Ethiopian Yirgacheffe - plunger (french press)

This week I am playing around with Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, here are some tasting notes from my plunger (french press) brew.

Usually I take notes as I take sips of the coffee, but for some reason this coffee encouraged me to finish the whole plunger before taking notes. This coffee was pure endulgement. This coffee has a rare combination of amazing smell, taste and mouthfeel. All the aspects are so well balanced I couldn’t really pick my favourite one.

Well, lets start with smell first: Floral note with hints of nougat and marchpane. As I broke the crust a rush of yeasty aroma rushed out almost the one resemblant to smell of fresh bread in a bakery. I really didn’t expect anything like that, so very anxious to try it.

Taste: First few sips were very mediocre but as the cup cooled the flavours bloomed. A very distinct juicy sour cherry note, I describe it juicy as it was very lingering and each sip made me want more, guessing that’s why I wanted to enjoy the moment and dint take notes. The smell of freshly baked bread, nougat and marchpane didn’t really reflect in the cup, so I guess in a way was a mind trick. Instead I was treated to cane sugar sweetness mixed with juicy cherries, a fair trade I must say.

The mouthefeel was fantastic, like I mentioned that lingering juicy sour cherry taste held really well as the cup cooled. A very clean profile was also a highlight of this cup.

This coffee is very special indeed; with mixed deceptive smells that don’t much reflect in the cup, but never the less you get the whole balanced picture. Its great! Tomorrow I will grind the coffee a little bit courser to see if that makes a difference, if it does I will update this post.

quick update: Taking a courser grind approach didn't pay off. You best stick to your "usual" french press grind to get maximum enzymatic and sensory profiles.