What is Ninety Plus 90+ Coffee Beans, How Much Do 90+ Coffee Beans Cost, and Do They Taste Good

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What is Ninety Plus (90+)?

90+ coffee beans

Recently, when discussing 90+ beans with Dora, the owner of Lane Coffee, I found that many people are still unclear about 90+'s naming conventions, classifications, and grade levels. Looking back, when I first encountered 90+, it took me quite some time reading articles to understand what the 90+ name was all about. I must say that from philosophy to brand management, this is a very special company, but at the same time, it's a company that's not easy for general consumers to understand. Without some understanding of their products, their official website provides absolutely no answers about what products they have, how they're named, or how they're classified—it's like reading an incomprehensible text.

In 2006, Joseph Brodsky founded the Ninety Plus (90+) company. Following the wave caused by Geisha in Panama in 2003 and 2004, Joseph began his journey. When he didn't find the results he expected in Panama at that time, he had another idea—perhaps among Ethiopia's more than 10,000 coffee varieties, there were still undiscovered gems. To ensure quality, 90+ adopts a cooperative model with local estates, maintaining complete control from planting, sampling, and harvesting through to subsequent processing and cupping. 90+'s exclusive Profile Processing ensures that every coffee bean they produce has a unique and consistent flavor profile and quality, while 90+'s coffee marketing approach, similar to premium fine wines, stands out in the market.

90+ beans adopt a completely different naming approach compared to typical specialty coffee beans. First, unlike regular beans that include region and estate names in their titles, each 90+ bean is named according to its flavor profile. For example, the famous Nekisse originally derives from "nectar" of Shakisso. 90+'s naming usually begins with a flavor concept, then the naming, followed by selection of production regions and partner farms. In this regard, they're quite different from others—this is a brand with a boutique management style.

We can easily notice that regular beans often have the letters N, H, or W, such as Ethiopian Yirgacheffe G3 N, which is the more commonly seen "Natural Yirgacheffe G3" on the market. Here, N represents Natural processing, H represents Honey processing, and W represents Washed processing. However, 90+ has a different perspective on this. They believe that rather than categorizing beans by processing method, they should be categorized by flavor profile. Typically, beans from each processing method have more representative flavor characteristics, for example:

Natural: Exuberant fruit aromas

Honey Process: More prominent sweetness

Washed: Cleaner flavor profile

However, 90+ believes that sometimes different processing methods can still result in similar flavor profiles. For instance, a honey-processed bean might end up exhibiting flavor characteristics more similar to what's typically expected from washed beans. Therefore, they introduced three basic flavor indicators: N2, H2, and W2. The flavor distinction is based on the intensity of fruitiness and mouthfeel:

W2: (Low) Lower fruit notes, emphasizing brightness, acidity, and floral aromas

H2: (Moderate) Moderate fruit notes, emphasizing sweetness, fruit texture (not aroma), and tea-like qualities

N2: (High) Stronger fruit notes, emphasizing exuberant flavor expression, sweet-tart balance, jammy qualities, and dried fruit characteristics

In 2011, to improve the stability of green beans produced in the Panama region during the drying stage, Joseph, inspired by wood drying rooms, developed a solar drying system with the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This exclusive processing method was named Solkiln™ (SK). Naturally, beans processed using this special method command premium prices, and due to space limitations, production quantities are extremely limited.

Finally, 90+ beans have a different 100-point scoring system. Primarily, all beans produced by 90+ should score above 90 points in cupping tests. Their grade levels are determined by three factors: flavor, cost, and production quantity:

Level 7: Special and delicate flavors that leave a profound impression

Level 12: Beyond leaving a profound impression, must also be conversation-worthy

Level 21: Limited production quantity Level 7, typically with flavor performance exceeding Level 7

Level 39: Limited production quantity Level 12, with flavor performance higher than Level 12

Level 95: Currently the highest grade level, showing tremendous variation from dry aroma to cupping, leaving an extremely profound impression, with very limited production quantity

I've written this lengthy introduction to Ninety Plus, hoping it can help everyone make quicker choices when visiting shops that carry Ninety Plus items.

90+ Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted 90+ coffee bean, Zhù Máng (Candlelight), offers full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, it provides exceptional value—a half-pound (227g) package costs only around 90 yuan. Calculating at 15g per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to cafés selling cups for hundreds of yuan, 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