[Austin]

Recently I was lucky enough to have Altitude Coffee send me a variety of beans for sampling since they are about to launch and are getting some testing out of the way before they do. I received six different roast, and the first I decided to do was The Ethiopian Yigacheffe , coffee from the birthplace of coffee. This was my first venture into Ethiopian coffee so not knowing what to expect I approached it without any idea what I was trying. The beans are fragrant, the main character being Chocolate and spice, with heavy notes of smoke and a nicely trailing underlying sweetness, a truly delightful bean.I course ground it and as always used my Melitta single cup for the initial brewing. I used the traditional six ounces water to one heaping tbsp of coffee.The results were different than what I’ve come to expect out from an artificially fragrant bean. The brew is mellow and straight forward. The chocolate holds through, but a lot of the other prevalent features disappear on the tongue, all though are still on the nose. All in all I liked this, simple and delicious, just a good cup of coffee

[KimmyDe]

Thanks for posting this review Austin. My interest has most definitely been peaked! Was this a light roast? Any fruity notes to the taste? I always like the African coffees for their brightness!

[Jim]

Usually the coffee from this region has a taste of blueberry. I like this coffee greatly.

[Austin]

It did have fruity notes in the grind, but they weren't present in the brew. I'd say it was somewhere between a dark and a medium, but closer to dark.

[somersetcoffee]

Personal opinion here: light roasted Yirgacheffe is the best, BUT having said that my son-in-law loves it dark roasted!! To me the light roast brings out all the best qualities of this bean.

[Austin]

Originally Posted by somersetcoffee

Personal opinion here: light roasted Yirgacheffe is the best, BUT having said that my son-in-law loves it dark roasted!! To me the light roast brings out all the best qualities of this bean.

I think the flavors would have come through better had it been a lighter roast, but still an excellent coffee.

[dailydemitasse]

You should really try the Yirgicheffe in the Moka pot. The citrus is overwhelming lovely. This is my favorite morning coffee because it's like drinking sunshine. Although mine was probably a light to med. roast.

[Austin]

I'll give it a try. I find I have to try a few techniques to really get the most out of beans.

[aaron]

Thanks for the review Austin! The Yirgacheffe was one of my favorites - I found myself relying on it as a blending component more because it can really change the shape of the cup. We brought it to Full City in the beta roast, but we are backing off into a City+ for our next production roast, scheduled late next week or early the next.

[Austin]

Well I really liked it and think it would be excellent in rounding out a roast.