Week 2 of this run with Klatch Coffee and this week it’s their FTO Ethiopia Gedeb.  This washed, heirloom varietal coffee from just outside the town of Yirgacheffe has been an interesting one.  The first couple days of using it I was pretty disappointed and felt it kind of fell flat and weak.  However, as it got more rest and I dialed in a little more, it became a very nuanced, complex, and very unique coffee. 

Klatch describes it as such:

“It starts with a sweet cocoa and floral aroma.  The cub brings out complex fruit flavors, sweet herbal notes, lemon acidity, and a marzipan body along with a sweet and savory finish.  Overall, it’s a very unique cup with tons of depth and dynamics.”

And they are absolutely spot on with the aromas, herbal notes, depth and dynamics.  The dry grounds smell very sweet and floral, with almost a hint of a sweet cream butter like aroma.  The smell of the wet grounds, particularly during the bloom and first pour are unlike any coffee I’ve ever used though.  It has this overwhelming great honeysuckle, lavender, honey-lemon, honey-floral-goodness aroma that I want to pump through my house. 

The coffee is very light and subtle, but has a ton of depth similar to how I see the best Geishas being described.  The layered and complex flavors can almost be felt on the tongue as they’re tasted, with kind of floral oil like characteristics.  It’s difficult to describe the complexity of this coffee, once dialed in was very rewarding and fun to drink. 

Brewing via Hario V60, the coffee needed a coarser grind than I have ever used for a pourover.  So coarse I started to question if my grind adjustments were even working – they were.  My preferred brewing recipe was:

• 1 : 16 ratio – 20 grams of coffee to 320 grams of water at 204*F
• 50-60 gram vigorously stirred bloom for 30 seconds
• Slow circular pour to about 200 grams, stir again.
• Intermittent circular pours keeping the ground saturated as evenly as possible
• 2:30 – 2:45 total brew time

I don’t have much experience with Geisha coffee because I’m just not that fancy, but from the descriptions I read of the best Geishas, this one seems up there with tons of floral nuances, aromas, and oils.  Available for a reasonable $15.95 for a 12 ounce bag with free shipping on orders of $50 or more.