We have this new coffee at work, a natural processed grade 1 Wush Wush from the Guji region of Ethiopia. If you are a coffee professional or just a curious coffee person you already know what we’re getting ourselves into with this coffee. Some would call it a fruit bomb. The fruitiness coming from the natural processing but also the Wush Wush varietal. Grade 1 gives us important information too. Grade 1 typically is the best. Little to no defects, a super clean coffee. The day the shipment arrived at work I quickly unwrapped the pallet and roasted a 25lb batch of the Wush Wush. The roasting process was typical of a natural Ethiopian although I was a bit rusty on controlling the roast simply because we haven’t offered a natural Ethiopian coffee for a while.
I finished the roast and as my coworkers and I were analyzing the color we noticed a decent amount of defects. Far too many for a grade 1 coffee. I know I can clean up the roast a bit, but most of the defects were not roasting defects. There were empty shells, floaters, just a bizarre mix of things you don’t typically see in a grade 1 lot. I heard that Ethiopian crops took a hit it the last couple of years and quality has not been the same, maybe that is what we are experiencing with this coffee? Anyways, here is what it looks like roasted. So much going on!
The next morning I brewed a sample of the coffee at home and was surprised by how regular it tasted. Regular for a natural Wush Wush I should say. I could taste some of the defects but honestly they did not make for an unpleasant cup. A day or two later at work we tasted four versions of the coffee.
final roast
only the ‘good’ beans from the roast, no defects
only floaters
only dark/over roasted beans
Sample 2 was so clean and delicious, but lacked the character from sample 1 which included the defects. Samples 3 and 4 of course only tasted like defects, but they didn’t taste…terrible? I think this coffee needs all four elements to truly reveal it’s full self in a brewed cup of coffee. Which is something that I have believed about coffee for a few years now. Speciality coffee people tend to obsess over the cleanest cup. This is maybe a byproduct of coffee competitions. Competitors pay high dollar for the cleanest defect free coffees for their routines, then those winning routines go on to influence which coffees gain popularity in the industry, thus influencing what consumers think is cool and good and maybe even true about coffee. Sample 1 needs to be roasted a bit better, but was still the best coffee of the four samples. Defects and all.
The past month of my life has been like this coffee. Beautiful and full of great things (family and friends) with a few confusing defects (work, parking tickets, taxes) along the way. I don’t know the best way to always remember that life is all about balance. Good and bad will happen always and it all contributes to an adventurous experience here on this earth. To not be so shocked by it is my goal I think. Of course the Wush Wush has defects. They’re supposed to be there whether I want them there or not.
Here is a recipe for the wush wush, but try it with whatever coffee you have. It is a two-person recipe, but treat yourself if you’re feeling it :- ) Brewing this today helped me center myself again after a couple of weeks of tilting.
coffee: natural guji gr. 1 wush wush
ratio: 1:16, 30g coffee, 480 g water
grind size: coarse!
the thing is you gotta pour slowly
80g bloom for about 45 sec
pour to 250g slowly
pour to 350g slowly
pour to 420g slowly
pour to 480g slowly
i lost track of the time but this should take 3.5-4 minutes if you pour slow enough.
