Ethiopia Korate Natural Sidamo

I couldn't resist adding more Ethiopian coffee to the stash. I was doing well on stash reduction for a few months and had whittled things down to 40 pounds or so. My wife was very happy, and the cabinets were relieved of some extra weight. Lately, though, I seem to be acquiring more coffee...

Anyway, this is an interesting coffee. Very clean, both in preparation, and in the cup. I roasted this one with the intention of mimicking some really good roasts of another Ethiopian coffee, but messed up the initial temperature. Still, the coffee was great, and I have another few pounds to play with.

The profile:


I had intended to start at a lower temperature (300 degrees) for a bit, but I was working from a flawed memory. Such is life. The aroma is pure berries, sweet and clean. The flavor follows suit. This was quite a light roast, just out of first crack, and there wasn't much roast/chocolate character going on. It was all sweet fruit.

The interesting thing here is how clean the taste was. Most dry processed coffees have a bit of funk to them. Call it "rustic" if you will, it is that very faint hidey, baggy, leathery flavor that lurks in the background. Not so here. There is a purity in the cup that I haven't encountered before. I think "simple" actually applies here, although overall there are a lot of flavors. However, there is really nothing to interfere with the fruit. I'll be curious to play with this one in subsequent roasts.