Ethiopia Shakiso, Mora Mora

Blind Assessment: Delicate, sweetly spice-toned. Ripe peach, cinnamon, macadamia nut, butterscotch, marjoram in aroma and cup. Fruit-toned, accessible acidity; svelte, satiny mouthfeel. The gently drying finish consolidates to sweetly spicy notes of peach and cinnamon, with suggestions of sweet, marjoram-like herb tones.

Notes: 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. This is a dry-processed or “natural” coffee, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit rather than after the fruit has been removed, as is the case with wet-processed or “washed” coffees. This coffee tied for the third-highest rating in a cupping of coffees from roasting companies in the Southwestern United States (Arizona, New Mexico, Texas) for Coffee Review‘s March 2017 tasting report. Founded in 2013 by Kevin Betts and Ryan Smith, Novel Coffee Roasters, based in Dallas, Texas, works on a model of trusted relationships and quality incentives. Visit www.novelcoffeeroasters.com for more information.

The Bottom Line: An unusually clean and poised natural-processed Ethiopia cup, sweetly crisp and buoyant.