What Is Behind the 90+ Coffee Bean Name and Its Origin?

Ninety Plus Coffee, founded in the United States in 2006, supplies specialty lots that cafés stock at high prices, and its Drima Zede Sidamo carries notes of nectarine, mango, and cream. The coffee bean name comes from the local dialect, so Drima Zede is not an English marketing label but a phrase tied to the place where the lot is grown and processed.

The beans trace to the Sidamo region of Ethiopia, where raised-bed natural processing and specific terroir shape the cup. On the roasting side, the company summarizes a curve, cupping data, and a V60 recipe through hands-on testing. Understanding coffee beans origin this way links the name, the growing area, and the brewing method, so the same lot can be reproduced with consistent sweetness and fruit.

90+ (Ninety Plus Coffee) is a well-known American specialty coffee supplier. Its Drima Zede Sidamo coffee beans, with their alluring notes of nectarine, mango, and cream, have become a hot product that many cafés rush to stock. Front Street Coffee has carried this bean for years and knows its characteristics inside out. This article will walk you through the founding background and philosophy of the 90+ brand, the meaning of the name Drima Zede in the local dialect, the terroir of the Sidamo region, the details of the raised-bed natural processing method, and the roasting curve, cupping data, and V60 brewing recipe that Front Street baristas have summarized through hands-on practice. Whether you want to understand the origins of this bean in depth or are looking for a reliable set of brewing parameters, you'll find the answers here.

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In the specialty coffee world, there is a company from the United States that is truly a household name. Front Street would even say that as long as their name is attached, almost every café will bring it in to sell, and at no small price—this is Ninety Plus Coffee, often called "90+" in Chinese. Every bean the company produces can be described as the cream of the crop, and Drima Zede coffee beans are probably among the most famous of them all. Front Street has sold this bean for a long time and is very familiar with its temperament. The reason Front Street decided to carry these 90+ Drima Zede Sidamo coffee beans is precisely because they present a unique flavor profile of nectarine, mango, and cream. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) currently offers more than 50 coffee beans for sale. Why maintain such a rich variety? On one hand, Front Street has a thorough understanding of each bean and knows its unique characteristics; on the other hand, these beans carry a clear regional flavor, and as a member of the world's coffee-producing regions, Front Street feels a responsibility to help more people get to know them. Now, join Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) as we take a closer look at these 90+ Drima Zede coffee beans.

What is 90+ / Ninety Plus?

Ninety Plus Coffee is an American specialty coffee supplier founded in 2006. In the ten years after its founding, 90+ let coffee professionals around the world experience its unique charm and sparked an unprecedented wave of enthusiasm for specialty coffee. Since releasing its first coffee in 2007, it has remained a treasured choice pursued by industry experts and competition contestants alike. Today, Ninety Plus has become synonymous with the world's top specialty coffee, with taste and quality far surpassing many rare and expensive coffees. "90+" does not mean all coffees that score above 90 in cupping. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has always believed that truly good coffee is sometimes encountered once a year, sometimes not at all, and they may appear on different estates, each with different flavor characteristics. "90+" actually represents a top-tier coffee series of 13 flavor profiles, produced solely by the American specialty coffee creator Ninety Plus Coffee.

Ninety Plus's green beans all come from Ethiopian native varieties; even the Gesha from Panamanian estates was transplanted from Ethiopian Heirloom native varieties. Processing craft is Ninety Plus's signature strength. They separate coffees one by one according to variety, microclimate, and harvest timing, cup each one individually, and then tailor a processing plan for each flavor to achieve a specific taste profile—much like a major designer approaching a work, pouring heart and soul into polishing a coffee that is nearly a work of art. Natural products, after repeated refinement and adjustment, are finally presented to the world in their most beautiful form.

The Story of 90+ Drima Zede Coffee Beans

Origin of the name: Drima Zede (the name of Front Street's Sidamo coffee bean) means "Best Approach" in the local dialect. According to materials provided by the producer, this product is a specially developed series based on 90+'s years of experience. The natural process, an ancient method, usually struggles to achieve clean flavors, but with 90+'s technical support, Drima Zede uses only hand-picked, fully ripe coffee cherries and employs raised beds for sun-drying. During drying, the cherries are painstakingly turned repeatedly to ensure consistency. The result is a very transparent and pure mouthfeel, with a wide range of change as it cools, and the aromas of fruit, florals, and oak barrel are utterly captivating.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) — Sidamo Ninety Plus Drima Zede

Country: Ethiopia

Region: 90+SNNP, Sidama

Altitude: 1750-2000 meters

Processing Method: Natural Process

Variety: Ethiopian Heirloom

Drima Zede Coffee Beans: The Sidamo Producing Region

Sidamo is located in the highland region at the southernmost tip of Ethiopia, at an altitude between 4,600 and 7,200 feet (Sidamo Province), and is a long-renowned specialty coffee producing region in southern Ethiopia. It borders Kenya and lies southeast of Jimma and directly south of the capital. It usually has prominent sweetness and is more easily accepted by most people, with an annual output of about 225,000 bags (60 kg per bag).

The coffee flavors of Sidamo are extremely diverse. Different soil types, microclimates, and countless native coffee varieties create rich and varied tastes. The region contains towering mountains, highlands, plateaus, valleys, and plains, with diverse terrain; geologically it belongs to fertile, well-drained volcanic soil, with a soil depth of nearly two meters and topsoil that is dark brown or brown. The area's greatest advantage is that soil fertility is maintained through the cycling of organic matter; fallen leaves from surrounding trees and residual plant roots all become natural fertilizer.

Raised-Bed Sun-Drying Method

During harvesting, 90+ selects only fully ripe, deep-red coffee cherries. Before sun exposure, the beans first undergo defect screening at the processing station so that size and ripeness appear more uniform. Then they are sun-dried using raised wooden frames or entire raised beds, avoiding direct contact with the ground that could impart off-flavors. During sun exposure, careful attention is required to let the coffee beans lose moisture evenly; every three to five days, workers manually remove moldy or defective beans. Therefore, by the time sun exposure ends and the beans enter the depulping stage, an entire batch of brilliantly deep-red sun-dried coffee cherries has already reached a grade with very few defects. Front Street believes that raised-bed sun-dried coffee beans are less prone to earthy and other off-flavors than traditional ground drying.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Sidamo Drima Zede Green Bean Analysis

Sidamo green coffee beans are slightly gray, with some areas having coarse-sized beans and others smaller ones. Its acidity can be soft or sharp, its body can be heavy or light, and its sweetness carries a hint of spice. It is one of the representatives of garden coffee from the southern highlands of Ethiopia. Unlike ordinary African coffees, Sidamo has clear fruity acidity, a smooth mouthfeel, and delicate floral and herbal aromas.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Sidamo Drima Zede Coffee Roasting Suggestions

The Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) barista adopts a fast-roast profile: charge when the drum temperature rises to 200°C, set the damper to 3, and after 30 seconds adjust the heat to 150°C while keeping the damper unchanged; the turning point is at 1'32" with a temperature of 103.7°C, and dehydration time is 5'21", at which point the bean surface turns yellow and the grassy smell completely dissipates; adjust the heat to 150°C, and after dehydration is complete lower the heat to 100°C and set the damper to 4;

At 8 minutes 45 seconds, ugly wrinkles and dark streaks appear on the bean surface, and the toast aroma clearly shifts to coffee aroma, which can be defined as the prelude to first crack. First crack begins at 9'00; at this point, listen carefully to the sound of first crack, reduce the heat to 80°C, and open the damper fully to 5 (be very careful when adjusting the heat; do not reduce it so much that there is no cracking sound). 1 minute 55 seconds after first crack, drop the beans at 195°C.

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Sidamo Drima Zede Coffee Cupping Report

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) conducts cupping within 8 to 24 hours after the sample coffee beans are roasted. The Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) barista usually uses a 200 ml ceramic bowl as the cupping bowl. The cupping water temperature is 94°C. The grind size is controlled so that 70%-75% passes through a No. 20 standard sieve (0.85 mm). The ratio is 11 grams of coffee grounds to 200 milliliters of hot water, i.e., 1:18.18, so that the extracted concentration falls exactly within the golden cup range of 1.15%-1.35%, with a steeping time of 4 minutes.

Dry Aroma: Citrus

Wet Aroma: Nectarine

Flavor: Nectarine, tropical fruit, cream, mango, citrus

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Sidamo Drima Zede Coffee Brewing Notes

Dripper: V60 #01

Water Temperature: 90-91°C

Coffee Dose: 15 grams

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: fine granulated sugar / BG#6S

Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) Brewing Method: First, bloom with 30 grams of water for about 30 seconds, then pour in a small stream in circles around the center until reaching 125 grams, then pause; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring until reaching 225 grams and finish; when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the dripper (timing starts at the beginning of the bloom). Total extraction time is 2'00".

Brewed Flavor: distinct berries and stone fruits, nectarine, cream, smooth, balanced acidity and sweetness, tropical fruit, medium-high acidity, medium sweetness, moderate finish.

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