Wush Wush

Tasting Notes: Late-harvest peach, strawberry, watermelon, elephant heart plum  
Cupping Score: 93
Bean Weight: 12 & 16 oz

Let’s begin by saying Wush Wush is unlike any coffee we’ve tasted. In the past 5-7 years it has ranked from No. 3 to No. 14 in the world’s best-rated cuppings. An Ethiopian Grade 1, grown at more than 7,500 feet, It has scored impressively from 96 to 92 points. Compared to the floral, tea-like Geisha’s at $65 per bag, Wush Wush is palate-twisting and evolving cup as it cools.  A 96-hour anaerobic fermentation takes this wild and heirloom plant to a level of complexity rarely found in coffee. We roasted this light to hold on to the deep and piquant offerings — medium roast was too far.

Your sensory journey will likely be like ours: the roasted beans greet you with earthy flavors of walnut and smoked vanilla leaf; the fourth or fifth day beyond roast date the aroma of wild mixed and fermented fruit shows off a delicate pinot noir; the non-uniformity of color breaks all the rules, but the beauty is explained in that complexity; we ground the light roast fine, not quite espresso, to brew a pour over (Siphon, AeroPress are outstanding!) and used hotter water at 208F for a full extraction; this resulted in a red-honey hue in the cup; first impressions are a tea-like texture (use 8-10% more grind in your ratio for richer entry flavor) but sticky sweet, almost overripe fruit; as it cools, flavors evolve to feel richer but then at 100 degrees or cooler, it turns to unmistakeable liqueur — unlike any coffee we’ve had. Cold brew will create yet another dimension all together. As for espresso, we ground finer than normal for a medium bean, and of course much finer than a darker bean as the darker the roast the more porous the grind and deeper the extraction.  It was a successful shot, clearly a fruited Cadbury chocolate in the cup.