Which Coffee Producing Regions Give Danch Meng Its Flavor?
Danch Meng is a green Ethiopian coffee from Ninety Plus's Levelup sub-brand and trader Bodhi Leaf, launched in 2013. The name translates as "ideal approach." Beans come from smallholders in Yirgacheffe, Gena Abaya Dumerso, and natural processing gives cocoa, black raspberry, plum, floral, blueberry and dark chocolate notes.
Altitude runs 1,700 to 2,000 meters in the SNNP and Kambata areas. Front Street Coffee offers a 90+ Danch Meng product, and a typical pour-over uses 15g at medium-fine grind, 91-93C water, a 1:15 ratio and about a two-minute extraction.
Danch Meng is a green Ethiopian coffee bean jointly launched by Ninety Plus's sub-brand Levelup and Bodhi Leaf. It hit the market in 2013, and its name means "perfect approach" in the local language. These beans come from smallholder farms in Yirgacheffe, Gena Abaya Dumerso, and thanks to Ninety Plus's natural processing technique, they present rich flavors of cocoa, black raspberry, plum, floral notes, blueberry, and dark chocolate. Front Street Coffee has also released a 90+ Danch Meng product. This article will provide a comprehensive interpretation of this unique Yirgacheffe coffee from aspects including the origin of its name, producing area information, processing method, flavor description, and brand background.
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Danch Meng | Danch Meng 【Origin of the Name】: Danch Meng is actually the sub-brand Levelup of NINETY PLUS, a green Ethiopian coffee bean jointly launched by the company and green bean trader Bodhi Leaf, hitting the market in 2013. Danch Meng is transliterated locally as “Perfect approach”, grown by smallholders in Yirgacheffe, Gena Abaya Dumerso. It is a product launched against the backdrop of NINETY PLUS's professional flavor processing, and thanks to 90+ natural processing techniques, Danch Meng possesses a very unique Yirgacheffe flavor.
【Product Name】: FrontStreet Coffee 90+ Danch Meng
【Origin】: Ninety Plus Ethiopia SNNP, Kambata producing area
【Altitude】: 1700m - 2000m
【Processing Method】: Natural
【Flavor】: Cocoa, black raspberry, plum, juicy, floral aroma, blueberry, dark chocolate Drima Zede |
Net content: 227g Packaging method: Bulk Origin: Ethiopia
Levelup Drima Zede
Country: Sidama
Altitude: 1750—2000m
Producing area: Sidamo
Pour-over Front Street Sidamo. 15g coffee powder, medium-fine grind (small Fuji ghost tooth burr grinder at 3.5), v60 dripper, 91—93°C water temperature, first pour 30g of water, bloom for 27 seconds, pour until 105g of water then stop, wait for the water level in the coffee bed to drop to half before pouring again, pour slowly until 225g of water, discard the final drips, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00
Danch Meng transliterates as Danch Meng, but its inherent meaning is "perfect approach." This batch comes from Kambata in Yirgacheffe. Thanks to 90+ natural processing techniques, Danch Meng possesses a very unique Yirgacheffe flavor.
Levelup is a sub-brand from the renowned Ninety Plus company, jointly launched by 90+ and green bean trader Bodhi Leaf, and it hit the market in 2013. The Levelup team's quality control is headed by Semeon Abay, who also brought in Ashenafi Agraw, former president of the Sidama Farmers' Cooperative Union, to serve as the project's director.
Ninety Plus is an American coffee company different from ordinary green bean traders. It advocates sourcing at origin, seeking good beans, and long-term operation! To find good beans, they are willing to roll up their sleeves and work alongside local coffee farmers to build their own brand and partner brands. Moreover, the 90+ company places great emphasis on post-harvest processing of coffee cherries and has its own unique set of green bean processing methods! In naming coffees, they are also unique. Unlike other beans named after producing areas, 90+ coffees are named after the coffee's flavor following rigorous cupping.
Based on the degree of influence of fruit flavors on the palate during processing, they can be classified from low to high as: W2, H2, N2. This three-way flavor distinction can also be simply understood as processing methods: W2=WASH washed processing; H2=Honey honey processing; N2=NATURE natural processing:
W2: Lower (Low) fruit tonality; emphasizes brightness, acidity, and floral notes.
H2: Moderate fruit tonality; emphasizes sweetness, fruity mouthfeel (rather than fruity aroma), and tea-like character.
N2: Higher (High) fruit tonality; emphasizes boldness, sweet-tart notes, jammy and dried fruit flavors.
Roast level: Light roast
Processing method: Natural
Variety: Local heirloom
Processing plant: NinetyPlus 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 available one year and absent the next. Sometimes it appears in different estates, and also carries different flavor characteristics. “Ninety Plus” refers to a series of 13 top-tier coffee flavors. These coffees come only from the American specialty coffee creator–NinetyPlusCoffee. They are all Ethiopian heirloom varieties, cultivated to maturity in ecological environments, then processed under artisanal standards to optimize flavor. The processing is Ninety Plus's specialty: these coffees are separated one by one by variety, microclimate, and harvest timing, tasted individually, and processing methods are specially designed for each flavor to achieve a distinctive taste profile, just like the design of a major brand, meticulously researched and crafted with painstaking effort to complete something close to a work of art. Natural products undergo extensive refinement and improvement, finally reaching their most beautiful form before the content is presented to everyone.
Natural is an ancient processing method, and it is very difficult to achieve a clean flavor. With 90+ technical support, only the ripest coffee cherries are hand-selected, and during the natural drying process, they are constantly stirred with great care to ensure uniformity.
90+ beans are named in a completely different way from the specialty beans people are generally used to. There are no names of producing areas or estates; each bean is named according to flavor. For example, Front Street's Candied Orange, in the local dialect, means “best approach.” Starting from a flavor concept, then naming it, and only then beginning the selection of producing areas and partner farms—this shows that 90+ is a brand with a boutique operating style.
In Ethiopia, various coffee cultivation methods can be found: from stretches of wild coffee forest and semi-developed land, to traditionally managed small plots, all the way to modern plantations—everything is available. About 50% of coffee is grown at altitudes above 1,500 meters. Based on the above four different production methods, Ethiopian coffee can be divided into nine major coffee producing regions across the country, including five specialty coffee regions: Sidamo, Yirgacheffe, Harar, Limu, and Lekempti, as well as four general commercial bean regions: Jimma, Illubabor, Teppi, and Bebeka. Each region uses either natural or washed methods, and the different processing methods also affect the flavor. At present, the natural method accounts for about 80%, and washed about 20%.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
