Starbucks introduces a unique single-origin coffee from Ethiopia, highlighting the historical significance and rich cultural heritage of the region known as the birthplace of coffee.
This new offering, Ethiopia coffee, is the first global whole bean product since the introduction of Starbucks® Blonde Roast. It features a medium-bodied taste with notes of dark chocolate, subtle peppery spice, and sweet citrus, showcasing the diverse flavors Ethiopian coffee is renowned for.
Available from September 24, the launch coincides with National Coffee Day celebrations, where customers can sample this distinctive brew and purchase it along with a commemorative tasting cup.
Kayon Mountain Farm: A Story of Dedication and Quality
The beans come from Ethiopia, more specifically from the Guji zone of the Oromia region in Southern Ethiopia, near other famous coffee growing regions like Sidamo and Yirgacheffe. Kayon Mountain Farm is run by Ate Esmael and his family, and they have been supplying coffee to auctions for more than 30 years. They shifted to becoming a direct exporter of coffee in the year 2012, with a goal of creating high quality, sustainable coffee.
The DEDICATION of Kayon Mountain farmers for high quality coffees have led them to adopt practices that are not very common in other coffee farms in Ethiopia. Other coffee farms usually use wild grown coffee plants, in contrast with Kayon Mountain Farm as they employ extensive pruning and use about half of their land area of about 500 hectares for shade trees.
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Pruning ensures that coffee trees are kept within reach of farmers to make it easier to pick the ripest cherries, while growing coffee under shade trees help ensure that the coffee trees are not exposed to direct sunlight nor heavy rainfall.
Just like the pour over, it is very important to maintain a consistent pour throughout the process of brewing to create controlled turbulence and ensure consistent extraction throughout brewing. However, unlike the pour over cone, there are no ridges at the side of the cone to allow our water to pass through. This forces our water to pass through our bed of grounds to the bottom tip of the filter, and this coupled with the thicker paper filter leads to a longer brewing time similar to a full immersion brewer.
Our coffee is grown at 1900-2200 meters above sea level, by comparison Baguio City is at 1500 masl, so the cooler climates allow for floral and lemony flavors to develop. This coffee is processed using the washed method, allowed to ferment for about 24-36 hours, and dried for 12-20 days before hulling.
The Journey of a Coffee: Bean From Farm to Cup
Brewing and Tasting Experience
I chose to brew this coffee using the Chemex brewing method because this lets us enjoy the complexity of this coffee without being too heavy on the tongue. This method of brewing is relatively modern, being introduced only in 1941 by chemist Dr. Peter Schlumbohm. It is actually a cross between a glass funnel and an Erlenmeyer flask, belying its inventor’s background in Chemistry.
I prepared 35g of Ethiopia Kayon Mountain Farm to brew with 545ml of water, this yields about 12 ounces. Proportion is a bit higher than the usual 10g to 180ml, to make up for the absorption done by the filter.
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Upon smelling the dry aroma of this coffee, I was pleasantly surprised! I’m sure that most of us have read somewhere that coffees from Ethiopia feature floral and citrus aromas, but it was still a different experience when you get to smell what floral aroma actually smells like. As we let this coffee bloom, let me just share to you that the name of the farm “Kayon” actually means “goal”, as this has served as a mantra for the farmers that grow this coffee.
When tasting this coffee, I would like you to first look at the clarity of the brew, with no fine grounds and minimal oils to be seen. Next, smell the brew and enjoy that very pleasant floral aroma reminiscent of jasmine or sampaguita, with slight hints of lemon and chocolate as it cools. At first sip, I noticed a bit of sweetness, along with a medium acidity at the sides of the tongue similar to the zest of lemon. Now take further slurps and enjoy the very pleasant mouthfeel, with flavors reminiscent of berries, nuts and chocolate.
I highly suggest that you try out this coffee, as I’m sure you will enjoy this coffee as much as I did when I first tried it. The DEDICATION and DETERMINATION of the farmers of Kayon Mountain Farm truly is well rewarded with a cup of coffee as amazing as this.
Starbucks Reserve and Other Impressions
This is another of the Starbucks Reserve, small batch coffee beans. Embarrassingly enough, I went to Starbucks on the first really cold day in NYC amongst hundreds of drunk Santas from everywhere but here, my home in the east village, to pick up a specific reserve that had really struck my fancy. It’s described as having blueberries as a note and all sorts of other good ones I can’t remember now.
Black: Freshly brewed it exhibits a sweetness on it’s own, which reminded me of honey. It is very dark, but bright considering.
Read also: A Taste of Ethiopia in South Carolina
With Cream: Mellows out whatever bitterness there was, and I finally tasted the cherry notes that was mentioned on the bag. Honestly, I love the cherry notes and which I could find one with super strong cherry notes mixed with chocolate!
With Sugar: Heightens the chocolate and citrus notes at the cost of the cherry.
Drinkability: Very decent! Without cream or sugar it was pleasant, and the sweet aftertaste was a bonus.
Drinkability: Smooth, but too dark to drink without cream. Wasn’t spicy or have the dark notes you would contribute to a dark roast like this.
The honey and cherry notes of the reserve were really nice and put it above the House Blend.
Chelba Village Yirgacheffe: Another Taste of Ethiopia
Yirgacheffe is a coffee region in southern Ethiopia that produces distinctive coffees from traditional varieties of Arabica long grown in the region. This is a “natural” or dry-processed version, meaning the beans were dried inside the fruit, encouraging a flavor profile that is less predictable and deeper than the more familiar wet-processed floral- and citrus-toned Yirgacheffe profile.
It was produced by 700 small-holding farmers near Chelba Village, and is a Starbucks Reserve Roastery offering, one of an array of select small-lot coffees that together demonstrate the entry of Starbucks into the new, highest-end specialty coffee arena. This coffee was roasted on a largish batch-roaster located on the lower level of the Seattle Reserve Roastery and packaged using state-of-the-art packaging equipment.
Est. Roast-toned but spicy; sweet, intricate. Cocoa powder, lightly scorched sandalwood, peach, narcissus in aroma and cup. Lively, spice-toned acidity; light but buoyantly silky mouthfeel.
Comparison of Starbucks Coffee Blends
Anthony talked about the spectrum of roast profiles, with House Blend being the lightest of the four that we tasted and compared today. The new Ethiopia coffee is a medium roast blend.
Here's a table summarizing the key characteristics of the reviewed coffees:
| Coffee | Origin | Flavor Notes | Roast Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethiopia Kayon Mountain Farm | Guji Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia | Floral, lemon, chocolate, berries, nuts | Medium |
| Chelba Village Yirgacheffe | Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia | Cocoa powder, sandalwood, peach, narcissus | Roast-toned, Spicy |
| House Blend | N/A | N/A | Lightest |
Final Thoughts
The time just flew by, just talking with Anthony about coffee. I felt lucky to be able to simply chat with the person famous for creating coffee blends, and maintaining recipe perfect for all the core coffees. Anthony Carroll is also the creator of Thanksgiving Blend!
