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Drima Zede: An Ethiopian Natural That Defies Expectations

Drima Zede is one of the most surprising coffees I have ever tasted — so good that it overturned everything I assumed about African naturals. The moment it touches your lips, a gentle acidity slides across the palate with remarkable smoothness while fruit aromas flood the mouth. Truly stunning. About five minutes later, as the cup cools, the acidity grows more pronounced and the flavor layers keep unfolding. It is astonishing how much a change in temperature can transform the taste of a single cup.

The Story Behind the Name

Drima Zede is a fascinating name. Though it may carry a classical, Eastern poetic feel in transliteration, the name is simply a phonetic rendering: in the local dialect, "Drima Zede" means something like "the best approach" — far less subtle than the name suggests.

Origin and Growing Conditions

An Ethiopian heirloom variety, Drima Zede is grown in the Sidamo region at altitudes of 1,750–2,000 meters. Soft, fertile soil combined with a suitable temperature, humidity, rainfall and well-timed rainy seasons all combine to form the indispensable ingredients behind its exceptional quality.

Exceptional Cleanliness for a Natural

As a naturally processed Sidamo, Drima Zede achieves a cleanliness that comes remarkably close to washed coffees — and that is genuinely surprising.

Natural processing generally highlights a bean's inherent sweetness but sacrifices the clean brightness that washing provides. Many drinkers even associate naturals with odd, off-putting flavors. Drima Zede is different, and it will absolutely refresh anyone's preconceptions about the natural process.

Far from showing the usual weaknesses of naturals, it calls to mind all the advantages of washed coffee. That owes as much to the quality of the beans themselves as to meticulous post-harvest handling.

Green coffee processing is, without question, 90+'s specialty. What secret techniques they use, I cannot say. What we do know is that 90+ categorizes its coffees with great precision and experiments tirelessly, designing a dedicated processing method for every flavor profile. Only after countless rounds of refinement — once the optimal state is reached — do they release the results.

The cleanliness of this natural comes not only from superb green bean processing but also from care at every later stage: constant-temperature, humidity-controlled warehouses; a professional, hygienic working environment; top-grade roasters; and experienced roasting staff. Together these allow the beans' stability — and the flavor expression that excellent green coffee deserves — to be guaranteed with only light post-roast sorting.

When FrontStreet Coffee roasts this bean, the central question is how best to preserve and present its original high-quality flavors. A scientific, rigorous and tightly controlled roasting process lets the coffee retain the charming aromatics typical of Ethiopian beans while keeping the flavor full-bodied and the sweetness lingering.

Flavor Profile and Brewing

Expect powerful fruit — berries, yellow peach, pineapple — woven together with the winey aroma of natural fermentation. It is like a snifter of gold rum dropped into a fruit basket; resistance is futile.

After experimenting with many brewing methods, we found that this bean performs beautifully whether prepared as an espresso single origin (SOE), a pour-over, or a cold brew.

Drima Zede from FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted 90+ Drima Zede is a dependable choice in both brand and quality, and the value is outstanding: a half-pound (227g) bag costs only 90 yuan. At 15g of coffee per cup of single-origin brew, one bag yields 15 cups — roughly 6 yuan per cup. Against café prices that often reach tens of yuan per cup, that is exceptional value.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If you love what natural processing does for Drima Zede, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Red Cherry Project natural is an easy recommendation. Like all natural Ethiopians, it starts with rigorous sorting: damaged or moldy cherries are removed first, then the fruit is sun-dried for two full weeks so that the sugars and essence of the pulp soak into the bean, until moisture drops to 12%.

Only then are the hardened pulp, mucilage and parchment scraped away by machine. The green beans are graded by density and color, defective beans are culled, and workers hand-sort the remainder — layer after layer of quality control, ensuring every bean that survives is a premium one: clean, pure, and richly fragrant with fruit.

Roasted medium-light, the FrontStreet Yirgacheffe Red Cherry natural delivers notes of peach, cocoa, honey and lemon — a naturally sweet, fruit-driven cup that pairs perfectly with everything above.