coffee has earthy and chocolate richness, with richly layered citrus and berry flavors.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Yirgacheffe region.

Altitude: 1750-2000m.

Processing Method: Natural.

Flavor Profile: Noticeable rich body, with earthy, dark fruit flavors, and light citrus notes.

Juliette | H2 Level 39

In Ninety Plus's Geisha estate, there's a path from the farm house to the coffee drying area. Walking this path, you'll see a row of exceptionally beautiful datura. In the evening, these bell-shaped flowers emit captivating, intoxicating aromas that last only about an hour. We jokingly call this floral fragrance "evening beauty." There's also a legend about datura. Apparently, a local Panamanian indigenous tribe would place these flowers under their pillows while sleeping to protect themselves from harm, believing datura has special energy to protect households. Besides datura, belladonna, henbane, and mandrake also belong to the "witch herbs" family. Since these plants are believed to have mystical powers, they are often used by wizards to prepare magical potions. Datura is an essential ingredient in wizards' love potions - those who drink love potions can win their beloved, but datura is also often prepared by wizards as a poison that can cause madness or death. Once, while conducting a small-scale vaporization flavor evaluation of a coffee in our sensory laboratory, we suddenly smelled this coffee's mixed notes of honeysuckle, orange, milk chocolate, and floral aromas. This scent instantly transported us back to that evening walking the datura-lined path. Its soft, feminine character left us immersed in deep contemplation of datura flowers and Shakespeare's tragic love story "Romeo and Juliet," so we named this coffee "Juliette."

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate.

Variety: Geisha.

Level: 39.

Altitude: 1250m-1650m.

Processing Method: Honey.

Flavor: Rich floral aromas beyond Geisha's inherent flavors, with orange peel, caramel, and dried cashew notes when tasted.

Lotus Solkiln | H2 Level 95

Name Origin: Lotus Solkiln flavor development emulates the lotus flower, which emerges from mud unstained - a perennial aquatic plant sometimes mistaken for water lilies. Ninety Plus Solkiln-processed Geisha, while directly drying fresh fruit similar to traditional natural processing, results in beans that look much like washed coffee. The Solkiln method creates a precisely controlled temperature and humidity microenvironment that eliminates Panama's common humid environmental effects on coffee. Similarly, lotus flowers can adapt to environments with humans or other warm-blooded animals by regulating their petal temperature. Lotus SK breaks from the long-standing practice of imitating Ethiopian washed or natural processing experience, and also breaks people's established impressions of Geisha's base flavors. In naming "Lotus SK," we were also influenced by "Lotus Flower," a song by British Oxford band Radiohead. This song primarily expresses people's pursuit of inner peace, freedom, low-key living, and love for music and sensory enjoyment, much like this coffee - we hope those who drink it can experience such a state of mind. The song's music video presents pure yet diverse musical expression - if you have the chance, do watch it.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate.

Variety: Geisha.

Level: 95.

Altitude: 1250m-1650m.

Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented Solkiln honey processing - extended drying time in rooms with special equipment controlling temperature and humidity to enhance flavors while maintaining washed-like cleanliness.

Flavor: Mixed fig and honey aromas, with richly layered sweet melon, kiwi, and light tropical fruit flavors when tasted.

Perci | N2 Level 39

Name Origin: The name "Perci" derives from "perspective," meaning viewpoint or angle. Naming it "Perci" refers to how during our sensory experiments with this coffee, while conducting routine overall sensory evaluations, we suddenly experienced a unique, stunning stimulation that gave us a different perspective on coffee. Using "perspective's" meaning, we named it "Perci" to remind us this is a coffee that made us see it in a new light. When we first blind-tested this coffee, we were certain they were Ethiopian natural-processed coffees (in a sense, they are). Our first thought was that this definitely wasn't Geisha variety coffee. Geisha's base flavors include citrus, orange, and jasmine. But for "Perci," Geisha's base flavors are only a small component of its profile. Additionally, it has mango, pineapple, carob, banana, plum, red grape, honey, peach, red coral, and many more flavors.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate.

Season: 2013-2014.

Variety: Geisha.

Level: 39.

Altitude: 1250m-1650m.

Processing Method: Natural.

Flavor: Intense cherry, carob, vanilla, tropical fruit, and mixed juice flavors.

Perci Red | N2 Level 95

Name Origin: Red processing's effect on Perci is like watching a beautiful sunset through red glass windows. Perci's tropical fruit characteristics become more transparent, sweeter. All flavors are coated with a honey-brandy feeling. Pineapple, mango, and peach create a fresh fruit jam. It still retains fresh fruit's sweet-tart balance and juice's refreshment, but becomes richer, sweeter, and much more.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate.

Variety: Geisha.

Level: 95.

Altitude: 1250m-1650m.

Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented "Red Processing" - close to but surpassing natural processing.

Flavor: Red processing further highlights vanilla, tropical fruit, and mixed juice flavors. Mango and pineapple flavors gain a sweet wine note. Banana, red grape, honey, and peach flavors remain unchanged.

Perci Ruby | N2 Level 195

Name Origin: Perci Red processing is already stunning. Ruby processing's effect on Perci is even more distinctive. Perci's tropical fruit characteristics become more transparent, extremely sweet. All flavors are coated with a honey-brandy feeling. Pineapple, mango, and peach create a fresh fruit jam. It still retains fresh fruit's sweet-tart balance and juice's refreshment, but becomes richer, sweeter, and much more.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate.

Season: 2013-2014.

Variety: Geisha.

Level: 195.

Altitude: 1250m-1650m.

Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented "Ruby Processing."

Flavor: Ruby processing yields intense brandy and honey tropical fruit flavors. Mango, pineapple tropical fruit flavors become wild and bold. Banana, red grape, honey, and peach gain a wine note.

Sillvia Solkiln | N2 Level 95

Name Origin: Sillvia coffee was the result of our first use of Solkiln processing in 2012 on coffee from lot 11 of the Geisha Estate. All coffee from this lot was processed simultaneously, but only 25kg of specially flavored coffee was successfully obtained. In 2013, we learned that Geisha cherries harvested late in the season absorbed more fruit flavors during Solkiln processing. This was because we extended processing time, resulting in stronger coffee fruit flavors. The "sill" part of "Sillvia" references our farm's location - Silla Del Pando (Panama volcano area's Silla Del Pando volcanic complex), while "via" means channel or method.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate.

Variety: Geisha.

Level: 95.

Altitude: 1250m-1650m.

Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented Solkiln natural processing - extended drying time in rooms with special equipment controlling temperature and humidity to enhance flavors while maintaining washed-like cleanliness.

Flavor: Noticeable fruit juice texture when tasted, with rich tropical fruit flavors and pineapple shortcake notes, with a long-lasting aftertaste.

Lycello | W2 Level 21

Name Origin: In 2013, Taiwan's World Barista Championship champion Chien Chia-Cheng visited Ninety Plus's Geisha Estate. After tasting Geisha coffee cherries, he was reminded of lychees grown in his backyard! So Ninety Plus used the first two letters "LY" from the English word "Lychee" as the first component of this coffee's name. While listening to genius cellist Yo-Yo Ma's performance, we were impressed by his superb skill, so we used "cell" from the English word "cello" as the second component, and "o" from Yo-Yo Ma's name as the third component - thus Lycello's name origin!

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate.

Variety: Heirloom.

Level: 21.

Altitude: 1250m-1650m.

Processing Method: Washed.

Flavor: Beyond Geisha's inherent flavors, it displays rich green tea/musk and basil herbaceous aromas, with soft lemon flavors when tasted, lychee-like sweet-tart taste, and cashew-like nutty notes.

About LevelUp

LevelUp is the secondary brand of Ninety Plus, a specialty green bean processing company. It's an Ethiopian green bean series jointly launched with green bean trader BodhiLeaf. Beans are named by flavor rather than origin. Bean names are in local Ethiopian languages, describing each bean's distinctive flavors. They retain 90+'s amazing flavors but are more affordable.

LevelUp Series Varieties

Ninety Plus Drima Zede (Candlelight)

Name Origin: Drima Zede (Candlelight, this Yirgacheffe's name) means "Best Approach" in the local dialect. According to manufacturer-provided information, this Yirgacheffe is a specialized product series developed from 90+ years of experience. Traditional natural processing makes it difficult to obtain pure flavors, but Drima Zede, with 90+ technical support, only hand-selects the most mature coffee cherries, with meticulous constant stirring during natural drying to ensure uniformity. The final result is very transparent, pure taste with significant temperature variation, and charming fruit, floral, and oak barrel aromas.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia SNNP, Sidama region.

Altitude: 1750m-2000m.

Processing Method: Natural.

Flavor: Nectarine, tropical fruits, cream, cinnamon.

Ninety Plus Danch Meng

Name Origin: Danch Meng is actually Ninety Plus's secondary brand Level Up, an Ethiopian green bean jointly launched with green bean trader Bodhi Leaf in 2013. Danch Meng translates locally to "Perfect approach," grown by Yirgacheffe Goldina Abayudumenso small farmers, launched with Ninety Plus's professional flavor processing background. With 90+ natural processing technology, Danch Meng possesses very unique Yirgacheffe flavors.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia SNNP, Kambata region.

Altitude: 1700m-2000m.

Processing Method: Natural.

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

DerarEla | Dreamer

Flavor: More intense aromatics, rich tropical fruit and lime aromas, unique chamomile fragrance.

LomiTasha | Romiq

Flavor: Soft lemon, honey, wild ginger flower fragrance, refined green tea texture.

Faya Deraro | Deraila

Flavor: Blueberry, strawberry cookie, cherry, white wine, raspberry.

Nitsu Ruz | Rosemary Fresh

Flavor: Floral, lemon peel, lychee, prune, kumquat, black tea.

90+ Coffee Bean Brand Recommendation

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted 90+ coffee beans, particularly Drima Zede (Candlelight), offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer exceptional value - a half-pound (227g) package costs only about 90 yuan. Calculating at 15g per cup, one package makes 15 cups, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to café prices often exceeding 100 yuan per cup, this is truly a conscientious recommendation.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473