This particular coffee, from the Ruby Coffee Roasters website, intrigued me as soon as I read about it. I haven’t had the chance to try too many Ethiopian Geisha (also spelled Gesha) coffees, and this one was pretty reasonably priced, in my opinion ($23 for 12 oz). Most of the Geishas I’ve had have come from Panama, and those are certainly the most expensive varieties on the market, but I have noticed that Geshas from Colombia and Ethiopia are less sticker-shock inducing. When I placed the order on April 1, there was a note on the website saying that this coffee was being roasted once a week on Thursdays, but I was quite happy to wait to ensure I got the freshest possible delivery.
Whole bean: Crazily fragrant once ground, it had a lot of competing notes: floral, fruity, sweet, nutty.
French press: The coffee smelled a lot like lemon-lime soda in the brewer, but it didn’t taste that way. It had a very subtle and gentle flavor that reminded more of tea than of coffee, actually. Elegant and refined, but not very strong tasting. I think the roaster nailed it when they described this as having Earl Grey notes.
Chemex: I had a little trouble dialing in the grind exactly right on this batch – for some reason, the coffee dripping through the filter slowed to a halt around the 3:30 mark even though there was still a fair bit of liquid left to go. Perhaps I had a problem with fines clogging the filter. Even though I brewed this coffee for longer than my usual 4 minutes, it didn’t suffer for it. The coffee had more zing in this method vs. in the French press. I tasted stone fruit, particularly plum.
AeroPress: Plum and rose. Lovely combo! It was drinkable as a concentrate but I preferred it with a little bit of additional water added as it made the flavors smoother and subtler.
V60: Similar tea-like notes as the French press cup but harsher.
Summary: One of the more subtle Gesha coffees I’ve had in my life, this was an elegant coffee that has notes of Earl Grey tea and plum. It made a lovely cup that I think would please a wide variety of coffee drinkers.
From the roaster: Earl Grey, cocoa, plum
This coffee is no longer available from the roaster’s website, but here’s a link to Ruby’s online store: Ruby Coffee Roasters Online Store
Review conducted 7-9 days post-roast.