Blind Assessment: Sweetly pungent, high-toned. Dried apple, orange blossom, toffee, cedar, dark chocolate in aroma and cup. Sweetly tart structure, with juicy acidity; buoyant, silky mouthfeel. The finish is deeply sweet and resonant, with notes of orange blossom and toffee in the short, rounding to chocolate in the long.

Notes: This coffee tied for the second-highest rating in a cupping of Value Coffees for Coffee Review‘s March 2018 tasting report. Southern Ethiopia coffees like this one are produced from distinctive traditional Ethiopian varieties of Arabica long grown in the region. Like virtually all southern Ethiopia coffees, this coffee is produced by villagers on small garden plots interplanted with food and other subsistence crops. Processed by the white honey method. With all honey processing methods, some sweet pulp or fruit flesh (“honey”) is allowed to adhere to the beans during drying. In the white honey variation, an extremely thin layer of pulp is allowed to dry on the beans, less than with yellow honey, and much less than is the case with red or black honey. Kakalove Café is a nano-roaster located in the small city of Chia-Yi in Taiwan that strives to procure and roast the finest quality coffee. Visit www.kakalovecafe.com.tw or email [email protected] for more information.

The Bottom Line : An impressive white-honey processed coffee—richly fruit- and floral-toned.