Deeply, richly acidy, but without any edge unblunted by an enveloping, buffering sweetness. Surprisingly heavy body; a shimmering cocktail of pineapple, pear, citrus and floral notes in the nose. Neighbors green buyer and quality assurance manager Chris Palmer tags these elusive notes "apricot-like ... with a hint of spice."
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We found 1781 reviews that match your search for ethiopia. Coffees are listed in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee.
Lindsey Bolger: "Depending on tolerance for fruitiness with wild tendencies, this coffee will either delight or dismay. Lovely floral aromatics complemented by flourishes of warmed butter, brown sugar and citrus were the first hint that something interesting was going on in the cup. Upon first sip, the coffee displayed overt ferment, the kind that makes your toes curl. Then, after subsequent passes, that overripe fruitiness evolved to the engaging blueberry note so prized in Ethiopia Harrars" (84). Ken also wrestled with ambiguous flavor notes that for him suggested both fermented fruit as well as a hint of mustiness, but he too settled on a positive reading: "sweetly acidy, with lush ferment tones that, as the cup cools, resolve richly and pleasantly to fruity chocolate and brandy" (87).
John Weaver was not excited: "Medium-bodied, a little flat. Some good wine tones with a little citric flavor" (80). Ken, who tends to value nuance, rewarded this coffee for its "sweet roastiness complicated by smoky, fruity chocolate tones that carry from cup through the mildly astringent finish" (85).
Both John Weaver and Ken admired this dark-roasted Ethiopia. John: "My favorite of this cupping. Obviously East African. Bright acidity with exceptional flavor. Nice roast for this coffee, although I might have taken it a hair farther to bring out more body" (90). Ken: "Balanced, sweet, deeply dimensioned integration of rounded acidy notes, crisp roastiness and a lush, apricot-toned fruit" (91).
This very dark-roasted coffee reveals almost nothing about the potentially interesting green coffee itself except its ability to stand up to a severe degree of roast and still taste quite agreeable. The profile is roasty and charred, but pleasantly free of bitterness and haloed by sweetness.
Lush, sweetly overripe Harrar fruit notes are shadowed by salty and bitter tones. Dry chocolate in the finish.
A dark-roast presentation with a splendid aroma: intense, crisply dry and fruity. In the cup, however, the roast dominates, though patient drinkers will feel a sweet, lush fruitiness behind the roasty bitterness. The halo of fruit persists in the cleanly roasty finish.
The medium-dark but rather aggressive roast preserves a touch of acidity and lemony sweetness amid the dominant roasty tones. More complex than balanced, the closest sensory analogy I can propose is roasted lemon drops.
A rather aggressive roast contributes distinct charred notes, but they are richly charred notes, with a leathery twist and a tickle of dry fruit. The astringent finish is pleasantly complicated by dry chocolate.
The medium roast allows the character of the coffee to emerge, in this case richly and sweetly acidy, complicated by sweet nut notes and, as the cup cools, more characteristic Yirgacheffe floral and lemon tones. An unusual coffee in two respects: light roasted in a region (San Francisco Bay Area) where extremely dark roasting prevails, and rather heavy bodied for a Yirgacheffe.
"Bright, acidy, but luxuriously sweet -- high-toned, citrusy fruit suggests grapefruit. Slightly astringent in the finish but richly so (rating 88)." Chris really liked this coffee, awarding it a rating of 96: "Started things off right with a mouthwatering floral and citrus aroma. Very much the lone wolf of the cupping owing to its winey Yirgacheffe/Kenya character."
Dryly acidy but sweet, expansively fruity, distinctly floral. A crisp roastiness turns the fruit toward chocolate. Only a very slight bitter astringency mars this otherwise luxuriously exotic cup.
Sweet floral and lemon tones shimmer above rather bitterly pungent bottom notes. The combination of juicy sweetness and pungent bitterness nets a sensation almost pineapple-like in its bracing contradiction. The pungent bottom notes, always present in Sidamos, are heavier than usual here, perhaps owing to the vicissitudes of decaffeination, though they settle and soften as the cup cools.
A breakfast blend with a good deal of character but little balance or coherence. The sweet front end with its pleasingly exotic edge of floral notes and ferment-toned fruit (Ethiopia Harrars?) is precariously supported by a smoky, pungent dark-roast bottom. Eventually, however, the roasty bitterness prevails in a rather severe finish.
Floral, sweet, high-toned and as giddy as a field of flowers, with some pungent richness and substance underneath. Ramps down toward clean cocoa tones in the finish.
Alive with the slightly wild fruit and dry-wine tones of the great dry-processed coffees of Yemen and Ethiopia. In the wonderfully long, sweet finish the fruit tones darken deliciously toward chocolate.
Tremendous but balanced range and dimension. The acidity is full, deep, sweet, enveloped in the unifying matrix of the cup. Circumspect hints of fruit and flowers emerge in finish and aftertaste. As the coffee cools the slightest hint of ferment reveals itself behind the rich aromatics of the cup.
Amazingly, behind the dampening effect of the aggressive dark roast a delicate, exquisite floral sweetness survives among the equally delicate charred, pungent notes. Think of a meadow that survived a forest fire.
Smoky, resiny tones turn the Harrar fruit richly winy. In the finish everything softens and sweetens. The cabernet fruit tones deepen toward chocolate and the smoke tones turn toward fresh tobacco.
A light, bright breath of acidity shimmers inside an amazing bouquet of sweet jasmine and darker, woodier fragrances. The cup soars in a delicious, reeling dizziness of flowers, then immediately relaxes into spicy shadows. Somehow, all of the range and complexity remains precariously, elegantly in balance.