Altitude explains about 25.6% of variation in extraction yield — and at 1,850 meters, Refisa sits about 100 to 250 meters below the band most Ethiopian specialty coffee occupies. That's not a flaw, but it changes the chemistry that reaches the washing station. At higher altitudes, slower cherry maturation accumulates more of the aldehydes responsible for fruit-forward, caramel aromatic character. At 1,850 meters, development is slightly faster, producing beans with somewhat lower density and a soluble profile that leans softer and rounder rather than concentratedly bright.
The 74110 and 74112 varieties are JARC selections — named, catalogued cultivars from Ethiopia's Jimma Agricultural Research Center rather than the genetically diverse heirloom pool. These selections carry known characteristics that contribute to the nectarine and clementine notes here. Both map to citric acid — citrus-forward, with clementine being a rounder citric expression than lemon — plus the soft malic acid component that reads as stone fruit.
Washing strips the fermentation variables and lets the variety character come forward directly. What you're tasting in the honey note is aroma-mediated sweetness: caramelization products like maltol created during medium-light roasting that your brain interprets as sweet. Actual sucrose is gone by first crack. The soft, juicy texture traces to melanoidins — large Maillard polymers that build body and mouthfeel and account for 10 to 18% of roasted coffee dry weight, increasing with roast development.
Medium-light roasting at this altitude makes sense: it builds enough Maillard development to compensate for the slightly lower acid concentration while keeping chlorogenic acid levels high enough to maintain brightness. The [74110 and 74112 varieties](/blog/ethiopian-heirloom-vs-named-varietals) are harder-structured beans that produce more fines during grinding — the usual consideration for Ethiopian-grown coffee regardless of altitude.
Refisa earns its top V60 score (88/100) because the brewer's thin paper filter, open cone geometry, and fast drawdown are well-matched to a medium-light washed Ethiopian. The recipe's grind adjustments are notably different from a generic Ethiopian: the 74110 and 74112 JARC varieties are harder, more brittle beans that produce elevated fines during grinding, so the grind is set 10μm coarser than the standard light-roast Ethiopian offset (net: -10μm vs. the -40μm you'd see on a typical light-roast bean). Temperature steps down 1°C to 93°C — medium-light roasting has already built more Maillard melanoidins than a light roast, so full 94°C would push the softer nectarine and clementine character toward bitterness before building sweetness. The juicy, soft texture defined in the flavor notes comes directly from melanoidin body — pour-over paper preserves this without adding mud.
Troubleshooting
sour: Grind finer by ~22μm and raise temp 1°C. Refisa's nectarine and clementine notes are malic and citric acids — both fast-extracting. If they dominate unpleasantly rather than leading a sweet cup, the honey and melanoidin body haven't dissolved yet. The JARC variety's elevated fines mean small grind changes have significant impact.
thin: Add 1g dose or reduce water by 15g; a metal filter also increases perceived body here. Refisa's medium-light roast has moderate solubility — better than a light roast but the JARC varieties' elevated fines can create channeling that undermines extraction evenness, producing adequate yield but low TDS.
Kalita Wave ties the V60 at 88/100 for Refisa — the flat-bed geometry's inherent evenness of extraction matters because the 74110 and 74112 JARC varieties grind with elevated fines, which concentrate at the bottom of a conical bed and create uneven resistance. The Kalita's flat bottom and wavy filter distribute flow more evenly across the puck, reducing the channeling risk those fines create. The recipe runs 15μm coarser than the V60 (520μm vs. 490μm) to account for the flatter bed's longer dwell time, and the ratio opens slightly to 1:16.3-17.3. At 93°C, the medium-light roast level's additional Maillard development means sweetness is already built in — the brewer's job is to extract evenly rather than push hard for yield.
Troubleshooting
sour: Grind finer by ~22μm and raise temp 1°C. The Kalita's flat bed distributes water evenly, but if Refisa still comes out sour, the grinds are too coarse for the slightly extended contact time. Check that you're not pouring on the filter walls — that collapses flow and bypasses the coffee bed.
thin: Add 1g dose or reduce water by 15g; metal filter adds body. Refisa's juicy texture comes from melanoidin body — paper filters preserve the clarity of clementine and nectarine while the concentration determines overall impression. If clarity is there but weight is absent, dose up.
Chemex scores 86/100 for Refisa — three points below the top scorers — because the Chemex's 20-30% thicker filter strips more oils and slows drawdown, which pushes extraction of Refisa's softer profile toward over-extension risk. The 74110 and 74112 varieties at medium-light roast are softer-structured than darker beans, and the Chemex's thorough filtration removes the oils that would otherwise soften the transition between clementine brightness and the honey aroma-mediated sweetness. Recipe grind opens to 540μm — the coarsest of the three pour-over methods — to compensate for the slower Chemex drawdown at identical temperature. The result is the cleanest expression of these JARC varieties, but with the softest body, which is why V60 and Kalita score slightly higher for a naturally juicy-textured bean.
Troubleshooting
sour: Grind finer by ~22μm and raise temp 1°C. The Chemex's thick filter slows drawdown, but its extended contact can still produce sour results if the grind is too coarse — especially with 74110/74112's elevated fines creating uneven bed resistance. Finer grind improves evenness, not just total extraction time.
thin: Add 1g dose or reduce water by 15g — or switch to a metal filter if thinness is persistent. The Chemex strips more oils than other pour-overs, so Refisa's body will be lighter here by design. If the cup tastes watery rather than clean, it's a strength issue — more coffee is the fix.
AeroPress earns 85/100 for Refisa — the second-highest non-pour-over score — because the JARC varieties' elevated fines and medium-light roast level respond well to the AeroPress's shorter, more forgiving extraction. The 84°C temperature (1°C below AeroPress default) and fine 390μm grind work together: lower temperature reduces the aggressive extraction of the harder JARC bean structure's polyphenols, while the fine grind ensures adequate yield in the 1-2 minute window. Unlike a typical light-roast AeroPress recipe, Refisa's medium-light roast has already built more Maillard melanoidin body, so the AeroPress concentrated output at 1:12-13 carries the soft, juicy texture even without the longer contact of a pour-over. This is a practical daily-driver method for this bean.
Troubleshooting
sour: Grind finer by ~22μm and raise temp 1°C. AeroPress at 84°C is conservative for a medium-light roast. If Refisa comes out sour, the temperature-extraction tradeoff needs adjusting — raising to 85°C or finer grind closes the gap between fast-dissolving citric/malic acids and the honey Maillard compounds.
thin: Add 1g dose or reduce water by 15g. The AeroPress's short brew time works well for Refisa's moderate solubility, but concentration at 1:12-13 can still feel light if dose is at the low end. A small dose increase compounds the pressure-extraction effect and increases TDS noticeably.
The Clever Dripper matches the AeroPress at 85/100 for Refisa, for complementary reasons. The immersion phase (3-4 minutes at 93°C) is particularly suited to the 74110 and 74112 JARC varieties' elevated fines — unlike a pour-over where fines concentrate at the bed bottom and create resistance, in the Clever they stay suspended in the immersion slurry and extract uniformly. This is one of the few cases where a fines-heavy grind is actually less problematic than in flow-through methods. The 520μm grind matches the Kalita Wave rather than the finer V60 setting, appropriate for the longer total contact time. The paper filter release preserves the soft, juicy texture from melanoidins without adding the sludge a French press would contribute from those JARC fines.
Troubleshooting
sour: Grind finer by ~22μm and raise temp 1°C. In the Clever's immersion mode, sourness from Refisa suggests the steep time isn't long enough to balance the fast-extracting clementine and nectarine acids with honey-register Maillard compounds. Finer grind increases extraction rate within the same steep window.
thin: Add 1g dose or reduce water by 15g. The Clever's paper filter produces a clean cup but removes body-contributing oils. If Refisa's juicy texture — driven by melanoidins rather than oils — is present but the cup feels weak overall, it's a concentration issue, not a filtering one.
Refisa hits 83/100 for espresso — notably, this medium-light roast is more workable for espresso than a true light roast: the additional Maillard development means more soluble material and slightly less puck resistance from the 74110 and 74112 JARC varieties. The recipe is notable: 19g in, 33g out, which is a tight 1:1.7 ratio on the short end — almost ristretto territory — pulling to 1:2.3 maximum. This is intentional: concentrated extraction at 92°C (1°C below typical, accounting for the medium-light roast) keeps the JARC variety's elevated fines from over-extracting into bitterness while pulling enough of the honey and nectarine character into the shot. Expect a thick, fruit-forward espresso with genuine sweetness.
Troubleshooting
sour: Grind finer by ~10μm and raise temp 1°C. Sour espresso from Refisa's JARC varieties at medium-light roast usually means the puck resistance from elevated fines is creating channeling rather than even extraction — slightly finer grind closes channels. Small 10μm increments are the right scale at espresso.
thin: Add 1g dose or reduce yield by 15g. Refisa's medium-light roast concentrates reasonably well, but if the shot is properly extracted by time and color but weak, the output volume is too high. Pull toward the 1:1.7 end of the ratio range rather than the 1:2.3 end for this bean.
Moka Pot earns 81/100 for Refisa — medium-light roast Ethiopian is more forgiving in the Moka than light-roast Bourbon, but the JARC varieties' elevated fines still require care. The 340μm grind (10μm coarser than a standard Ethiopian light-roast adjustment, accounting for the JARC varieties' harder cell structure) leaves more room for even extraction at Moka pressure without the risk of over-packing. Using pre-boiled water is essential: it prevents the temperature ramp-up from stewing the grounds in steam before extraction begins, which degrades the volatile clementine and nectarine aromatics. At 1:9.3-10.3 ratio and 99°C boiler temperature, the pressure extraction concentrates honey-register compounds effectively — this produces a different version of Refisa than pour-overs, with less brightness but more weight.
Troubleshooting
sour: Grind finer by ~22μm and confirm pre-boiled water in the base. Refisa's JARC varieties produce elevated fines that can create channeling in the Moka basket — sour output suggests some grounds underextracted while others are bypassed. Pre-boiled water prevents acid formation during the heating phase.
thin: Add 1g dose or reduce water by 15g. Moka pot with medium-light Ethiopian rarely runs thin if the basket is properly filled, but if it does, dose is the variable — fill the basket fully without tamping and the steam pressure will do the work.
strong: Reduce dose by 1g or add 15g water. Medium-light Refisa in the Moka concentrates more readily than light-roast Bourbon — if the result is overwhelming, reducing dose or pulling from heat slightly earlier prevents the elevated fines from over-extracting into bitterness at the end of the run.
French press scores 79/100 for Refisa — acceptable but not optimal, for a reason specific to these JARC varieties. The 74110 and 74112 produce elevated fines during grinding, and French press metal mesh filters pass fines freely into the cup. The result is a cloudier, heavier cup than this washed Ethiopian's character calls for — the clarity that distinguishes washed processing from natural gets obscured by fine sediment. The recipe compensates with a 990μm grind at 95°C: the variety adjustment adds 10μm coarser to offset fines production, while the light roast pulls the grind finer, landing at a net 10μm below default. If the cup tastes sour, extend the steep time toward 5–8 minutes rather than grinding finer — with these varieties' elevated fines, a finer grind compounds the sediment issue. Hoffmann's extended settle method — pressing at 4 minutes but waiting an additional 5–8 minutes before pouring — helps fines settle and meaningfully improves cup clarity.
Troubleshooting
sour: Grind finer by ~22μm and raise temp 1°C. French press at 990μm for a medium-light Ethiopian is already quite coarse — if sour, extend steep time to 5 minutes rather than grinding finer. With elevated JARC fines, grinding finer compounds the sediment issue. Use Hoffmann's extended settle before pouring.
thin: Add 1g dose or reduce water by 15g. Refisa's melanoidin body passes through the metal mesh, so body isn't the issue — weakness is. If the cup is juicy-textured but underwhelming in intensity, dose up. The French press's unfiltered character will carry those additional compounds efficiently.
Cold BrewFlash Brew Recommended
Cold brew is not recommended for this bean. At near-freezing temperatures, cold water cannot extract the complex acids, delicate aromatics, and bright fruit compounds that define a light-roasted coffee — they remain locked in the cell matrix. For a cold version of this coffee, use flash brew: brew a concentrated pour-over (V60 or Chemex at 60% of the normal water volume) directly over ice in the server. The hot water extracts the full flavor spectrum, and the rapid ice cooling locks in volatiles that would otherwise evaporate during a slow cool-down.