Flavor Characteristics of Zhù Máng 90 Coffee vs. Yirgacheffe: Taste Differences

Ethiopia, Sidamo, Drima Zede

Natural Sidamo

Ninety Plus Gem

01 | Region Profile

Sidamo coffee grows across the southern Ethiopian highlands at altitudes of roughly 1,400–2,200 meters (4,600–7,200 feet). The province borders Kenya to the south, sits southeast of Jimma and directly south of the capital, and is one of Ethiopia's most celebrated specialty regions. Its coffees are typically distinctively sweet and widely loved; annual production runs about 225,000 60kg bags. The beans are slightly smaller than Longberry, greenish with gray tones. On Sidamo's drying fields, coffee is laid out on wooden racks covered with hemp netting, and workers stir the cherries by hand under the sun. Natural Sidamo is commonly exported as Grade 4, while washed Sidamo, thanks to its more refined processing, mostly ships as Grade 2.

Sidamo's flavor range is remarkably diverse. Varied soils, microclimates, and countless native varieties shape the region, whose topography spans towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains. The geology is fertile, free-draining volcanic soil reaching nearly two meters deep, dark brown or brown at the surface. The region's greatest advantage is how it sustains its own fertility: fallen leaves from surrounding trees and plant root residues cycle back into the soil as natural fertilizer.

02 | Processing Method

The Raised-Bed Natural Method

Drima Zede — the name means "best approach" in the local dialect — is a signature series built on more than 90 years of accumulated expertise from the original producer, marketed through Ninety Plus as "Gem." Traditional natural drying rarely achieves a truly clean cup, but with Ninety Plus behind it, Drima Zede uses only hand-sorted, fully ripe cherries, stirred constantly through drying to ensure evenness. The result is an exceptionally transparent, pure profile that shifts dramatically between hot and cold, with captivating fruit, floral, and oak-barrel aromatics.

Traditional Ethiopian natural processing meant spreading wild-harvested cherries directly on the ground, which has two major drawbacks:

1. The cherries are not specially screened, so size and ripeness are mixed unevenly. The rough handling leads to unstable quality and frequent defective beans.

2. Farmers typically dry their coffee on open ground near their homes, where dirt and impurities contaminate the cherries and introduce undesirable flavors.

The improved natural method answers both problems:

1. Only fully ripe, deep-red cherries are picked. Before drying, everything passes a defect screen at the station to ensure reasonably uniform size and maturity.

2. The cherries dry on elevated wooden beds or in dedicated sheds, eliminating contact with the ground. Throughout drying, workers monitor water loss carefully and hand-remove defective or moldy cherries every three to five days. By the time drying finishes and the fruit is milled off, those vivid deep-red cherries have become green beans of remarkably low defect count.

03 | Green Bean Analysis

Sidamo green beans look slightly grayish, with a mix of coarse and fine lots. They combine gentle yet bright acidity, moderate body, and sweet-spice notes — true highland garden coffees from Ethiopia's south. Unlike many African coffees, Sidamo shows clear fruit acidity, a smooth mouthfeel, and delicate floral and herbal aromatics.

90+ Gem

Country: Ethiopia

Region: 90+ SNNP, Sidama

Altitude: 1,750–2,000 meters

Processing Method: Natural

Variety: Ethiopian Heirloom

Roast Level: Light

Flavor Notes: Florals, nectarine, tropical fruit, blackberry, blueberry, plum, cream, cinnamon

Acidity: Medium-high

Ninety Plus Coffee is a specialty coffee supplier from the United States, founded in 2006.

"Ninety Plus" doesn't mean every coffee scores above 90 points — good coffee varies from year to year, appearing at different farms with different characteristics. Rather, Ninety Plus is a premium series built around 13 distinct flavor profiles, sourced exclusively by the American company from Ethiopian heirloom varieties grown in intact ecologies and processed to near-artistic standards to optimize flavor.

Processing is Ninety Plus's true specialty. Lots are separated by variety, microclimate, and harvest timing, each cupped individually, with a processing protocol designed for every target flavor profile — an approach closer to a design house than a commodity trader. Enormous care goes into refining each natural lot until it can be presented in its most beautiful form.

Newer seasons have done away with the original L-grading system (formerly L7, L12, L39, L139), organizing the portfolio instead by more significant flavor differences. The product lines now fall into four series: Ninety Plus Ethiopia, Ninety Plus Panama, Ninety Levelup, and Ninety Plus Limited.

04 | Roasting Analysis

Coffee this fragrant is no candidate for a medium-dark roast. A light, slow roast preserves its rounded sweetness and rich floral and fruit aromatics.

Yangjia 600g Semi-Direct-Heat Roaster

Using a fast-drum setting, charge the beans at 200°C with the damper at 3. After 30 seconds, drop the heat to 150°C, damper unchanged. The turning point lands at 1'32" at 103.7°C; the drying phase runs 5'21", by which point the bean surface has yellowed and the grassy smell has fully faded. At the end of drying, adjust the heat once, lowering to 100°C and opening the damper to 4.

At 8 minutes 45 seconds, the bean surface shows pronounced wrinkles and dark mottling, and the toast aroma clearly gives way to coffee aroma — the prelude to first crack. First crack begins at 9'00"; once its sound is clearly established, reduce heat to 80°C and open the damper fully to 5 (adjust heat very carefully — never so low that the crackling dies out). Drop the batch at 195°C, 1'55" after first crack.

05 | Brewing Analysis

Pour-Over Reference

Using a Kalita wave dripper (Key's dripper), dose 16g of coffee with a 30g bloom for 30 seconds, extracting at 89–90°C, 1:15 ratio, medium-fine grind (Fuji 3.5). Pour to 110ml, then pause; once the bed drains, resume slowly and at even speed, keeping the liquid level low. Stop at 233ml, for a total extraction time of 2:15. The result is rich natural-process sweetness — adjust freely to your own taste.

Flavor Differences Between Gem 90 and Yirgacheffe

Both are Ethiopian naturals, but Gem's strict supervision and selection spare it the earthy impurities and high defect rates that plague typical natural lots, letting the sweetness that made natural processing famous shine through. Gem's captivating fruit character carries the enchanting aromatics of traditional Ethiopian naturals, expressing rounded, full-bodied sweetness, a lingering aftertaste, and mouth-watering fruit acidity. It's also an easy coffee to brew daily: the beans are so flavorful that whether you pour it as a refreshing filter coffee or pull it as a rich espresso, they show off their qualities effortlessly.

Sidamo, for its part, offers balanced flavors with higher sweetness and slightly thicker body than Yirgacheffe. In particular, the wine-like acidity and sweetness that develop during natural mucilage fermentation, combined with coffee's underlying cocoa bitterness, give certain Sidamo lots an intoxicating liqueur-chocolate character.

Ethiopia's grading system remains relatively coarse. By grade, coffees divide into Specialty Grade (usually washed Yirgacheffe and Sidamo), followed by Grades 1 through 5.

Pour-over Sidamo: 15g of coffee at a medium-fine grind (Fuji burr setting 3.5), V60 dripper, 91–93°C water. Pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then continue to 105g and pause. Once the bed has drained to half, pour slowly to 225g and cut the tail of the brew. Coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, total extraction time 2:00.

Pour-over Gem: 15g of coffee at a medium-fine grind (Fuji burr setting 3.5), V60 dripper, 91–93°C water. Pour 30g of water for a 27-second bloom, then continue to 105g and pause. Once the bed has drained to half, pour slowly to 225g and cut the tail of the brew. Coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, total extraction time 2:00.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the fruit-forward sweetness of Gem has you curious about other naturally dried Ethiopian coffees, the FrontStreet Red Cherry natural Yirgacheffe is a wonderful next step: only fully ripe cherries are dried whole on raised beds, delivering classic Yirgacheffe florals alongside citrus acidity, berry-juice texture, honeyed sweetness, and a creamy-smooth finish.

For a cleaner counterpoint, the FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe — the entry-level Ethiopian that made the region famous — offers white jasmine, bright citrus and lemon acidity, and a light, tea-like body, the perfect benchmark for tasting what processing alone changes in the cup.