90+ Ninety Plus Coffee: From Flavor Processing to Its Own Estates

90+ (Ninety Plus) is an American coffee company that has gained attention in specialty coffee circles. Known for distinct flavor profiles like Juliet and Eleta, the brand focuses on coffee bean processing techniques to achieve consistent quality. Founder Joseph Brodsky, inspired by Panama gesha coffee, first went to Panama but later shifted his focus to Ethiopia's rich genetic diversity. This article explores how the company evolved from processing innovation to establishing its own estates in Panama.

The name Ninety Plus often leads consumers to assume it only sells beans scoring above 90 in cupping. In reality, it is a brand name, not a guarantee. Through meticulous green coffee processing, 90+ creates memorable flavors that have earned a loyal following. Today, Front Street Coffee shares insights into this brand's journey and what its coffees offer to the specialty market.

90+ (Ninety Plus) has gained a large following in the specialty coffee circle thanks to uniquely flavored beans like Juliet and Eleta. But does its name mean it only sells beans that score above 90 in cupping? This article will walk you through the development of this American company: how founder Joseph Brodsky shifted from pursuing Geisha to Ethiopia, and how, by mastering flavor management techniques, he started from the processing stage to create Aricha and Biloya, and eventually established Ninety Plus Gesha Estate and Barú Estate in Panama. At the same time, Front Street Coffee will also share its expectations and recommendations for 90+ coffee in this article.

Every coffee bean produced by the 90+ series often carries a rather distinct flavor label, which is also why it can keep gaining fans in the coffee community. For example, Juliet with a champagne-like character, or Eleta with spice and longan notes—these highly recognizable flavors are inseparable from 90+ Company's meticulous refinement in green bean processing. Today, Front Street Coffee will talk about this legendary company that has created so many high-quality coffees—"Ninety Plus."

Let's clarify a concept first: Ninety Plus is the name of an American company, which literally translates to 90+. In the coffee industry, "90+" is usually used to refer to coffee beans with a cupping score of 90 or above, so many people naturally assume that the meaning of this trademark is "only selling beans scoring above 90." (It must be said, the name is indeed cleverly chosen.)

In 2004, Hacienda La Esmeralda won the Panama BOP competition by an overwhelming margin with Geisha. After the event ended, the "Geisha fever" quickly spread across the globe, allowing industry professionals and enthusiasts everywhere to see the charm of the Geisha variety. Many people became obsessed with it from then on, even to the point of "no Geisha, no joy." Joseph Brodsky, the founder of 90+, was one of those deeply captivated by Geisha.

In pursuit of the Geisha in his heart, Joseph Brodsky quickly set off for Panama, hoping to find varieties there that could rival Geisha. Unfortunately, the trip did not achieve the result he wanted. But he did not stop there. Instead, he changed his approach: since he could not find it in Panama, he would go to Ethiopia—where there are tens of thousands of yet-to-be-discovered varieties, which should hold possibilities comparable to Geisha.

So, in 2005, Joseph Brodsky first set foot on Ethiopian soil. Unexpectedly, he was deeply moved by the local land and people, and fell in love with the people, food, language, culture there, and of course, the coffee. He decided to settle in Ethiopia in the following years, treating it as his home, and shifted the focus of his career there as well.

By 2006, Joseph Brodsky officially founded the trading company Ninety Plus. Relying on a set of operating principles he established, Ninety Plus clearly distinguished itself from other green bean merchants at the time.

The usual practice of conventional green bean merchants is to search for beans everywhere, cup them, and purchase beans with good flavor when they find them. Essentially, they are looking for high-quality fruit that others have already produced, which carries a certain degree of uncertainty. What makes Ninety Plus different is that it has mastered the technology to control flavor expression. Therefore, they can plan ahead and extend their management reach upstream—not to discover good beans grown by others, but to intervene personally, bringing the entire process from cultivation to processing under management, producing high-quality green beans themselves before selling them externally.

At first, Ninety Plus was not yet large enough to directly engage in coffee cultivation, so it could only start from the coffee bean processing stage. They would first purchase high-quality coffee cherries picked by others, then process them meticulously. Aricha and Biloya were born against this backdrop. With extremely rich fruit flavors and outstanding quality, these two beans refreshed the entire specialty coffee community's understanding at the time, and 90+ became famous in one battle.

Only after that did they begin selecting promising coffee farmers, setting ideal flavor goals based on the coffee beans currently produced, and then feeding that back to the farmers and processing stations for process reengineering, gradually revising the samples toward the flavor direction originally set by "90+" through scientific management; at the same time, they also had to carefully select the batch that best matched the设定 from among them before final release.

From this, it can be seen that the fact that 90+ Company's beans exceed the standard in quality is not accidental, but the average level, and this is also the core value that "90+" Company has always upheld.

During his time in Ethiopia, Joseph Brodsky never found a variety surpassing Geisha. Since he could not find a better alternative, it was better to use Geisha directly and improve on that basis to create top-tier Geisha.

Action followed immediately. In 2009, Joseph Brodsky returned to Panama with his "ambition" and the techniques he had accumulated over many years in Ethiopia, founded "Ninety Plus Gesha Estate," and officially produced coffee beans in 2014. Unlike other coffee beans, each coffee bean in the 90+ series has its own name, because every bean sold externally is a "work" obtained after their careful design. Ninety Plus's baristas give it a fitting name based on their first impression when encountering that bean.

In 2019, Ninety Plus acquired another plot of land near Barú Volcano and named it "Ninety Plus Barú Estates." The substances rich in volcanic soil can better assist coffee growth. Front Street Coffee is very much looking forward to this, wondering what kind of deliciousness the 90+ coffee produced from this land will present.

- END - Front Street Coffee

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