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Ethiopian ‘Buku Sayisa’ – Noble Coffee Roasting

Andrew Pautler

Coffee Details

  • Coffee Name
    Ethiopian 'Buku Sayisa'
  • Roaster
    Noble Coffee Roasting
  • Roaster Location
    Ashland, OR
  • Estimated Price
    $19 / 12oz
  • Flavor Notes
    Jasmine, blackberry, lemon drop, hibiscus, cola, orange zest
  • Process
    Washed
  • Varieties
    Heirloom indigenous
  • Country
    Ethiopia
  • Region
    Guji Zone (southern Ethiopia)
  • Elevation
    1900 - 2200 MASL
  • Producer
    Buku Sayisa village members with crucial help from the Adinew brothers
  • Roast
    Light
  • Review Brew Method
    V60, Chemex
  • Other Notes
    Certified organic

Coffee Scoring

9.5
Aroma
8 / 10
Body
9 / 10
Flavor
10 / 10
Acidity/Brightness
9 / 10
Balance
10 / 10
Sweetness
9 / 10
Cleanliness
10 / 10
Aftertaste
10 / 10
Complexity
10 / 10
Flexibility
10 / 10
Pros
  • Wonderfully unique flavor combination
  • One of the most clean and balanced cups of coffee I’ve had in a long time

Cons
  • Hard to find fault with a coffee this good, but the one area it fell a bit short for me was aroma

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

Noble Coffee Roasting is known for their high-quality coffees (nine-time Good Food Award Finalist in nine years) and I’ve been really impressed with their coffee in the past. ‘Buku Sayisa’ is their current Good Food Award Finalist and it is definitely worthy of the title. It was a very different coffee from their Ethiopian winner last year (Bishan Fugu), but equally as good.

It had the perfect balance of acidity and sweetness, a wonderful mouthfeel and a clean finish. It didn’t have the berry fruitiness commonly found in naturally processed Ethiopian coffees (which makes sense since this one is washed), but the unique combination of citrus fruit mixed with floral undertones were really something special. The lemon notes in the flavor may have been stronger than any coffee I’ve tasted before.

The only area I think it could have improved was the fragrance/aroma. Given how exciting and strong the flavor was, I was hoping for a stronger more exciting aroma. That is really a nit-picky critique though for an otherwise extremely impressive coffee.

The Bottom Line

This is one of the best coffees I’ve had in the past few months; I’d be surprised if it doesn’t win the Good Food Award in January. If you like good coffee (which hopefully you do if you’re reading this blog), this coffee is one worth trying.


More About the Coffee

Buku Sayisa is grown in a small, remote village in the highlands of Southern Ethiopia. In the last few years, an organization known as METAD, run by the amazing Adinew brothers (who are responsible for the Good Food Award-winning coffee last year, Bishan Fugu) joined up with the Buku Sayisa village and provided education and equipment that allowed the farm to reach its full potential and produce a product as amazing as ‘Buku Sayisa’.

Equipment Used

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