What Does 90+ Coffee Mean? The American Specialty Coffee Powerhouse

Professional Coffee Knowledge Exchange

Looking for more coffee bean information? Stick around — this guide covers everything you need to know about one of the most talked-about names in specialty coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Ninety Plus Company

Ninety Plus Coffee is a specialty coffee supplier from the United States, founded in 2006. In the years since its establishment, Ninety Plus has made coffee professionals around the world take notice of its singular charm, setting off an unprecedented global specialty coffee craze. Ever since its first coffee debuted in 2007, the company's lots have been the prized first choice of coffee experts and barista competition contestants alike. Today, Ninety Plus has become shorthand for the very top of the specialty coffee world, with cup quality and flavor that outshine nearly every other rare coffee on the market.

Great coffees often appear for a single season and vanish the next. Sometimes they resurface from different estates with entirely different flavor characteristics. "Ninety Plus" actually refers to a top-tier coffee series built around 13 distinct flavor profiles. These coffees come exclusively from Ninety Plus Coffee, the American specialty coffee creator, and are all heirloom varieties from Ethiopia, grown to full maturity in carefully managed ecological environments and processed to an almost artistic standard for flavor optimization. Importantly, "Ninety Plus" does not simply mean every coffee in the lineup scores above 90 points on a cupping evaluation.

Ninety Plus's relentless pursuit of exceptional flavor is genuinely admirable, and its sustainable development model and environmentally responsible practices have become learning benchmarks for coffee producers everywhere. Since the company's founding in 2006, this young operation has won worldwide recognition from coffee professionals in just a few years. The coffee series it first unveiled in 2007 was immediately regarded as a precious selection by industry experts.

Excellent Quality

Ninety Plus founder Joseph Brodsky recognized long ago that the world's finest coffee beans trace back to Ethiopia, and that the country's many different varieties offer a spectrum of flavors no less diverse than the million fine wines that can be coaxed from 10,000 grape varieties. Ninety Plus beans all come from original Ethiopian varieties — including the Gesha variety grown on Panamanian estates, which was originally transplanted from Ethiopian heirloom stock.

Processing is where Ninety Plus truly shines. The company separates its coffees by variety, microclimate, and harvest timing, then cups each lot individually and designs a specific processing method for every flavor profile to achieve a targeted taste characteristic — much like the design philosophy of a major luxury brand. The team devotes painstaking effort to refining each natural product until it can be presented in its most beautiful form.

Knowledge Point

NINETY PLUS (90+) coffee beans adopt a completely different naming approach from typical specialty beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If Ninety Plus's Ethiopian heirloom coffees have piqued your interest, FrontStreet Coffee's own washed Yirgacheffe is the ideal place to start exploring what Ethiopian terroir can do. It delivers a clear jasmine floral aroma and bright citrus acidity — the classic Yirgacheffe profile that baristas love to describe.

Yirgacheffe is a small town in southern Ethiopia where spring-like conditions, drifting mist, and cool humidity prevail year-round, allowing thousands of coffee trees to thrive. The result is a cup where floral notes and fruity acidity intertwine, light and elegant on the palate with a distinct tea-like character — like a clean, refreshing lemon tea. For drinkers who appreciate the refined, perfumed side of Ethiopian heirloom varieties, it is an essential first step.