Introduction to Nekisse Coffee - Origin and Price Information

Nekisse Honey Kiss Coffee Beans

The Nekisse "Honey Kiss" coffee beans trace their origin to the "NAKED" nectar lot of the Shakisso region. The name Nekisse, a play on "naked", is also rendered in English as "Truth Game," and the beans are colloquially known as Honey Kiss.

They are processed by the traditional natural (dry) method: whole cherries are laid out on high raised beds to dry slowly in the sun, the dried pulp and skin are stripped away afterward, and the lots are finally sent to Addis Ababa for hulling.

In its original form, the cup delivered intense berry jam, a creamy body, citrus, and tropical fruit.

Later the production area shifted to Wellega and Sidama, after producers found that Sidama could deliver even better nectar and jam-like character.

With florals, jam, cream, milk chocolate, peach, passion fruit, berries, and a chorus of tropical fruit aromas, it earned the nickname "fruit bomb," and Nekisse can fairly be called one of Ethiopia's finest natural-processed coffees.

Ninety Plus Coffee

Ninety Plus is an internationally renowned green coffee producer and exporter, famous worldwide for supplying rare and distinctive beans.

Joseph Brodsky formally founded Ninety Plus in 2007, and from the following year onward the company's award-winning lots have appeared in coffee competitions large and small around the globe. Meticulous cultivation and processing, outstanding varieties, and a unique grading system have made Ninety Plus a top-tier, unmistakable presence in the green coffee market.

Profile Processing System

The Profile Processing system exists to tailor the cultivation, harvest, and processing protocol to each individual coffee. Through repeated cupping and calibration, it ensures that every lot expresses its fruit character to the fullest.

Ninety Plus' Unique Flavor Grading: Code Grading

Ninety Plus classifies its coffees by "fruit flavor intensity" rather than by the traditional process categories of washed, honey, and natural. The beans are still sorted into three codes, W2, H2, N2, but because the flavor grade is set by the processing route, you may find naturally processed or washed beans inside the honey-flavor "H2" category.

• W2 = Washed flavor profile
• H2 = Honey flavor profile
• N2 = Natural flavor profile

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Ethiopia is one of the world's best-known specialty coffee origins, and as the birthplace of coffee it harbors countless heirloom varieties, treasure-ground status in the eyes of enthusiasts, who faithfully follow its flavors.

FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe. The natural entry point into Ethiopian specialty coffee: clear jasmine florals and bright citrus acidity, what baristas mean when they say "this is Yirgacheffe." Yirgacheffe itself is a small town in southern Ethiopia where spring-like weather, drifting fog, and cool humidity let thousands of coffee trees thrive, producing that unique interweaving of floral and fruit notes. The cup is light, elegant, and tea-like, like a clean, refreshing lemon tea.

FrontStreet Guodingding Cooperative. Most Ethiopian coffee is grown in a garden-farming model: each smallholder delivers harvested cherries to a village-level processing station, and the lot is sold under the production team's name, which is why you see so many cooperative coffees, such as FrontStreet Guodingding, FrontStreet Worka, and FrontStreet Konga. The Guodingding Cooperative sits in the Worka zone at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe, originally part of the Worka cooperative under the Yirgacheffe Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union (YCFCU). As the world's coffee hunters chased traceability and carved out one independent "single zone" after another, Guodingding, with roughly 300 member farmers, established itself as an independent cooperative in 2012. Because the fruit is removed before drying, the coffee's own character comes through more clearly: citrus and lemon tones with elegant white florals, bright and delicate throughout.

FrontStreet Natural Red Cherry. Unlike washed coffee, natural processing starts by culling broken or moldy cherries, then dries the rest in the sun for about two weeks so the pulp's sugars and essence soak into the bean. Once moisture drops to 12%, the hardened skin, mucilage, and parchment are scraped clean by machine; the green beans then pass density and color checks, defective beans are rejected, and workers hand-pick any stragglers. Layer upon layer of sorting is why every bean is a gem, immaculate and richly aromatic. FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project natural beans: peach, cocoa, honey, lemon.

FrontStreet Natural Huakui. From the Hambella zone of Guji, Sidama, a 200-hectare farm using the traditional natural method. To keep the cherries from molding or picking up earthy off-notes during drying, workers lay the ripe fruit on raised beds for 21 days of sun, turning it constantly for even drying, and every three to five days farmers hand-sort out defective or moldy beans. Once the skins have dried hard they are removed by huller, and after the green beans are extracted the farmers run one final selection in pursuit of a flawless cup. Because the beans dry in full contact with pulp and skin, a medium-light roast reveals a gentle fermented wine note, florals, citrus, and mango, a much denser, more complex cup with honeyed sweetness, cocoa, and a whisper of spice, a thick body, and a long finish.

FrontStreet Natural Hamasho (Sidama). From the same Sidama region, the Hamasho mill has become a fixture on the winners' lists of Ethiopian green coffee competitions thanks to its quality and distinctive character. Its coffees are built mainly on the JARC (Jimma Agricultural Research Center) 74-series disease-resistant varieties; the 74158 lot has small, compact beans and prominent floral-fruit character. FrontStreet Hamasho 74158 offers an enticing perfume, sweet notes of lemon verbena, strawberry, and star fruit, with a clear entry of strawberry, star fruit, and green grape sweetness before gentle florals emerge.

FrontStreet Kaffa Forest. Unlike the garden-farming model of backyard coffee trees, Kaffa Forest is the emblem of wild coffee: the trees grow entirely at 1400-2100 meters under shade canopy, where pristine ecology, microclimates, red soil, and abundant rainfall give them an ideal home. FrontStreet Kaffa Forest beans are roasted medium-light: after grinding there is a clear white floral note, a bright citric acidity on the entry, sweet orange and bergamot flavors, a finish with faint melon-fruit and nut aromas, and a green-tea-like mouthfeel.