7 Ethiopian Coffees Reviewed and Ranked: Our Best and Worst Picks

Our 2020 taste test scored seven Ethiopian coffees out of five. Peet's Ethiopian Super Natural won at 4.5, just ahead of Coava's Kilenso. See every score and which bags are still sold.

By Jay Arr Updated

This article accompanies our video from February 2020.

In 2020 we tasted seven Ethiopian coffees, from an organic co-op lot to small roasters’ single origins, and scored each out of five. The scores and tasting notes here come from that video: each coffee got an on-screen card with its score, roast level and most notable notes, and we counted down from the lowest score to the highest.

A correction. An earlier version of this page named the runner-up “Kaviari Coffee Roasters Ethiopia”; the video’s card shows Coava Coffee’s Kilenso Ethiopia. It also said we brewed each coffee several ways and ranked them on set criteria, which the video doesn’t say, and it gave a score for Peet’s alone. All seven scores below are from the video’s cards.

Our 2020 scores

Coffee; roast (2020 card)ScoreWhat we tasted
Peet’s Ethiopian Super Natural; dark4.5Dried blueberry, floral, cocoa; sweet, full, not very acidic
Coava Coffee Kilenso Ethiopia; medium4.4Blueberry, almond biscotti, jam, lavender; brighter and more acidic
La Colombe Yirgacheffe; medium4.25Citrus, honey, a hint of grass; tangy, sweet, medium body
Volcanica Ethiopian Yirgacheffe; medium4.1Lavender, dark chocolate, guava, pineapple, ripe strawberry
Birch Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe; medium3.75Floral honey, strawberry, lemon, a touch of grass; light body
Cooper’s Ethiopian whole bean; light3Nectar, raw honey, lemon tart, citrus
Jim’s Organic Ethiopian Sidamo Nura Korate; medium2.75Smoky and ashy, cocoa, vegetal, wood; not fresh-tasting

Our two top scorers both had strong blueberry notes, and both are natural-process coffees as their roasters describe them: the fruit dries around the seed before it’s removed. Hoffmann writes that the natural process often adds fruit flavors, usually described as blueberry, strawberry or tropical fruit. Three of our seven were from Yirgacheffe, where he writes that so many of the great washed coffees are full of citrus and floral notes, with a light, elegant body. Those are tendencies, though, not promises: the three Yirgacheffes we tasted ranged from 3.75 to 4.25.

The coffees, from the top

What each roaster sells now was checked on its own website on October 18, 2026. Ethiopian coffees change with every harvest, so a coffee sold under the same name today may not be the lot we tasted.

Peet’s Ethiopian Super Natural: 4.5

Peet’s promoted this limited release online and in stores, and it earned it: a rare example of a major chain coffee with strong natural blueberry notes. It was likely to be a crowd-pleaser, because it isn’t very acidic and leans to lower tones. The taste was sweet and full and fruity, with noticeable dried blueberry and white floral notes. We rated it 4.5 out of 5.

Now: Peet’s still lists it as a limited release: a dark-roasted natural from the Gedeo Zone’s Yirgacheffe district, with notes of blueberry, floral bergamot and candied citrus peel. It showed as sold out when checked.

Coava Coffee Kilenso Ethiopia: 4.4

We really enjoyed this one: blueberry, almond biscotti, jam and lavender, a stunning and unique coffee that the video calls incredible no matter how it’s prepared. Its blueberry was different from the Peet’s, brighter and more acidic, so it may not suit every palate. It also had a nutty, pastry-like quality.

Now: not in Coava’s current coffee range. Coava’s producer page describes Kilenso Mokonissa as one of the smallest villages in the Borena Hagermariam district of Sidama, with a cooperative growing naturals at 1,750–1,800 m.

La Colombe Yirgacheffe: 4.25

An easy coffee to recommend and a great example of Yirgacheffe. It had a medium body and a vibrant taste, a hint of grassiness and a higher, tangy acidity that made it a good coffee to sip black: a bright cup with a sweet flavor, balanced by honey and citrus.

Now: not in La Colombe’s current whole-bean range.

Volcanica Ethiopian Yirgacheffe: 4.1

A fun coffee, a slight twist on the traditional Yirgacheffe. We drank it alongside La Colombe’s and would recommend it too. The taste was noticeably strong, floral and fruity, with notes of lavender, dark chocolate, guava, pineapple and ripe strawberry.

Now: Volcanica still sells an Ethiopian Yirgacheffe: a washed, sun-dried medium-light roast from the Gedeo Zone, USDA Organic and Fairtrade certified as published by the maker, now listing lemon, blueberry and blackberry. A 16 oz bag was listed at $22.99 when checked October 18, 2026.

Birch Coffee Ethiopia Yirgacheffe: 3.75

Good, though maybe not quite as good as the other two Yirgacheffes. It was tangy and light-bodied with fruity layers, with notes of floral honey, strawberry and lemon and a touch of grassiness. The video adds that it was grown above 5,000 ft and roasted by a New York coffee chain.

Now: not in Birch’s current range. The Ethiopian single origin it listed was a Sidama, and that was sold out.

Cooper’s Ethiopian whole bean: 3

A good choice if you’re passionate about supporting small Ethiopian farmers, the video says: these were sold as “farmgate” beans, bought at the farmer’s gate, and as single-origin micro-lot coffee. Floral notes of nectar, raw honey and lemon tart, with a citrusy lift. Not a bad coffee, but hard to recommend over the ones above it.

Now: we couldn’t identify which roaster sold it, so we couldn’t check it.

Jim’s Organic Ethiopian Sidamo Nura Korate: 2.75

From Nura Korate, part of a Sidama coffee farmers’ cooperative. We weren’t overly impressed: it wasn’t a bad coffee, but it didn’t taste particularly fresh, and it was hard to tell which smoky flavors were intended and which came from over-roasting.

Now: not in Jim’s current range. Jim’s current Ethiopian is a washed Guji from the Suke Quto farm.

Which to buy now

Of the coffees we tasted, only one is reliably on sale:

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To taste what processing does, our processing guide suggests brewing a washed and a natural from the same country side by side. Our guides to Ethiopian coffee flavors and varieties and what “heirloom” on the bag means cover the regions and the trees.

Brewing an Ethiopian coffee

Five of our seven were medium roasts. For a 12 fl oz V60 of a medium roast, our Brew Guide starts at 1:16 with the kettle at 201°F (94°C). Hoffmann notes that paper filters give the cleanest cup, which suits a delicate washed Ethiopian. If the cup tastes sour or bitter, change the grind first.

Ethiopia, briefly

USDA forecasts a record 12.1 million 60 kg bags for Ethiopia in 2026/27, all arabica: about 6 percent of its forecast world total (calculated), and the fourth-largest crop in that forecast, after Brazil, Vietnam and Colombia. (An earlier version of this page gave 8.2 million bags, with no source or year.) Hoffmann describes Ethiopian coffees as notably diverse, from citrus, often bergamot, and florals to candied or even tropical fruit; the best washed ones can be incredibly elegant, and the best naturals wildly fruity.

Two of the regions on our bags have long names in coffee. Sidama is one of three regions, with Harrar and Yirgacheffe, that the Ethiopian government trademarked in 2004, and Hoffmann notes that coffee people use both “Sidama” and “Sidamo” for it. It produces both washed and natural coffees.

For a contrast, our Kenyan coffee guide covers Ethiopia’s neighbor, and our Colombian and Sumatran taste tests scored other origins the same way.

Sources

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