Characteristics of 90+ Coffee: What is ninetyplus coffee? How to drink 90+ coffee?

What Is 90+ Coffee?

In recent years you may have run across the term "90+ coffee." But what exactly are 90+ coffee beans?

"90+" does not simply mean any coffee scoring above 90 points in evaluation. It refers to a carefully curated series of premium coffees from the company Ninety Plus.

These coffees come from different estates and display a wide range of flavor characteristics. During processing, coffee experts separate them by variety, microclimate, and maturity, tasting each lot individually. They are treated like near-perfect works of art—the experts pour their hearts into making sure each bean reaches its optimal flavor and is presented in its most perfect form.

Ninety Plus's pursuit of ultimate flavor is genuinely admirable, and its sustainable, environmentally friendly model has become a benchmark many producers study. Founded in 2006, this young company made itself known to coffee professionals worldwide within just a few years; the coffee series it debuted in 2007 was immediately regarded by connoisseurs as a precious selection.

Joseph Brodsky, the founder of 90+, recognized early on that some of the world's finest green coffee originates in Ethiopia—where the sheer diversity of native varieties offers flavor possibilities comparable to 10,000 grape varieties yielding a million different fine wines.

All 90+ green beans come from Ethiopia's original varieties—including the Gesha grown on Panamanian estates, which was originally transplanted from Ethiopia's native heirloom stock. Processing is 90+'s specialty: they separate coffees by variety, microclimate, and harvest time, taste each one individually, and design a specific processing method for each flavor profile. Like high-end fashion houses, they research meticulously and spare no effort to complete these near-artistic craft products. Natural lots go through countless refinements before being presented to the public in their most beautiful form.

To guarantee quality, 90+ works through a cooperative model with local estates, keeping full control from planting, sampling, and harvesting through subsequent processing and cupping. The company's exclusive Profile Processing ensures that every bean it releases carries unique, stable flavor characteristics and consistent quality. Meanwhile, 90+ markets its coffees much the way fine wine is marketed—which has made it stand out in the marketplace.

When 90+ first began, it simply bought the highest-quality coffee cherries from Ethiopian farmers and applied the most refined processing to already excellent beans. That is how its first celebrated representative lots—Aricha and Beloya—came to be. The results were astonishing: rich fruit flavors and quality that shocked the specialty coffee community.

As coffee moved steadily into the high-priced specialty market, 90+ pioneered its own green bean production system—Profile Processing.

They select farmers with potential, feed back target flavor profiles based on the current characteristics of the beans, and re-engineer the process. Through scientific management they gradually steer samples toward 90+'s predetermined flavor profiles, and only the lots that best match those profiles are selected for release.

Put simply, Profile Processing pushes management upstream—controlling everything from the farmers' planting varieties, origins, climate, and cultivation methods to harvesting and processing. That allows them to produce exceptionally high-quality coffee to spec. The power of the system lies in mastering the technology that controls flavor expression, so they can set the highest standards and rise above the luck-based selection of typical green bean traders. Exceeding quality standards is not a matter of chance but the average—which is the core value 90+ has always upheld.

Processing Methods and Flavor Classifications

You will often see beans marked with the letters N, H, or W—for instance Ethiopian Yirgacheffe G3 N, which appears on the market as "Natural Yirgacheffe G3." Here N stands for Natural processing, H for Honey, and W for Washed. 90+, however, sees things differently. They believe beans should be classified by flavor profile rather than processing method. Each processing method does generally produce characteristic flavors:

Natural: exuberant fruit aromas

Honey: more prominent sweetness

Washed: cleaner flavors

But 90+ points out that different processing methods can sometimes yield similar profiles—a honey-processed bean, for example, may show flavor characteristics typically expected from washed coffee. So they introduced three basic flavor indicators, N2, H2, and W2, classified by the intensity of fruit aroma and mouthfeel:

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

H2: (Moderate) Moderate fruit notes, emphasizing sweetness, fruity mouthfeel (rather than aroma), and tea-like notes

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

Candlelight Coffee from FrontStreet Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee also carries a representative coffee from the 90+ company: Candlelight. Roasted to a medium-light level and brewed with 90°C water for about two minutes, it offers distinctive florals, excellent nectarine and tropical fruit flavors, and subtle oak barrel notes.

What Is Candlelight LEVEL UP 90+?

Ethiopia's heirloom varieties are grown in fertile soil at altitudes between 1750-2000 meters, with suitable temperatures and ample rainfall—conditions that let Sidamo exceed expectations for a natural-processed coffee. Naturals typically show good sweetness but lack the clean brightness of washed coffee. Candlelight's excellence, beyond the inherent quality of the beans, owes much to appropriate post-harvest processing, temperature- and humidity-controlled warehousing, and careful roasting.

90+ names its beans differently from most specialty lots—they start from flavor concepts. "Candlelight" carries the captivating aroma of traditional natural processing while delivering rich, full-bodied fruit flavors. Naturals usually struggle to achieve a clean, bright mouthfeel, but Candlelight combines the bright acidity of a washed coffee with the rich body of a natural, its florals and fruit notes interweaving into a complex, lingering aftertaste.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If stories like this spark your curiosity about Gesha—the variety behind so many legendary lots—FrontStreet Coffee recommends starting with these:

FrontStreet Coffee Boquete Gesha (Panama) — Our go-to entry-level Gesha. From the Boquete highlands of Panama, it delivers the classic Panamanian "orange-blossom honey" character: fragrant florals, oolong-tea texture, delicate fruit acidity and sweetness, and clearly defined layers—all at an approachable price for a first taste of true Gesha flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee Esmeralda Green-Label Gesha (Private Collection) — For a step up, the Green Label blends lots from multiple plots at Esmeralda's high elevations to express the estate's signature Gesha profile. It offers the classic orange-blossom aroma, juicy fruit acidity and sweetness, and a tea-like sweet finish; brewed as a pour-over, its perfume alone is intoxicating. Brew tip: use a medium-light roast approach, grind to about 78% pass-through on a #20 sieve (roughly fine-granulated sugar), water at 91°C, 15g of coffee in a V60 at 1:16, blooming with 30g of water for 30 seconds and finishing in three pours around 2'10"–2'20".