Ethiopia organic wet process Koratie

Roasted light (City +) on 10/4 and brewed 10/10 and 10/11. I’ve gotten the best balance of flavors out of this with a strong pour-over. Very pleasant fragrances and aromatics. Quite different from the cup character. In the cup: Light peach and Fuji apple fruit tones, not assertive in any way, but effervescent, balanced, and yet complex in a restrained, understated manner. Hints of roast, grain, dry cocoa powder, and leather hide. Mouthfeel is crisp but juicy like an apple. No bitterness to speak of in the pour-over cup. Gentle, soft-edged and bouyant. An elegant coffee.

Ethiopia Organic DP Koratie

Roasted to City (or City +, I don’t have a thermocouple that can tell me what temperature I arrive at in the roast) and rested for a little over four days.

I’ve been roasting and drinking a lot of Ethiopian DPs and WPs lately. However, I haven’t been writing about them here because I still find the aromas and flavors very elusive, difficult to describe. This one, for instance, is not assertive and there is no taste or aroma that particularly stand out. In the fabulous wet aroma (one of the more difficult for me to ascertain), I detected some syrup-like sweetness and a hint of vanilla. There’s more, though, that I simply cannot place. There’s a nice, mild sweetness to the cup flavor. Understated fruitiness and yes, for the first time I can say that I taste something like a blueberry fruit in this one. Very faint bitterness (hardly noticeable), lots of body, and superclean finish without an aftertaste (more of a taste resonance or echo). I don’t know whether to say the mouthfeel is buttery or juicy– I really can’t decide. I can say that the mouthfeel is very pleasant and round, as if the liquid opens up and expands in my mouth. But again, not in an assertive manner, but smooth and confident. This is, one might say, a “reasonably” excellent coffee. That is, it is not excessive in any way: no excessive sweetness, fruitiness, floral or sweet spice, no extra grain, toast or roast… but that’s part of what makes it so difficult to describe (and the other Ethiopians and Yemen coffees I’ve been drinking this week): there’s a lot of flavor there, but it doesn’t shout to assert itself. I should not that one thing this cup did not have is any hint of chocolate (dark, semi-sweet, bittersweet, milk, baker’s, white, or cocoa powder).