What Is a Gesha and What Is Ninety Plus Coffee?

Ninety Plus, usually written 90+, is a specialty coffee company founded in 2006 whose beans score 90 or above on the SCAA cupping scale. The brand controls production from seed to cup through its Profile Processing system and its own Panama estate growing Gesha, and it names beans by flavor concept rather than by region or farm.

The 90+ series covers 13 flavors. Cuppers separate lots by variety, climate and harvest time, then taste each one, and names are chosen from a flavor idea before the region and partner farms are selected. Nekisse, for instance, derives from the word nectar in Shakisso. Brewing suggestions for 90+ Candela are included.

In the world of specialty coffee, there is a name that is almost synonymous with "ultimate"—Ninety Plus, or what we commonly call 90+. What makes coffee professionals around the world take notice? The SCAA cupping score of 90+ is only the starting point; what is truly astonishing is its complete control from seed to cup: the exclusive Profile Processing production system, its own Gesha estate in Panama, and a unique system that uses flavor symbols instead of traditional processing method labels. This article provides a systematic understanding of 90+'s brand core, grading logic, and flavor philosophy, along with practical brewing suggestions from Front Street Coffee for brewing 90+ Candela.

Have you ever wondered just how far apart ordinary coffee beans and 90+ coffee beans really are?

What exactly qualifies as a 90+ coffee bean?

To put it in perspective: while instant coffee can only be considered a "beverage that tastes like coffee," 90+ coffee beans are the very definition of the highest honor in the coffee world.

"90+" represents a top-tier coffee series containing 13 flavors. These beans sometimes come from different estates, each with vastly different flavor characteristics. During processing, cuppers separate them one by one based on variety, climate, harvest time, and other dimensions, then taste each individually. They are like near-perfect works of art—the cuppers pour their heart and soul into them, all to bring out the best taste and most perfect presentation.

"90+"'s relentless pursuit of ultimate flavor is admirable, and its sustainable development model and environmentally friendly practices are also benchmarks that many coffee producers seek to emulate. The company was founded in 2006, and within just a few years it made its name known to coffee professionals worldwide. The coffee series that debuted in 2007 was immediately regarded by industry experts as a rare treasure.

90+'s beans are named completely differently from ordinary specialty beans. First, the name does not include the region or estate—each bean is named based on flavor. For example, the well-known Nekisse originally derives from the word "nectar" in Shakisso. 90+ naming typically starts from a flavor concept, then determines the name, and only afterward selects the region and partner farms. This is significantly different from ordinary specialty beans and carries a boutique-style approach to business.

1. Only beans that score 90 or above in cupping can be released: This is precisely the origin of the 90+ company name. Every single bean is carefully selected—a super-high-scoring bean that achieves 90+ in SCAA cupping. So what exactly does an SCAA cupping score of 90 mean?

Let's look at the SCAA definitions: Below 80 is classified as below specialty—not belonging to the specialty coffee grade. 80-85 is described as very good: specialty, belonging to the general specialty coffee grade, already quite enjoyable. 85-90 is described as excellent: specialty origin, a truly impressive specialty coffee bean, and most of the top five coffees in many COE competitions (Cup of Excellence) fall within this range. 90-100 is described as outstanding: specialty rare, and 90+ company's products fall within this grade—every single bean scores above 90, with even a glorious record of 97 points.

This is higher than the scores of many COE champion estates. And achieving such high scores is by no means easy—whether it's green bean variety, origin, climate, cultivation methods, or green bean processing methods, all are subject to 90+ company's unique insistence, which has given rise to 90+'s independent production system—Profile Processing.

2. Exclusive Production System - Profile Processing

If you've read previous articles about the SCAA definition of specialty coffee, you'll know that the specialty coffee chain is long and complex, relying on the dedication of many people to create a cup of specialty coffee. But in reality, the interactions between each stage are not smooth—in the past, they might even have been disconnected. For example: green bean buyers only select and purchase good green coffee without caring about how farmers grow it, nor do they pay attention to the processing plant's techniques. As long as the final cupping is good, they'll buy it—no need to worry about the rest. This is actually quite reasonable. Imagine: if you were a wholesale watermelon distributor, would you concern yourself with how the farmer grows the watermelons? That would be overstepping, wouldn't it?

But while this logic may hold for commodity products—just deliver to the market economy and good products will always be found—as coffee gradually moves toward the high-priced specialty market, 90+ took the lead in establishing its own green bean production system—Profile Processing.

Profile Processing, simply put, extends the scope of management upstream—from the varieties farmers grow, origin, climate, cultivation methods, harvesting, processing methods... everything is managed, so that coffee beans of superior quality can be produced according to one's own preferences.

The concept sounds simple, but execution is extremely difficult. After all, agricultural cultivation is a black box—there are actually thousands of variables to consider and it's hard to generalize where to start.

At the beginning, 90+ company only went as far as selecting the most outstanding coffee cherries from various Ethiopian coffee farmers, and started with processing methods—giving the finest treatment to already excellent beans. This led to the debut of 90+'s first breakout beans: Aricha and Beloya. But the experimental results were already astonishing—the incredibly rich fruit flavors and high quality shocked the entire specialty coffee world. Next came selecting potential coffee farmers, setting ideal flavors based on current output and feeding that back to farmers and processing plants, restructuring the process, and using scientific management to gradually adjust samples toward the flavors 90+ originally envisioned. But of course, only the ones that best match the target are selected for release. (It's basically a scientific experiment.) How many crazy experiments and failed samples were involved is unknown, but the tiny quantities released for sale indeed all live up to 90+'s high standards—truly the cream of the crop.

So what makes the Profile Processing system so powerful is that it keeps the technology for controlling flavor expression in its own hands, allowing it to set the highest standards and surpass the luck-based bean selection and purchasing methods of ordinary green bean buyers. Exceeding quality standards is by no means luck—it's the average, and this is the core value that 90+ company has always upheld.

One can imagine that over time, as 90+ coffee beans accumulate more experimental data, the flavors of the beans may know no limits.

3. Establishing Its Own Coffee Estate: Ninety Plus Gesha Estate

Although green bean buyers funding estates is not unprecedented, 90+ going all-in on acquiring an entire piece of farmland in Panama to start planting coffee trees from scratch is likely without precedent. Moreover, Ninety Plus Gesha Estate (hereafter NPGE Estate) is planted entirely with the precious Gesha variety (you can also call it Geisha—there's no substantive difference).

This decision goes back to 90+'s founder and CEO: Joseph Brodsky.

Starting in 2004, when Panama's Hacienda La Esmeralda's Geisha green beans won the Panama cupping competition championship and went on to sweep major competitions, coffee lovers worldwide went crazy for Geisha—and Joseph Brodsky was one of those who got hooked. And this hooked Joseph went to Ethiopia searching for ancient heirloom coffee varieties (or the Holy Grail) even better than Geisha. Although his luck wasn't great and he couldn't find one, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise—he discovered Aricha and Beloya, delivering a shockwave to the specialty coffee world. But since he couldn't find a better variety, he decided to make the current best variety as good as it could possibly be! So in 2009, 90+ established NPGE Estate in Panama, planting it entirely with the mighty Geisha coffee. Within NPGE Estate, they set up the Ninety Plus Sensory Room (NP Sensory Lab) and Solar Kiln lab (for SK processing), as well as Red processing, Ruby processing, and various other innovative research projects different from ordinary green bean processing.

One can imagine that NPGE is 90+'s largest experimental farm—experimenting with the best variety is truly exhilarating, carrying the Profile Processing system to its ultimate conclusion. After several years of cultivation results from the powerful experimental team, NPGE released five Geisha varieties: Lycello, Perci, Juliette, Silvia, and Lotus. Among them, Perci also spawned upgraded versions—Perci Red (Red processing) and Perci Ruby (Ruby processing)—varying Perci's sweetness in different ways; while Silvia and Lotus are the newest products using the SK processing method.

From this, we can see that 90+ established its own NPGE Estate, keeping the fierce Geisha variety coffee in its grasp, and wildly experimenting within its own estate, continuously strengthening its unique competitiveness. This reveals just how terrifying 90+'s ambition and boldness are.

4. Flavor Symbols Replacing Processing Methods

With so many innovations different from ordinary green bean buyers, 90+ naturally also had to be different when it comes to coffee bean flavor descriptions.

This also gives many people just starting to explore 90+ a serious headache—like seeing a bunch of incomprehensible symbols...

However, the reason for having exclusive flavor symbols is also to help consumers better understand the flavor potential and carefully curated value of each of 90+'s divine beans. This can also be seen as a responsible production record—though it's a bit unconventional, once you understand it, you can appreciate the hard work behind the value in this world of unparalleled specialty coffee.

First, the flavor symbols marked after each bean:

W2 = Washed processing flavor

N2 = Natural processing flavor

H2 = Honey processing flavor

Let me emphasize: for ordinary coffee beans, W stands for washed (wet processing), N stands for natural (dry processing), and H stands for honey processing. But 90+ uses W, N, and H not to indicate processing methods, but as flavor descriptions.

W2 refers to beans with flavors approaching washed processing, but it doesn't necessarily mean they were washed. As for the "2," it may have been added to help consumers distinguish them—it has no special meaning. As for each bean's actual processing method, 90+ doesn't explicitly label it, which is likely related to trade secrets. Additionally, blended processing methods are now more popular—semi-dry semi-washed, washed mixed with raised beds, several types of honey processing—and simply saying washed or natural processing can no longer accurately reflect a bean's true production history. So they simply don't label it. Only the SK processing method (Solar Kiln) gets special labeling, because SK is a new processing method pioneered by 90+ and is relatively specific in its application. Adding a flavor description is a simple way to inform consumers of the bean's basic profile. As for the various spectacular flavors that emerge after roasting, that's left to the roaster and café to communicate with consumers after roasting.

5. Proprietary LEVEL Grading System

Ordinary coffee bean grading varies by country regulations—for example, commonly heard terms like Kenya AA, AB, SHB, 18 mesh, G2... are all different grading methods.

The purpose of grading is of course to distinguish premium from inferior products, but many grading criteria are not necessarily positively correlated with flavor. So even a high grade doesn't guarantee good taste—but at least it's still a reference data point. For beginners, one should think more deeply in conjunction with grading, but should not be superstitious about high or low grades.

In addition to its own flavor symbols, 90+ also has its own grading system for each bean, which is of course completely different from other countries' grading, divided into the following seven levels:

L4, L7, L12, L21, L39, L95, L195

L stands for Level. The classification is based on production quantity, processing refinement, difficulty, and strictness of selection.

The higher the number, the smaller the production, the more refined, complex, and difficult the processing, and the stricter the selection. However, 90+ has not published detailed grading content, so it's actually similar to the flavor symbols—just a reference data point. But we should still roughly understand what's behind it, which can be simply divided into four grade ranges:

L4 range: This grade is no longer seen in 90+ products. In the past, it referred to blended harvest batches—when a single region's flavor wasn't rich enough or production was too small, multiple excellent regions were blended and processed together for release. It was somewhat like the earlier Aricha and Beloya. However, after years of 90+ refining its experimental control technology for coffee production, this grading method is no longer used.

L7, L12 range: Most Ethiopian beans fall into this grade. The flavors are already excellent—whether aroma or quality, they're impeccable. This grade of 90+ can be considered entry-level but with excellent value for money.

For example: Tchembe and Kemgin are L7; Nekisse and Hachira are L12.

L21, L39 range: This is almost entirely dominated by NPGE Estate's Geisha coffee. As you can imagine, for 90+, the Geisha variety itself represents a high grade, so the lowest grade is still L21. Of course, one can also infer that Geisha requires more painstaking care and more rigorous processing than Ethiopian beans.

Additionally, specially processed Ethiopian beans can also be upgraded to this range, becoming comparable to Geisha.

For example: Lycello is L21; Juliette and Perci are L39—all three are Geisha from NPGE Estate. Nekisse Red (Ethiopian Nekisse that underwent Red processing) was upgraded to L39.

L95, L195 range: Both of these levels require 90+'s special processing methods to reach, such as Red processing, Ruby processing, and SK (Solkiln) processing—one could say they serve as endorsements for 90+'s exclusive processing methods. However, to reach the highest level of L195, it still has to be Geisha.

For example: Lotus (SK processing), Silvia (SK processing), Semeon Abay (this is from the Master Series), and Nekisse Ruby (Ethiopian beans that underwent Ruby processing) are all L95; while Perci Ruby is currently the only L195 (Ruby processing + Geisha variety).

6. New Concepts in Green Bean Production Constantly Emerging

Actually, green bean production concepts are historical products extended from different regional environments. Without specifically focusing on processing methods here, even bean varieties, cultivation methods, preservation methods... can all be explored—in short, they are the core concepts that influence the formation of bean flavors.

For example, regarding processing methods: African regions early on primarily used natural processing because of abundant sunshine and limited water, naturally giving rise to the natural processing method.

For example, regarding quality: Front Street Golden Mandheling is characterized by three rounds of hand-sorting for defects and large, uniform screen size.

For example, regarding variety: Front Street Geisha itself presents intense floral aromas, ultra-delicate quality, and strong recognizability.

These green bean concepts are not determined by a single factor, but the most influential one is often highlighted or even given a name. After all, for any good bean to have distinctiveness, meticulous care is a basic requirement—but consumers still need more reasons why the flavor is special.

In the process of handling green beans, 90+ has also added many novel concepts, allowing coffee beans to be influenced by more powerful variables and forming their own distinctiveness—something that ordinary green bean buyers find hard to intervene in.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) acquired the [Front Street Candela] from 90+ company. We chose a medium-light roast to preserve this bean's floral and fruity aromas, and brewed it with 89°C water. The rich, complex floral fragrance is unforgettable, with prominent nectarine and tropical fruit flavors. The first sip is truly stunning—clean and bright on the palate.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) recommended parameters for brewing Front Street 90+ Candela:

V60/90°C/1:15/2 minutes

Flavor: Floral, nectarine, tropical fruit

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