Panama Volcan Region 90+ Juliet Geisha Coffee BeansCoffee Bean Intro:

Qianjie Coffee: Panama Ninety Plus 90+ Geisha · Juliet Coffee Beans

Country: Panama

Grade: SHG

Region: Volcan Region

Farm: Ninety Plus

Elevation: 1400-1800 meters

Processing Method: 90+ Special Processing Method

Variety: Geisha

Flavors: Muscat grape, champagne, perfume-like lemon, full and round body, long and pleasant high sweetness aftertaste

Ninety Plus and 90+

When it comes to these two terms, let’s have a good discussion. Coffee tasters score a coffee’s aroma, flavor, taste, and other qualities, with 80 being the dividing line. Below 80 is commercial coffee, 80-90 is specialty coffee, and above 90 is the crème de la crème of specialty coffee. So conventionally, “90+” refers to scores above 90; “Ninety Plus” refers to coffee beans with cupping scores above 90.

But!!!! Here, “Ninety Plus” refers to a green coffee bean company, while “90+” refers to a series of 13 beans, each processed, roasted, and adjusted using the most suitable methods by coffee experts, refined through constant adjustments and trials to achieve a perfect form of specialty coffee. It’s no exaggeration to call them individual works of art.

Ninety Plus

Ninety Plus was founded by Joseph Brodsky in Ethiopia in 2006, and its coffee debut in 2007 amazed coffee aficionados with its unforgettable aftertaste.

The top-tier flavors that amaze everyone come from meticulous handling at every step. The company gets involved directly during the farmers’ cultivation process, separating the harvested green beans by variety, climate, timing, and more, then customizing storage and processing methods tailored to each bean to achieve extremely high-quality coffee.

Joseph Brodsky（ Joseph Brodsky During his time in Ethiopia, he sought but couldn’t find a variety that could surpass Geisha. Since he couldn’t surpass Geisha in variety, he aimed to elevate it from the Geisha base, creating the finest Geisha possible. The experimental processing methods accumulated over the years in Ethiopia were also Ninety Plus’s forte. In 2009, Joseph Brodsky founded the 90+ Geisha Estate in Panama.

Red (red processing), Ruby (ruby processing), Solkiln (SK processing) are all patented special processing methods by Ninety Plus; they also use N2-W2-H2 to describe a processing method.

Ninety Plus’s coffee experts name their creations based on their first impressions, akin to Nekisse (intimate kiss) and our Juliette (Juliet): elegant and romantic. Others, like Drima Zede or Danch Meng, are derived from local planting area slang or direct English translations.

In 2019, they also acquired a plot near the Barú Volcano and named it “90+ Barú Estates.” The name comes from Panama’s famous Barú Volcano, and recent eruptions have enriched the soil nearby, providing an excellent growing environment for coffee. From this Juliette (Juliet), you can see Ninety Plus’s unique insights in variety and processing method experimentation. Medium roasting gives it the foundational characteristics of floral and fruity flavors, while the 90+ processing method makes its taste as luxurious as champagne.

Qianjie Coffee’s Brewing Suggestions

Filter: V60

Water Temperature: 92°C

Coffee Dosage: 15g

Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15

Grind Size: Fine sugar size (sift through a #20 sieve to 80%)

Fold the filter paper and align it with the V60, wet it with a small amount of water to make it adhere better, then discard the water in the lower carafe. Next, add the coffee grounds, gently tap to distribute them evenly. First, gently pour 30g of water for blooming for 30 seconds. Then pour to about 125g, circling smoothly and evenly. Wait for the coffee liquid to drop, and when it’s halfway down, pour the final 225g. Wait until all the coffee has dripped through, with a total extraction time of around 2 minutes.

Brewing Flavors:

High Temperature: Upon entry, the two most prominent aromas—muscat grape and champagne—interplay continuously in the mouth, accompanied by the scent of perfume-like lemon. The round body leaves a long, pleasant, high-sweetness aftertaste. Mid-to-low temperature sipping reveals a burst of rich flavors in the mouth—flowers, fruits, wine—all together. The overall description is truly Juliette (Juliet): elegance and romance in one.

Indeed, Ninety Plus’s coffee experts explained the story behind naming it Juliet like this: In the 90+ Geisha Estate, there’s a path from the farm house to the coffee drying area. Walking along this path, you’ll see an unusually beautiful row of mandrakes. In the evening, these bell-shaped flowers emit an intoxicating fragrance, which lasts only about an hour. We jokingly call this floral scent the “beauty of the night.” There’s also a legend about mandrakes. It’s said that a local Panamanian indigenous tribe would place these flowers under their pillows at night to protect themselves from harm, believing mandrakes possess special energy to safeguard families. Besides mandrakes, deadly nightshade, henbane, and mandrake also belong to the “witch herb” family. Since these plants are considered to have mystical powers, they’re often used by shamans to brew magical drinks. Mandrake is an essential ingredient in shamans’ love potions—those who drink it may win the heart of their beloved, but mandrake is also often brewed into poisons that drive people mad or kill them. Once, during a small-scale steam aroma evaluation of a coffee in our sensory lab, we suddenly caught the mixed fruit and floral aromas of this coffee, which instantly transported us back to that evening walk along the mandrake-lined path. Its soft, feminine-tasting flavors immersed us in deep thought about the mandrake flowers and Shakespeare’s tragic love story—Romeo and Juliet. Thus, we named this coffee “Juliet.”