Deri Kochoha is another washed Ethiopian coffee (from the Sidamo region south of Yirga Cheffe) roasted by Arkansas’ excellent Onyx Coffee Lab. I found this to be a nicely balanced coffee with an unusual flavor profile of floral bergamot and peach. You can buy this coffee for $18/bag directly from Onyx.
Disclaimer: Onyx Coffee Lab provided this to KCcoffeegeek.com as a complimentary review sample. This is not a paid review nor is Onyx an advertiser.
I sampled this coffee several ways, using standard and inverted AeroPress, Gino dripper and cupping it according to SCAA standards. The flavor profile in the cup is nicely balanced, with some soft, round acidity that hits the sides of the tongue and cheeks nice and easy as well as a peach-like pectin sweetness. I got some floral notes but I’m not going to try to take a bunch of poetic license trying to describe which farmer’s market and the time of year you could find those flowers! There was something flowery in both the aroma and flavor, that’s about as much as I could pull out!
As with most coffees the acidity climbed a little as the cup cooled and I think the cooler cup saw some improved body, which I found a bit thin at freshly brewed temps. I think my favorite cup was using Heart Roasters’ AeroPress brewing method that can be found here. This is non-inverted method and I found the acidity to be nicest in this cup with a good mix of the peach sweetness and other flavors I liked.
I didn’t pull out much of the blood orange and bergamot flavors from this coffee until I did a comparison cupping of it alongside three other coffees. I simply did one cup of each coffee using 12 grams of coffee and 200mL of water, I believe. I broke the crusts at four minutes and then slurped away! Once this Deri Kochoha hit a certain temperature it was like getting hit over the head with a bergamot hammer! It was really incredible and a good illustration of how different a coffee can be brewed normally and then cupped and slurped! It helps to compare the coffee to others, I think, because it lends a lot to compare and contrast.
I think the Ethiopian washed coffees have been spectacular lately and this is a shining example. Onyx continues to impress me with their versatility in roasting and this is a great import from my pals at Coffeeshrub/Sweet Maria’s!