What Does the 90+ Coffee Naming Really Stand For?

90+ Danch Meng is a sun-dried Ethiopian coffee from Ninety Plus's Levelup line, and its name reflects a system rather than a cupping score. The brand groups 13 flavor profiles, each processed separately, so the label signals a designed flavor direction: cocoa, black raspberry, blueberry, and floral notes from Ethiopian heirloom varieties.

Processing follows three fruit-intensity grades. W2 means washed with low fruit and bright acidity; H2 means honey with moderate fruit, sweetness, and tea-like notes; N2 means natural, or sun-dried, with high fruit and jammy, dried-fruit character. Danch Meng sits in the N2 group, roasted light, which is why its production technology of coffee centers on controlled fermentation.

90+ Danch Meng is a sun-dried Ethiopian coffee under Ninety Plus's Levelup sub-brand. With its unique flavor process and refined post-harvest handling, it presents a complex layering of cocoa, black raspberry, blueberry, and floral notes. This article will systematically sort out the characteristics and brewing methods of this bean, from the flavor grading system, processing techniques, and origin background to specific pour-over parameters, helping coffee enthusiasts gain a more complete understanding of the 90+ brand philosophy and the unique qualities of Danch Meng.

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Based on the influence of fruit flavors on mouthfeel during processing, from weak to strong, they can be divided into three grades: W2, H2, and N2. In terms of processing methods, this means: W2 corresponds to WASH, H2 corresponds to Honey, and N2 corresponds to NATURE (sun-dried).

W2: Low fruit profile, highlighting brightness, acidity, and floral notes.

H2: Moderate fruit profile, emphasizing sweetness, a fruit-like mouthfeel (rather than fruit aroma), and tea-like notes.

N2: High fruit profile, expressing bold, sweet-and-tart, jammy and dried-fruit flavors.

Roast level: Light roast

Processing method: Sun-dried

Variety: Local heirloom

Processing plant: Ninety Plus 90+

Flavor: Nectarine, tropical fruit, oak barrel aroma

"Ninety Plus" does not refer to all coffees that score above 90 in cupping. Good coffee is not available every year; sometimes it appears at different estates, and flavor characteristics vary. "Ninety Plus" is actually a top-tier coffee series comprising 13 flavors, all from the American specialty coffee creator NinetyPlusCoffee. These coffees use Ethiopian Heirloom old varieties, cultivated to maturity under ecological conditions, and then processed and flavor-optimized to artisanal standards. Processing is Ninety Plus's forte: they separate coffees one by one according to variety, microclimate, and harvest time, cup each batch, and then design a separate processing plan for each flavor, striving to achieve a specific flavor direction. The entire process is like a major brand doing design, investing a great deal of effort to polish a work close to art. Natural products, through layer upon layer of refinement and improvement, are ultimately presented in their most beautiful form.

Pour-over of Front Street Sidamo. 15g grounds, medium-fine grind (Fuji ghost tooth burr at 3.5), V60 dripper, 91—93°C water temperature, first pour 30g water, bloom for 27 seconds, pour to 105g and stop, wait until the water level in the coffee bed drops to half before pouring again, pour slowly until 225g, discard the final drips, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00

Sun-dried is an ancient processing method, and achieving a clean flavor is not easy. With 90+'s technical support, only the ripest coffee cherries are hand-selected, and during drying they must be constantly turned and stirred to ensure batch consistency.

90+ beans are named completely differently from common specialty beans—they do not indicate the producing region or estate name, but are named according to flavor. For example, Front Street 90+ Candle Man, which in the local dialect means "best approach." First comes a flavor concept, then the name, and only then are the producing region and partner farms chosen—showing that 90+ has a boutique-style approach to business.

Coffee cultivation in Ethiopia takes many forms: there are wild coffee forests and semi-developed land, traditional smallholder plots, and modern plantations. About 50% of coffee is grown at elevations above 1,500 meters. Based on four different production methods, Ethiopia can be divided into nine major coffee regions, five of which are specialty coffee regions: Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harar, Limu, and Lekempti; the other four are general commercial bean regions: Jimma, Illubabor, Tepi, and Bebeka. Each region may use sun-dried or washed processing, and different processing methods also bring flavor differences. Currently, sun-dried accounts for about 80%, and washed about 20%.

Danch Meng | Front Street 90+ Danch Meng [Origin of the name]: Danch Meng is actually the Levelup sub-brand of NINETY PLUS, an Ethiopian green bean jointly launched by the company and green bean trader Bodhi Leaf, released in 2013. Danch Meng is transliterated locally as "Perfect approach," grown by smallholders in Yirgacheffe's Chelena Abaya Dumerso, and released as a product backed by NINETY PLUS's professional flavor process. With 90+ sun-dried processing technology, this Front Street 90+ Danch Meng has a very unique Yirgacheffe flavor.

[Origin]: Ninety Plus Ethiopia SNNP, Kambata region

[Altitude]: 1,700m - 2,000m

[Processing method]: Sun-dried

[Flavor]: Cocoa, black raspberry, plum, juicy, floral aroma, blueberry, dark chocolate Drima Zede丨

Net content: 227g Packaging: Bulk Origin: Ethiopia

Levelup Drima Zede

Country: Sidamo

Altitude: 1,750—2,000m

Region: Sidamo

Danch Meng is transliterated as Danch Meng, and its meaning is "good path." This batch of Front Street 90+ Danch Meng comes from Kambata in Yirgacheffe. With 90+ sun-dried processing technology, this Front Street 90+ Danch Meng has a very unique Yirgacheffe flavor.

Levelup is a sub-brand from the famous Ninety Plus company, jointly launched by the 90+ company and green bean trader Bodhi Leaf, and released in 2013. The Levelup team's quality control is headed by Semeon Abay, and they brought in Ashenafi Agraw, former chairman of the Sidamo Farmers Cooperative Union, to serve as project director.

Ninety Plus is an American coffee company different from ordinary green bean traders. It advocates sourcing at origin, finding good beans, and doing business for the long term! To find good beans, they are willing to roll up their sleeves and work alongside local coffee farmers, building their own brand and partner brands. Moreover, the 90+ company places great importance on post-harvest processing of coffee cherries, with its own unique set of green bean processing methods! In coffee naming, they are also unique: unlike other beans named after producing regions, 90+ coffees are named after the coffee's flavor following rigorous cupping.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.