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Introducing Honey Kiss Coffee from Ethiopia

Honey Kiss is a coffee bean from Ethiopia—the same country that gave the world Yirgacheffe. Perhaps unsurprisingly, its flavor profile bears a strong family resemblance to washed Yirgacheffe, though honestly, Honey Kiss is the more striking and more varied of the two.

The first time most people hear the bean's original name, their reaction is bound to be a smile—there is something playful about it. Within the 90+ rating system, however, it goes by its better-known trade name: Honey Kiss.

According to seasoned cuppers, this bean holds its flavor from three days after roasting all the way through several months of aging, and in fact grows more complex with time rather than fading.

Because of that, Honey Kiss is not the kind of bean you will find stocked casually at every specialty cafe. It is available only through a specific green coffee trader, which means supply is tightly controlled and circulation is narrow—and the price climbs to a level that invites comparison with Hawaiian Kona.

Honey Kiss grows at altitudes of 1,800 to 2,300 meters and is processed using the traditional natural method, which is precisely why its flavors run so wide and varied.

Cuppers who have written about it online describe notes of berries, cream, tropical fruit, flower nectar, milk chocolate, and peach.

In short, this bean has earned real standing among cupping professionals. Different roasting profiles bring out different facets, and additional notes often surface during cupping.

I am no professional cupper myself, but when I brew Honey Kiss as a pour-over, it tastes remarkably like Yirgacheffe on the third day after roasting. Given another month of rest, however, the fruit acidity becomes vivid and pronounced—a genuinely delightful coffee, and one that leaves a sweet aftertaste. Yes, the price runs a little high, but it earns it.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the honeyed, fruit-forward character of Honey Kiss appeals to you, start with the most classic Ethiopian on FrontStreet Coffee's shelf: the washed Yirgacheffe house bean. It is beloved for white jasmine florals, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a gentle tea-like finish, and its accessible price has made it many people's first specialty coffee. Yirgacheffe itself is a small town in southern Ethiopia's Sidamo province, sitting at roughly 1,700 to 2,100 meters, with coffee planted above 1,800 meters—one of the highest coffee regions on Earth, and the source of that unmistakable white-flower-and-lemon signature.

For a step up within the same region, try the FrontStreet Worka Cooperative lot from the Worka growing area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe. It uses traditional washed processing, so there is none of the conventional bitterness—just clean, luminous citrus and lemon acidity wrapped in jasmine fragrance.

To brew these beans well, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a V60 dripper at 90-91°C with 15g of coffee and a 1:15 water-to-coffee ratio, ground to fine-sugar consistency (EK43s setting 10, or 80% pass-through on a #20 sieve). Pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour to 95g (about 125g on the scale) over roughly one minute; once the water level falls to two-thirds of the coffee bed, finish with 100g more (about 225g on the scale) over roughly 1 minute 35 seconds. Drawdown completes around 2:00-2:10—then lift the dripper and enjoy.