ETHIOPIA, SIDAMO, Drima Zede

FrontStreet Coffee · Natural Sidamo · Ninety Plus Zhu Mang

Country: Ethiopia
Region: 90+ SNNP, Sidama
Altitude: 1750-2000 meters
Processing Method: Natural Process
Variety: Ethiopian Heirloom
Roast Level: Light Roast
Flavor Notes: Floral aroma, nectarine, tropical fruits, blackberry, blueberry, plum, cream, cinnamon
Acidity: Medium-High

FrontStreet Coffee · Zhu Mang Region Introduction

Sidamo grows in the southernmost Ethiopian highlands at altitudes between 4600-7200 feet (Sidamo province). It is a famous specialty coffee region in southern Ethiopia, bordering Kenya, located southeast of Jimma and directly south of the capital. It typically has distinct sweetness and is favored by many people, with an annual output of about 225,000 bags/60kg.

The coffee flavors of Sidamo are very diverse. Different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties, with towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains within the region, create diverse topography. The geology there consists of fertile, well-drained volcanic soil, with soil depth nearly two meters, and the surface soil appears dark brown or brown. The greatest advantage of this area is that soil fertility is maintained through the recycling of organic matter, using withered leaves from surrounding trees or residual plant roots as fertilizer.

What exactly are Ninety Plus coffee beans?

Many coffee shops are now pursuing Ninety Plus (90+) coffee. 90+ coffee beans are a symbol of honor in the coffee world. But what exactly is Ninety Plus (90+) coffee? How do you introduce it to others? The following is a detailed introduction to 90+ coffee.

Ninety Plus - What exactly are 90+ coffee beans?

"90+" doesn't refer to all coffees that score above 90 points in evaluations. It refers to a top-tier coffee series with 13 flavor profiles.

Sometimes they come from different estates and possess various flavor characteristics. During processing, coffee professionals separate these coffees by variety, climate, and harvest timing, tasting them one by one. They are like works of art approaching perfection. Coffee professionals devote their hearts and souls to achieving the best taste and presenting them in their most perfect form.

"90+"'s pursuit of ultimate flavor is truly admirable. Their sustainable development model and environmentally friendly practices are also learning goals for many coffee producers. Since the company's founding in 2006, this young company has made coffee professionals worldwide recognize them in just a few years. The coffee series first revealed in 2007 was immediately regarded as a precious selection by various coffee experts.

Ninety Plus Coffee Founder Joseph Brodsky

Since 2006, Ninety Plus founder Joseph Brodsky decided to dedicate himself to changing the deeply entrenched commercial coffee cultivation model. Ninety Plus saw an opportunity to grow shade-loving and delicious heirloom Ethiopian varieties while cultivating tropical land, while also creating a new model to inspire and improve the quality of life for their coffee cultivation professionals.

The Ninety Plus team currently owns and/or operates over 1,500 hectares of coffee forest restoration projects in Panama and Ethiopia, and has established an international brand to promote the success of taste-driven models of ecological and socially oriented agricultural economics.

The founder of Ninety Plus, Joseph Brodsky, discovered early on that the world's high-quality green coffee beans all originate from Ethiopia, and its many different varieties with different flavors are no less than 10,000 grape varieties producing 1 million different fine wines.

Ninety Plus green beans all come from Ethiopian original varieties, including the Geisha (Gesha) from Panamanian estates, which are also transplanted from Ethiopian heirloom varieties. Processing is Ninety Plus's specialty - they separate these coffees by variety, microclimate, and harvest timing, tasting them one by one, designing specific processing methods for each flavor characteristic, like big-name fashion design, meticulously researching and dedicating heart and soul to complete a craftwork approaching art. Natural products undergo much refinement and improvement before finally presenting their most beautiful form to everyone.

In 2006, Joseph Brodsky founded the Ninety Plus (90+) company. Following the craze caused by the emergence of Geisha varieties in Panama in 2003 and 2004, Joseph began his journey. When he didn't find the results he expected in Panama at that time, it gave him another idea - perhaps among Ethiopia's more than 10,000 coffee varieties, there were still potentials yet to be discovered.

To ensure quality, 90+ adopts a cooperative model with local estates, completely controlling everything from planting, sampling, harvesting to subsequent processing and cupping. 90+'s exclusive Profile Processing ensures each produced coffee bean has unique and stable flavor direction and quality, while 90+ coffee adopts a marketing approach similar to fine red wine, standing out in the market.

Ninety Plus 90+ Profile Processing Method

But as coffee gradually moves toward the high-priced specialty market, 90+ pioneered its own green bean production system - Profile Processing.

When the 90+ company first started, it only selected the most outstanding coffee cherries from various Ethiopian coffee farmers, starting with processing methods, treating existing good beans with the most refined processing. Thus came the initially famous 90+ representative beans: Aricha and Beloya were launched, but such experimental results were already astonishing, with rich fruit flavors and high quality that shocked the specialty coffee circle.

Next was selecting potential coffee farmers, setting ideal flavor feedback based on current coffee beans for farmers and processing plants, conducting process reengineering, gradually correcting samples to 90+'s originally set flavors through scientific management. Of course, only those most matching the settings were carefully selected for production.

Simply put, Profile Processing extends the scope of management upstream - controlling everything from coffee farmers' planting varieties, origins, climate, cultivation methods, harvesting, processing methods... This allows production of exceptionally high-quality coffee beans according to one's preferences. The reason Profile Processing system is remarkable lies in mastering the technology to control flavor expression, thus allowing planning and setting the highest standards, surpassing the usual green bean merchants' luck-based selection and purchasing methods. Exceeding quality standards is not luck, but the average level, which is also the core value consistently upheld by the 90+ company.

Natural Process Coffee Quality Control

Selection:

At Ninety Plus farms, pickers only carefully select red cherries. This is the color of mature coffee. As coffee ripens, sugars develop to create the best flavors.

It's crucial to help workers understand the physical changes cherries undergo. He told me that if they squeeze cherries and count how many drops escape, they can see how much mucilage there is. One study found this can explain 20% of cupping score variations, with higher mucilage levels meaning better-tasting coffee. More than three drops is a good sign.

After picking, Carlos and his team measure cherry weight and density in one-liter containers. Results are divided by variety for comparison and yields are recorded in logs.

Coffee cherries are hand-sorted before and after being placed on raised beds. Staff must remove any underripe cherries and look for any with coffee berry borer (broca) holes.

Raised beds allow cherries to maintain a clean surface, circulate air, and help them dry evenly. The key is keeping cherries in thin layers and moving them regularly to ensure even drying.

Drying Period:

For the first three days, cherries are exposed to sunlight and cool nights. After the third day, they are shaded between 12 and 2 PM when the day is hottest. When coffee is shaded, it's important to leave space on the beds.

After 20-25 days, the coffee reaches ideal moisture content - 10.5% for natural coffee, rather than the more common 11-12%. He explained that the high sugar levels still reacting inside the cherry mean a greater risk of over-fermentation.

He checks his coffee with a moisture meter. He also recommends measuring humidity during the coldest part of the day for higher accuracy.

Cherry Storage:

When storing, coffee cherries are placed in GrainPro bags to protect them from insects. They are then stored in warehouses, avoiding direct exposure. Raised wooden courtyards keep bags off the floor. Moisture content (60-65%) and temperature (19-25°C) inside the warehouse are carefully controlled.

Coffee takes an average of three months to prepare for export. During this time it continues to stabilize, he explained: any herbal flavors disappear, while acidity and sweetness continue to develop.

Ninety Plus coffee is famous for processing. But great coffee doesn't happen without significant investment. And professional-grade natural process is no exception.

Ninety Plus 90+ Profile Processing Unique Production System

90+ beans take a completely different approach to naming compared to general specialty beans. First, unlike regular names that include region and estate names, each bean is named according to its flavor. For example, the famous Nekisse originally derives from "nectar" from Shakisso.

90+ naming usually starts with a flavor concept, then naming, then selecting regions and cooperative farms. This is very different from general specialty beans, representing a brand with boutique management style.

With regular beans, we can easily find the letters N, H, or W. For example, Ethiopian Yirgacheffe G3 N, which is more commonly seen as "Natural Yirgacheffe G3" on the market. Here N represents Natural (natural process). H = Honey (honey process) and W = Washed (washed process). In this regard, 90+ has different views - they believe beans should be distinguished by flavor direction rather than processing method. Generally, beans from each processing method have representative flavors, for example:

Natural: Exuberant fruit aroma
Honey: More prominent sweetness
Washed: Cleaner flavor

90+ believes that sometimes different processing methods can still yield similar flavor directions. For example, honey-processed beans might have flavor expressions similar to what are generally considered washed beans. Therefore, they introduced three basic flavor indicators: N2, H2, and W2, with flavors distinguished by the intensity of fruit aroma and mouthfeel:

W2: (Low) Lower fruit tones, emphasizing brightness, acidity and floral aromas
H2: (Moderate) Medium fruit tones, emphasizing sweetness, fruit texture (not aroma) and tea notes
N2: (High) Stronger fruit tones, emphasizing exuberant flavor expression, sweet-sour balance, jammy flavors and dried fruits

In 2011, to improve the stability of green beans from the Panama region during drying stages, Joseph, inspired by wood drying rooms, developed a solar drying system with the University of Wisconsin, naming this exclusive processing method Solkiln (SK). Of course, beans processed through this special method command high prices and, due to space limitations, production is extremely limited.

In 2009, 90+ established the NPGE estate in Panama, planting only the most vigorous Geisha coffee.

Within the NPGE estate, they set up the Ninety Plus Sensory Room (NP Sensory Laboratory) and Solar Kiln laboratory (for SK processing), as well as various novel research different from general green bean processing such as Red processing, Ruby processing, etc.

One can imagine NPGE is 90+'s largest experimental farm, experimenting with the best varieties is truly exciting, thoroughly implementing the Profile Processing system.

After several years of cultivation results, the powerful experimental team launched five Geisha varieties from NPGE: Lycello, Perci, Juliette, Silvia, and Lotus.

Among them, Perci also has upgraded versions: Perci Red (Red processing) and Perci Ruby (Ruby processing), creating different variations of Perci's sweetness. Silvia and Lotus are the latest new products using SK processing.

Only SK processing (Solar Kiln) is specially marked, because SK is 90+'s original new processing method with more specific targeting, hence special marking.

Ninety Plus 90+ Ninety Plus Grading

Finally, 90+ beans also have a different 100-point scoring system from the usual. Green bean merchants can have their own scoring standards, while their grades are based on three factors: flavor, cost, and yield.

Besides their own flavor symbols, each 90+ bean also has its own grading method, completely different from other countries' grading systems, divided into the following seven levels:

L4, L7, L12, L21, L39, L95, L195

L stands for Level. Classification is based on production quantity, processing refinement, difficulty, and screening strictness.

Level 7:

Single-origin harvest. Rare varieties with delicate flavors and special characteristics are hand-selected, then processed through Ninety Plus's unique methods to achieve standards exceeding Ninety Plus.

Level 12:

Single-origin harvest. The website uses "unmistakable and indelible" negative-negative adjectives to indicate that this grade's beans are definitely unforgettable good flavors for every coffee professional.

Level 21 (L21), Level 39 (L39)

Most of these are Geisha varieties grown at Ninety Plus estates in Panama. The specially Red-processed Ethiopian Nekisse Red also belongs to Level 39 (L39).

Level 95 (L95), Level 195 (L195)

These are beans from premium microenvironments at Ninety Plus estates in Panama, processed through lengthy screening processes using patented drying technology. Achieving the ultimate taste standards in their design. Most are also processed under the personal care of founder Joseph. Annual production might only reach tens of kilograms. Belongs to collector's items.

The 2017 new harvest season products may cancel the original L grading system (original L7\L12\L39\L139), while product and product line division is based on more significant taste differences. Product lines are divided into four major series: NinetyPlus Ethiopia, NinetyPlus Panama, Ninety Levelup, NinetyPlus Limited.

L4 Level:

This grading is no longer seen in 90+ products. In the past, it referred to mixed harvest batches. When single-origin flavors weren't rich enough or production was too small, multiple excellent origins were mixed and processed for production, somewhat like the previous Aricha and Beloya. However, after 90+'s increasingly mature experimental control technology for coffee production in recent years, this grading method is no longer used.

L7, L12 Levels:

Most Ethiopian beans are at this level, with flavors already excellent - whether aroma or texture is impeccable. This grade of 90+ can be considered entry-level but with excellent cost-performance ratio.

For example: Tchembe and Kemgin were originally L7, Nekisse and Hachira were originally L12.

L21, L39 Levels:

This is almost exclusively the domain of Geisha coffee from the NPGE estate. It's conceivable that for 90+, the Geisha variety itself represents high grade, so the lowest level is also L21. Of course, one can also extend this thinking - Geisha care might be more difficult, and processing rigor is higher than for Ethiopian beans.

Additionally, specially processed Ethiopian beans can also be upgraded to this level, becoming comparable to Geisha.

For example: Lycello is L21, Juliette and Perci are L39 - these three are all Geisha from the NPGE estate. Nekisse Red (Red-processed Ethiopian Nekisse) was upgraded to original L39.

L95, L195 Levels:

These two levels require 90+ special processing methods to reach the top, such as Red (Red processing), Ruby (Ruby processing), SK (Solkiln processing), which can be considered exclusive to 90+. But to reach the highest L195 level, it still has to be Geisha.

For example: Lotus (SK processing), Silvia (SK processing), Semeon Abay (this is from the Master series), Nekisse Ruby (Ruby-processed Ethiopian beans) are all L95, while Perci Ruby is currently the only L195 (Ruby processing + Geisha variety).

Ninety Plus Ninety Plus American Specialty Coffee Series

Ninety Plus Ginseng

Name Origin: This is a coffee from Nekempte town in western Ethiopia, characterized by lively and clean flavors with slight fruit, citrus, and ginseng notes. The "kem" in Kemgin's name references Nekempte, while "gin" references "ginseng." Kemgin-flavored coffee is already produced in the Wollega, Sidamo, and Yirgacheffe regions.

Ginseng was officially renamed "Wild Ginger." Compared to 2015's Ginseng, besides floral notes, it retains the uncommon juice-like body of washed beans. This year's Wild Ginger brings higher sweetness, gradually transforming the original peach flavor into the less common orange candy flavor, so it's quite recommended for friends to try this year's Wild Ginger.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Wellega, Sidama and Yirgacheffe regions.
Altitude: 1750-2000m.
Processing Method: Washed.
Flavor Profile: White peach, lime, honeydew melon, ginseng, carob.

Hachira | Hachila N2

Name Origin: Originating from the Aricha region series developed by Ninety Plus with S.A. Bagersh from 2006-2008. This coffee was named "Hachira." Hachira coffee has distinct juice texture and rich floral aroma, usually carrying elderberry or blackberry flavors, sometimes with herbal notes like basil.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Achira region.
Altitude: 1750-2000m.
Processing Method: Natural.
Flavor Profile: Rich floral aroma, distinct juice texture, with elderberry, blackberry, basil herbal notes, and also lactose-like flavors.

Nekisse Red | Red Honey Kiss N2

Name Origin: Red-processed Nekisse is like her gorgeous and strong younger sister. Sugar-sweet, possessing her sister's classic fragrant wood and nectar flavors, while independent and understanding her own charm, unafraid to express herself. Tasting it feels like deeply experiencing a richer, deeper Nekisse, as if someone outlined Nekisse's contours and drew thick eyebrows on her enchanting face to accentuate the most beautiful details.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Wellega and Sidama regions.
Altitude: 1750-2000m.
Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented "Red Processing" - close to but surpassing natural process.
Flavor Profile: Red processing enhances blueberry, cherry, and dark chocolate flavors. While maintaining the fruit-chocolate balance and its multi-layered texture. The balance is handled very delicately. A rare excellent coffee.

Nekisse | Honey Kiss N2

Name Origin: In 2009, this coffee was named "Nectar from Shakisso," meaning this coffee has flavors like nectar from Shakisso town in Sidamo province, Ethiopia. Nekisse's characteristics are creamy smooth texture, strong berry jam notes, with some batches even carrying citrus and mixed tropical fruit flavors. Though originally planted in the Shakisso region, later Nekisse all came from Wellega and Sidamo regions, just retaining the name. We think Nekisse planted in Sidamo maintains the original nectar and berry flavor characteristics, distinguishing it from all other Ethiopian coffees.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Wellega and Sidamo regions.
Altitude: 1750-2000m.
Processing Method: Natural.
Flavor Profile: Clean texture, multi-layered. Balanced by peach, berry, passion fruit, cream, milk chocolate flavors. A classic excellent coffee. From hot to cold, it continuously brings surprises of night-blooming jasmine, blueberry, fragrant wood, and cocoa.

Tchembe |倩碧 N2

Name Origin: Although this year's Tchembe comes from Yirgacheffe, the name comes from Haricho and Bolo variety coffees from the Amaro mountains. These two varieties processed with natural method have carob and banana flavors. Tchembe coffee has a heavy body similar to soil and chocolate, with richly layered citrus and berry flavors.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia Yirgacheffe region.
Altitude: 1750-2000m.
Processing Method: Natural.
Flavor Profile: Distinct heavy body on entry, with soil, dark fruit flavors, and slight citrus notes.

Juliette | Juliet H2

In Ninety Plus's Geisha estate, there's a path from the farm house to the coffee drying area. Walking on this path, you'll see a row of exceptionally beautiful datura flowers. In the evening, these bell-shaped flowers emit a captivating, intoxicating fragrance that lasts only about an hour. We jokingly call this floral scent "Night Beauty." There's also a legend about datura. It's said that a local Panamanian indigenous tribe would place this flower under their pillows when sleeping at night to protect themselves from harm, believing datura has special energy to protect families. Besides datura, deadly nightshade, henbane, and mandrake also belong to the "witch herbs" family. Because these plants are considered to have mystical powers, they are often used by wizards to prepare magical potions. Datura is an essential ingredient for wizards when preparing love potions - those who drink love potions can win their beloved, but datura is also often prepared by wizards as a poison that causes madness or death. Once when we were conducting small-volume steam flavor evaluation of a coffee in the sensory lab, we suddenly smelled mixed notes of honeysuckle, orange, milk chocolate, and floral notes in this coffee. This scent immediately brought us back to that evening walking on the datura-lined path. Its soft and feminine taste left us immersed in deep contemplation of datura flowers and Shakespeare's work - "Romeo and Juliet" tragic love story, therefore, we named this coffee "Juliette."

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate
Variety: Geisha
Level: 39
Altitude: 1250m-1650m
Processing Method: Honey process
Flavor: Building on Geisha's inherent flavors, it also has floral aromas. On tasting, there are orange peel, caramel, and dried cashew nut flavors.

Lotus Solkiln | Lotus Lock Heart H2

Name Origin: The development of Lotus Solkiln flavor emulates the lotus flower that emerges from mud unstained - a perennial aquatic plant sometimes mistaken for water lily. Ninety Plus Solkiln-processed Geisha, although directly drying fresh fruit similar to traditional natural processing, the coffee beans look not much different from washed processing. Solkiln method eliminates the effects of Panama's common humid environment on coffee by artificially creating a microenvironment with finely controlled temperature and humidity. Similarly, lotus can adapt to environments with humans or other warm-blooded animals by adjusting its petal temperature. Lotus SK breaks from the tradition of emulating Ethiopian washed or natural processing experience, and also breaks people's consistent impression of Geisha's basic flavors. In naming "Lotus SK," we were also influenced by a song called "Lotus Flower" by the British Oxford band "Radiohead." This song mainly expresses people's pursuit of inner peace, freedom, low-key existence, and love for music and sensory enjoyment, just like this coffee - hoping those who drink it can also experience such a state of mind. The song's music video presents pure and varied expressions of music - if you have the chance, watch this MV.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate
Variety: Geisha
Level: 95
Altitude: 1250m-1650m
Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented Solkiln honey process - extending drying time through special equipment controlling temperature and humidity in a house, enhancing flavor while maintaining washed-like cleanliness.
Flavor: Mixed aroma of fig and honey, with richly layered flavors of melon, kiwi, and slight tropical fruits on entry.

Perci | Perspective N2

Name Origin: The name "Perci" is derived from "perspective," which itself means viewpoint or angle. Naming it "Perci" refers to during our sensory experiments with this coffee, while conducting overall sensory evaluation as usual, we suddenly felt a unique and stunning stimulus. This feeling gave us a different perspective on coffee than before, so referencing the meaning of "perspective," we named it "Perci" to remind us this is a coffee that made us see it in a new light. When we first blind-tested this coffee, we were certain they were Ethiopian natural process coffees (in a sense, yes). And our first thought was that this definitely wasn't Geisha variety coffee. Geisha's basic flavors include citrus, orange, and jasmine. But for "Perci," Geisha's basic flavors are just a small component of its overall flavor. Besides this, it also has mango, pineapple, carob, banana, plum, red grape, honey, peach, red coral, and many other flavors.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate
Harvest Season: 2013~2014
Variety: Geisha
Level: 39
Altitude: 1250m-1650m
Processing Method: Natural
Flavor: Intense cherry, carob, vanilla, tropical fruits and mixed juice flavors.

Perci Red | Red Perspective N2

Name Origin: Red processing's effect on Perci is like watching a beautiful sunset through red glass windows. Perci's tropical fruit characteristics become more transparent and sweeter. All flavors are coated with a honey brandy feeling. Pineapple, mango, and peach make a fresh fruit jam. It still has the sweet-sour of fresh fruit and the refreshment of juice, but becomes thicker and sweeter. And many more flavors.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate
Variety: Geisha
Level: 95
Altitude: 1250m-1650m
Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented "Red Processing" - close to but surpassing natural process
Flavor: Red processing further highlights vanilla, tropical fruits and mixed juice flavors. Mango and pineapple flavors take on a hint of sweet wine. Banana, red grape, honey, and peach flavors remain unchanged.

Perci Ruby | Perspective Ruby N2

Name Origin: Perci Red processing is already amazing. Ruby processing's effect on Perci is even more unique. Perci's tropical fruit characteristics become more transparent, sweet to the extreme. All flavors are coated with a honey brandy feeling. Pineapple, mango, and peach make a fresh fruit jam. It still has the sweet-sour of fresh fruit and the refreshment of juice, but becomes thicker and sweeter.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate
Harvest Season: 2013~2014
Variety: Geisha
Level: 195
Altitude: 1250m-1650m
Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented "Ruby Processing"
Flavor: After ruby processing, has intense brandy and honey tropical fruit flavors. Mango, pineapple tropical fruit flavors become exuberant and wild. Banana, red grape, honey, and peach take on a hint of wine flavor.

Sillvia Solkiln | Silvia Lock Heart N2

Name Origin: Sillvia coffee is the result of our first use of Solkiln method in 2012 to process coffee from plot 11 of the Geisha estate. All coffee from this plot was processed simultaneously, but finally only 25kg of coffee with special flavor was successfully obtained. In 2013, we learned that Geisha cherries harvested late in the season absorbed more fruit flavors during Solkiln processing. This is because we extended the processing time, resulting in stronger coffee fruit flavors. The "sill" part of the "Sillvia" name references our farm's location - Silla Del Pando (Silvia del Pando volcanic complex in Panama's volcanic region), while "via" means channel or method.

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate
Variety: Geisha
Level: 95
Altitude: 1250m-1650m
Processing Method: Ninety Plus patented Solkiln natural process - extending drying time through special equipment controlling temperature and humidity in a house, enhancing flavor while maintaining washed-like cleanliness.
Flavor: Distinct juice texture on entry, with strong tropical fruit flavors, also pineapple pastry flavors, with a long aftertaste.

Lycello | Lychee and Cello W2:

Name Origin: In 2013, Taiwan region champion of the World Barista Championship, Chien Chia-cheng, visited Ninety Plus's Geisha estate. After tasting Geisha coffee cherries, he was reminded of lychees planted in his backyard! So Ninety Plus used the first two letters LY from the English word Lychee as the first component of this coffee's name. Once while listening to天才 cellist Yo-Yo Ma's performance, we were impressed by his superb skills, so we used "cell" from the English word cello as the second component of this coffee's name, and took the "o" from Yo-Yo Ma's name as the third component - this is the origin of Lycello's name!

Origin: Ninety Plus Panama Geisha Estate
Variety: Heirloom
Level: 21
Altitude: 1250m-1650m
Processing Method: Washed
Flavor: Building on Geisha's inherent flavors, it also displays rich green tea/musk and basil herbal aromas. On tasting, there are soft lemon flavors, lychee-like sweet-sour texture, and also cashew-like nut flavors.

Ninety Plus Danch Meng

Name Origin: Danch Meng is actually a sub-brand Level up of NINETY PLUS company, a Ethiopian green bean jointly launched with green bean trader Bodhi Leaf, launched in 2013. Danch Meng is locally translated as "Perfect approach," grown by small farmers from Yirgacheffe Kelen Abaya Tomenso, launched with the professional flavor processing background of NINETY PLUS company. With 90+ natural processing technology, Danch Meng has very unique Yirgacheffe flavors.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia SNNP, Kambata region
Altitude: 1700m - 2000m
Processing Method: Natural
Flavor: Cocoa, black raspberry, plum, juicy, floral aroma, blueberry, dark chocolate

Derar Ela | Dreamer

Flavor: More intense aromaticity, rich tropical fruits, lime aroma, unique chamomile fragrance

Faya Deraro | Derarila

Flavor: Blueberry, strawberry cookies, cherry, white wine, raspberry

Nitsu Ruz | Rosemary Fresh

Flavor: Floral, lemon peel, lychee, prune, kumquat, black tea

Ninety Plus Zhu Mang

Name Origin: Drima Zede (Zhu Mang, the name of this Yirgacheffe) means "Best Approach" in the local dialect. According to information provided by the original manufacturer, this FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe is a customized product series developed from 90+ years of experience. The ancient natural processing method makes it difficult to obtain pure flavors, but Drima Zede, with 90+ technical support, only hand-selects the most mature coffee cherries, and the natural drying process involves careful constant stirring to ensure uniformity. The final result is a very transparent and pure texture, with significant changes from hot to cold, and charming fruit, floral, and oak barrel aromas.

Origin: Ninety Plus Ethiopia SNNP, Sidama region
Altitude: 1750m-2000m
Processing Method: Natural
Flavor: Nectarine, tropical fruits, cream, cinnamon

Sidamo green coffee beans are slightly grayish, some coarse and some fine, with both soft and bright acidity, appropriate body intensity, sweet and spicy aromas, making it one of the courtyard coffees of Ethiopia's southern highlands. Unlike typical African coffees, Sidamo has clear fruit acidity, smooth texture, and refined floral and herbal aromas.

FrontStreet Coffee 90+ Zhu Mang Roasting Analysis

Beans with such brilliant flavors are naturally not suitable for medium-dark roasting. Therefore, this FrontStreet Coffee 90+ coffee adopts a light slow-roasting method to best showcase its round and sweet characteristics with rich floral and fruit aromas.

Yangjia 600g Semi-direct Heat Roaster

Using quick-frying mode, heat the drum to 200°C, air damper set to 3. After 30 seconds, adjust heat to 160°C, air damper unchanged. At 150°C, adjust heat once - at this point the bean surface turns yellow, grassy aroma completely disappears, dehydration is complete. Adjust heat to 120°C, air damper to 4.

At the 8th minute, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, toast aroma clearly transforms to coffee aroma - this can be defined as the prelude to first crack. At this time, listen carefully for the sound of first crack. At 8'49", first crack begins, adjust heat to 70°C, air damper fully open to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that crack sounds disappear). 1'48" after first crack, discharge at 195°C.

After optimization, [FrontStreet Coffee 90+ Zhu Mang]'s sweetness has been further enhanced, with slight citrus notes and vanilla aroma. Nectarine, mango and other tropical fruit flavors become more obvious.

Cupping Results

Important Notice :

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