# Ethiopian beans



## NateChat (Aug 24, 2015)

Hi

Received some beans from a friend in Ethiopia. What's your experience with beans from this region? As can be seen from the pic, these are quite a dark roast. Darker than I'm used to. Sadly I'm not sure as to when they were roasted. Quite an intense earthy flavour. First sighting out of portafilter is very dark, almost black in fact.


----------



## YerbaMate170 (Jun 15, 2015)

I assume you mean what's our experiences with beans roasted in ethiopia, as opposed to just grown there, because I imagine just about everyone is familiar with beans grown in ethiopia









I wonder if these are roasted to be made in traditional ethiopian style, i.e. not espresso or filter. That may explain the darkness, which I imagine is what's popular by locals?


----------



## NateChat (Aug 24, 2015)

YerbaMate170 said:


> I assume you mean what's our experiences with beans roasted in ethiopia, as opposed to just grown there, because I imagine just about everyone is familiar with beans grown in ethiopia
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 yes that's what I meant.


----------



## Wes78 (Apr 18, 2017)

Just ordered some Guji highland from Crankhouse on Daves recommendation. Seemed a really friendly guy .

my first single origin! We will see how it goes


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

YerbaMate170 said:


> I assume you mean what's our experiences with beans roasted in ethiopia, as opposed to just grown there, because I imagine just about everyone is familiar with beans grown in ethiopia
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm not familiar with beans grown there - could u help please?


----------



## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

kennyboy993 said:


> I'm not familiar with beans grown there - could u help please?


What help are you looking for specifically?

A lot of people say Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, sometimes attributed to a goat herd seeing that his goats seemed more lively after eating a certain type of berry...can you guess what it was?

Generically; they're often fruity with berry like flavours but you can find a fair variety just from within Ethiopia. You can find natural processed ethiopian coffees that are very interesting "funky" flavours many people loving the Rocko Mountain coffee that foundry, Jolly Bean and many others have had in the last few years. They're just coming in to roasteries around now, so good fresh crop coffees should be available...get on it.


----------



## kennyboy993 (Jan 23, 2017)

jlarkin said:


> What help are you looking for specifically?
> 
> A lot of people say Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee, sometimes attributed to a goat herd seeing that his goats seemed more lively after eating a certain type of berry...can you guess what it was?
> 
> Generically; they're often fruity with berry like flavours but you can find a fair variety just from within Ethiopia. You can find natural processed ethiopian coffees that are very interesting "funky" flavours many people loving the Rocko Mountain coffee that foundry, Jolly Bean and many others have had in the last few years. They're just coming in to roasteries around now, so good fresh crop coffees should be available...get on it.


Thanks - they sound amazing. Didn't know the goat story


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

kennyboy993 said:


> Thanks - they sound amazing. Didn't know the goat story


The goat story is just that, a story.

http://www.tampertantrum.com/telling-stories/

Ethiopia/South Sudan has been genetically determined as the birthplace of Arabica (Madagasca being the likely birthplace of coffee in general), fascinating talk here...

[video=youtube;pr5Iis_J6-U]


----------



## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Excerpt from coffee book I'm reading:

Removed, upload quality too poor


----------



## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

It's difficult to manually roast coffee to the kind of lighter roasts we see here with ethiopian coffees. You need an automated roaster that can roast to very specific temperature profiles. The local culture would be to naturally roast the coffee over a flame or similar and as such is likely to be darker.

I wonder if there are any specialist roasters in Ethiopia?


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Step21 said:


> It's difficult to manually roast coffee to the kind of lighter roasts we see here with ethiopian coffees. You need an automated roaster that can roast to very specific temperature profiles. The local culture would be to naturally roast the coffee over a flame or similar and as such is likely to be darker.
> 
> I wonder if there are any specialist roasters in Ethiopia?


I've been to an authentic Ethiopia restaurant in Nottingham . At the end we had coffee , pan roasted and served in a gourd type brewed . The ceremony and atmosphere were fascinating . The coffee was as you expect hugely different to the modern roasted Ethiopian coffee .


----------



## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> I've been to an authentic Ethiopia restaurant in Nottingham . At the end we had coffee , pan roasted and served in a gourd type brewed . The ceremony and atmosphere were fascinating . The coffee was as you expect hugely different to the modern roasted Ethiopian coffee .


That was delicately put


----------



## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Political speak is all the fashion at the moment


----------



## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

Question is did he drink it?


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Step21 said:


> Question is did he drink it?


Of course. Gotta try these things and it would have been massively impolite to the lovely host.


----------



## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

We have three Ethiopian beans which we are in the early stages of profiling now. Two washed lots and one natural. We also have the 2017 Rocko Mountain landing in a few weeks time, so we'll have 4 this year in total. All in all probably my favourite origin. I think genetic diversity makes for some really interesting coffee - expect florals and fruit galore!


----------



## Rompie (Apr 18, 2015)

I saw an Ethiopian coffee stall at Camden market last year (not sure if it's still there?) where, as mentioned before, they were roasting beans on a skillet over an open fire. Was really interesting to watch and smelt really good, can't comment on how good the coffee was though


----------



## Phobic (Aug 17, 2016)

@foundrycoffeeroasters.com I'm excited by the new beans, can't wait.

on the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremonies, all the ones I've seen always seems to be along the lines of:- women must do all the work, burn the beans to hell, pour coffee and grinds into a cup from some height, then drink the coffee & chew the grinds


----------



## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

Rompie said:


> I saw an Ethiopian coffee stall at Camden market last year (not sure if it's still there?) where, as mentioned before, they were roasting beans on a skillet over an open fire. Was really interesting to watch and smelt really good, can't comment on how good the coffee was though


Coffee roasting smell is nothing like roasted coffee smell IME. Grassy then burny as beans crack. Surprised you thought it smelt good.


----------



## JollyBeanRoastery (Dec 1, 2015)

jlarkin said:


> Generically; they're often fruity with berry like flavours but you can find a fair variety just from within Ethiopia. You can find natural processed ethiopian coffees that are very interesting "funky" flavours many people loving the Rocko Mountain coffee that foundry, Jolly Bean and many others have had in the last few years. They're just coming in to roasteries around now, so good fresh crop coffees should be available...get on it.


New crop natural Rocko Mountain landing very soon(hopefully end of the month/early next)! Been waiting on this for a good few months now, I was blown away by the initial sample so can't wait to get this out there.


----------



## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

JollyBeanRoastery said:


> New crop natural Rocko Mountain landing very soon(hopefully end of the month/early next)! Been waiting on this for a good few months now, I was blown away by the initial sample so can't wait to get this out there.


I hear it landed yesterday! Looks like we may be releasing 4 Ethiopians in the next few weeks!


----------



## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

Quick update on this. We have the brand new Biftu Gudina crop and an amazing natural from Guji Highland Farm. Both signed off and ready to go. We're just waiting for labels to be printed, so should be this week, keep an eye on the webshop.

As far as what you can expect?.....well we should keep some of the intrigue going at least. Suffice to say that both are 90+ beans and we're completely happy with the profiles. We've been sproing and brewing with both and it's easy coffee to work with. More typically Ethiopian than the Moata so hugely floral, fruity and aromatic. You're going to love them both I'm sure.


----------



## foundrycoffeeroasters.com (Jun 19, 2014)

Could someone please remove our last post from here, meant to post somewhere else! - sorry to divert attention away from the original subject.


----------



## Jez H (Apr 4, 2015)

Just ordered my 2nd bag of Rocko from Jolly Bean. An absolute steal with the promo code YOUROCKOMYWORLD for 20% off. And, more importantly, it's beautiful!


----------



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Over roasted lost any character, best for the bin.


----------



## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

DavecUK said:


> Over roasted lost any character, best for the bin.


Do you mean the beans from jolly roaster?


----------



## Jez H (Apr 4, 2015)

DavecUK said:


> Over roasted lost any character, best for the bin.


????


----------



## Beanedict (Aug 14, 2017)

@foundrycoffeeroasters.com and @JollybeanRostery got me all excited now. Can cope with darker roast, bit cautious about fruit galore, it might hit defective taste buds at the back of my tongue







that currently shout acidic and sour to almost anything.


----------



## Jez H (Apr 4, 2015)

Just opened the Jolly Bean Rocko, my 2nd bag, & it really is superb!


----------



## Batian (Oct 23, 2017)

The OP question could answered simply by, say, comparing Ethiopian coffee beans like Scotch whiskies! The differences of each are both many and varied.

Granted taste is always subjective, but I would consider it sacrilege to take a decent Ethiopian bean to a dark roast. Continuing the parallel, like putting Coke in a single malt!

But hey, each to their own!


----------

