90+ Zhu Mang Coffee: What Exactly Is It? What Does the 90+ Rating Mean?

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In the specialty coffee world, Ethiopia is undoubtedly the most popular African growing region. At FrontStreet Coffee, both Yirgacheffe coffee and Sidamo Flower Queen coffee are greatly loved by coffee enthusiasts. In recent years, the 90+ Nekisse specialty coffee beans from Ethiopia's Sidamo region have been collected by coffee enthusiasts from various countries. FrontStreet Coffee also believes it possesses formidable flavor charm. In this article, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce this 90+ Nekisse specialty coffee bean from Ethiopia's Sidamo coffee growing region.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia 90+ Nekisse Coffee Beans

Country: Ethiopia

Region: Sidamo (90+ SNNP Estate)

Altitude: 1750-2000m

Variety: Local heirloom varieties

Processing: Natural processing

Flavor: Nectarine, tropical fruits, cream, mango, citrus

What does 90+ refer to?

Coffee enthusiasts might initially think that 90+ coffee refers to coffee beans rated above 90 points, but actually, 90+ is short for Ninety Plus Coffee, representing a specialty coffee supplier from the United States.

Founded in 2006, 90+ has demonstrated its unique charm to coffee enthusiasts worldwide in just over a decade, even sparking a specialty coffee craze globally. What FrontStreet Coffee admires most is that from the first coffee launched in 2007, 90+ has always been the precious choice for coffee enthusiasts. Today, 90+ symbolizes the world's top-tier specialty coffee, even surpassing other expensive coffees in taste and quality.

However, 90+ specialty coffee beans are indeed named according to their flavors. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's 90+ Nekisse coffee beans have mango flavor, and 90+ has also launched 13 different top-tier coffee series with distinct flavors.

The main source of these coffee beans comes from Ethiopia's heirloom varieties. 90+ specifically purchases the sweetest and highest quality coffee cherries from Ethiopian coffee farmers at premium prices. After cultivation and maturation in the ecological environment, they are processed according to the highest standards with flavor optimization, which is also 90+'s specialty.

As FrontStreet Coffee understands, they will separately taste the coffee beans purchased from farmers by variety, microclimate, and harvest season, designing the most suitable processing method for each separated coffee bean to achieve a highly recognizable coffee flavor. It is precisely because of 90+'s innovation in coffee that coffee has been endowed with a unique character.

FrontStreet Coffee's 90+ Nekisse comes from local heirloom variety coffee beans in Ethiopia's Sidamo growing region. Coffee enthusiasts who have tasted Ethiopian coffee know that Ethiopian coffee is famous for its citrus and lemon notes. Sidamo province is also Ethiopia's most famous coffee growing region, which means that the base quality of 90+ Nekisse coffee beans is already excellent. Through 90+'s exclusive processing, Sidamo coffee beans have been transformed with new charm.

Sidamo Growing Region

FrontStreet Coffee often says that the three major factors affecting the flavor of high-quality specialty coffee beans are coffee growing region, coffee variety, and processing method. The growing region is the most decisive factor among these three, containing geographical location, climate, and soil factors. All these conditions are indispensable.

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, the Sidamo growing region is Ethiopia's most famous coffee growing region because its altitude ranges between 1400-2100m, with fertile volcanic soil very suitable for growing high-quality coffee trees. Additionally, because the Sidamo area has different soil types and microclimates, the coffee cherries produced here have very diverse flavors. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe coffee beans originally came from Sidamo, but because Yirgacheffe's flavor is brighter and cleaner than Sidamo coffee, with significant differences, it was separated from the Sidamo region.

Thus, it's clear that the local heirloom variety coffee beans from Ethiopia's Sidamo growing region are truly among the best of the best, no wonder 90+ company chose coffee beans from this region.

90+ Nekisse Processing Method

As mentioned above, 90+ Nekisse coffee beans are processed using the natural processing method, but different from ancient natural methods, it's an improved natural method by 90+, so it won't have the undesirable mixed flavors like ancient natural processing.

Because 90+ only processes hand-selected, fully ripe coffee cherries, they meticulously turn them constantly during the drying process to ensure even drying. This natural processing not only maintains the clear fruit acidity and smooth texture of Sidamo coffee beans but also unreservedly expresses the round, full-bodied, long-lasting sweetness of natural processing, along with the perfectly appetite-stimulating fruit acidity. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will explain the natural processing workflow.

Natural Processing Workflow

1. Collection and Selection

The first step is to harvest ripe coffee cherries, then manually screen them, selecting out defective, overripe, or insect-damaged cherries, leaving only good beans. This is also why the coffee beans at FrontStreet Coffee store generally appear uniform and attractive.

2. Drying

The good cherries selected by hand are sent to drying areas for processing. Different coffee growing regions use different drying racks - some use waterproof tarps, raised beds, or concrete floors. The drying time averages 27-30 days until the coffee moisture content reduces to 11% to complete the drying process.

3. Hulling

This step is also quite crucial. After drying, the coffee cherries are sent to specialized processing plants for hulling and even polishing, removing the pulp and other parts to obtain what we commonly recognize as coffee beans.

4. Screening, Sorting, and Storage

The green coffee beans after hulling undergo another screening to remove poor-quality coffee beans again. This is because over-dried coffee beans are quite fragile and may break into fragments during hulling, while under-dried coffee beans contain too much moisture, and active water content can easily cause bacterial growth and mold. Therefore, they are screened again before being sent to warehouses for storage and packaged for export.

The above is the information and introduction about Ethiopia's Sidamo 90+ Nekisse coffee beans compiled by FrontStreet Coffee. Before launching any new coffee bean, FrontStreet Coffee conducts extensive roasting and brewing evaluations, selecting the most suitable brewing parameters for that coffee bean to share with FrontStreet Coffee's enthusiast friends. The goal is to showcase the best flavors of Nekisse coffee beans to everyone. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share the roasting and brewing parameters for 90+ Nekisse coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Analysis

FrontStreet Coffee's roaster believes that to bring out the explosive fruity aroma of Nekisse coffee, a fast roasting method should be used to extract the coffee's aromatics, with light-medium roast.

Heat the roaster to 200°C and load the beans, damper set to 3. After 30 seconds, adjust heat to 150°C, damper unchanged. Return temperature at 1'32", 103.7°C. Dehydration time at 5'21",此时豆表变为黄色，青草味完全消失。Adjust heat once at 150°C, dehydration complete, adjust heat to 100°C, damper to 4;

At 8 minutes 45 seconds, ugly wrinkles and black spots appear on the bean surface, with toast aroma clearly transforming to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. First crack starts at 9'00, at which point you must listen carefully to the sound of first crack, reduce heat to 80°C, fully open damper to 5 (adjust heat very carefully, not so low that there's no cracking sound). 1'55" after first crack, unload at 195°C.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Dripper: Hario V60

Water Temperature: 90°C

Dose: 15 grams

Ratio: 1:15

Grind: Medium-fine grind (BG 6m: 80% pass rate through China standard #20 sieve)

To brew the tropical fruit aroma, round full body, and delightful fruit acidity of Nekisse coffee. Use a segmented brewing method.

Bloom with 30g water for 30 seconds. Using small water flow, pour in a circular motion to 120g, then segment. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop. When the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts from bloom). Extraction time is 2'00".

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473