Ninety Plus Coffee

Disclosure: Pull & Pour received coffee samples for this post, however, as always, all opinions are 100% my own.

Ninety Plus Coffee has become a legend in specialty coffee as a company that pushes the boundaries of what is possible with growing and processing coffee. Their experimental processing methods have resulted in some astounding flavor profiles. I recently got to try their full suite of Signature and Innovation coffees and can honestly say they were the most unique coffees I’ve ever had. Not all of them were necessarily my favorite, but most were astounding and some of the most exotic coffees I’ve ever had the privilege to try. I thought it would be fun to share a bit more about Ninety Plus Coffee, how they started doing what they are doing and some of my notes on each of the various coffees I tasted.

A Brief History of Ninety Plus Coffee

Ninety Plus Coffee was founded by Joseph Brodsky in 2006. Joseph originally began by growing coffee in Ethiopian and then moved to the western slopes of the Barú volcano in Panama. From the beginning Joseph has been pushing the boundaries of what is possible with coffee both in the way it is grown and the way it is processed. Ninety Plus coffees have won or reached the finals of the World Coffee Championships nearly 30 times, which is unprecedented.

They currently have two estates—Gesha Estates and Barú Estates where they grow coffee in Panama. The Gesha Estates was the first property Brodsky acquired in 2009 and where he worked to reforest the area and plan Ethiopian Gesha coffee trees in the canopy of the forest.

Ninety Plus Coffee Series

Ninety Plus currently offers five series of coffees: Ascent, Signature, Innovation, Limited Edition and Founder’s Selection (ordered by exclusivity and price, least to greatest). I was able to try the full suite of Signature and Innovation coffees. The coffees range from $9 / 100g (Kopi Kan from the Ascent series) to an outstanding $250 / 10g (#2703 from the Founder’s Selection). #2703 is the rarest and highest price coffee in the world, selling at $450 per 18g brew.

The series break down as follows:

Ascent: Least expensive point of entry coffees
Signature: Renowned coffees
Innovation: Rare and prototype coffees
Limited Edition: Limited batches available for short time
Founder’s Selection: Rarest and best coffees

My Tasting Notes

Below are some of my unrefined, “stream of tasting” notes for trying each of the Ninety Plus coffees currently in the Signature and Innovation series. The coffees featured some of the most poignant and robust aromas and flavor profiles I had ever had and challenged what I thought possible in a coffee.

Lotus

Fragrance: Intense tropical fruit, almost sickly sweet
Intensity in fragrance I’ve never smelled in a coffee
Slightly musky/earthy, but also sweet during brewing
Flavor profile: wild, sweetness of fermented fruit, tropical fruit, dark berries
Light body, smooth
Muted acidity, stronger at end

Lycello

Fragrance: Grassy, earthy, mint and fruit
Flavor profile: subtle fruit, strong mint notes as the coffee cools, strongest in finish
Minty gum sparkling acidity
Light body

Carmo

Very, very light roast
Fragrance: intense pineapple & tropical fruit
Very sweet
Light body
Flavor profile: Pineapple dominant, tropical fruit
Sweetness: rich, tropical fruit, caramel
Lingering finish with sweetness

Tigre

Boozy bourbon fragrance
Fragrance reminded me 100% of Tiramisu (creamy, caramel, coffee, chocolate, boozy)
Crisp & bright
Slightly boozy
Flavor profile: Tiramisu still coming through, bourbon soaked cherries, caramel, chocolate
Somewhat sharp profile

Yuzo

Beans look almost spotted for the roast, unlike anything I’ve see before
Fragrance/Aroma: Sweet, somewhat tropical (pineapple), Lemon drop
Incredibly fast flow through, initially ground at normal size and brewed 2x faster than normal
Flavor profile: Dry white wine, lemon citrus
Light, tea-like body
Muted acidity
Dry finish

Kambera

Fragrance: sweet, slightly tropical (pineapple, mango), pear
Aroma: sweet, tropical, slightly boozy
Flavor profile: Pineapple, subtle boozy notes
Intense sweetness
Fairly light body
Dry finish, but with lingering sweetness

Perci

Fragrance: sweet, slightly funky, fermented, pineapple, granny smith apple
Flavor profile: Intense, dry white wine into sweet apple, subtle tropical fruit
Very sweet as coffee cools
Unique, but not my favorite overall

Ubo

Fragrance: sweet, tropical fruit, blueberries
Aroma: sweet, somewhat tropical
Flavor profile: honeydew melon, cherry, berries, tropical fruit
Wonderful flavor combination, mixture of lot of different fruit-forward flavor notes
Extremely sweet
Less unique from some of the others, but likely one of my favorites

Ruby

Fragrance: sweet, fruity, slightly funky
Aroma: slightly musky at bloom
Flavor profile: sour like grapefruit (unexpected at first sip), musky
Light to medium body
Sparkling finish, musk lingers
Not sure if I I liked this one

Juliette

Fragrance/Aroma: slighty sweet, subtle orange and chocolate, creamy, not as strong as other coffees in the set
Flavor profile: Orange citrus, Marshmallowy
Sweet, creamy, smooth body
Incredibly tasty, but less unique than the others
Sweetness grows as coffee cools
Lingering acidity sparkle in aftertaste

Nekisse

Fragrance: Funky sweetness, berries & apricot, strong
Aroma: Musky chocolate, sweet
Flavor profile: Musky undertones, berries, stone fruit, citrus fruit (wonderfully strange mix of characteristics of all of them)
Funky sweetness
High acidity, pucker at initial sip

Conclusion

As you can see from the descriptions above, the Ninety Plus coffees were some of the most exciting you’ll likely ever drink. They are truly a wonderful array of a lot of different flavors and characteristics. If you are looking for an occasional treat or fun way to explore some crazy coffees, Ninety Plus Coffee is the best place to look. The price points are definitely prohibitive though and as you move into and then past the Innovation series I’d find it hard to justify spending that amount of money on such a small amount of coffee—no matter how special it is.