5 Pounds – African - Ethiopia Yirgacheffe - Unroasted Arabica Green Coffee Beans – Varietal Ethiopian Heirloom – Drying/Milling Process Washed SunDried – Unique Distinctive Taste - Roast at Home

I’ve been roasting my own coffee for maybe a year and a half, and in that time, I’ve developed a strong liking for Ethiopian dry-processed beans, which tend to produce a lot of distinctive flavors. I especially like varietals that have a strong berry note. These beans (the Yrg-Idido) are the second-strongest berry note I’ve come across. It’s not very subtle if one keeps the roast level light, dropping the heat just as first crack is coming to an end. And if one cold-brews, the sweetness is enhanced still further. The berry drops into the background as the roast level rises. I’ve only taken beans like this to a true dark roast a couple times, but the flavors are certainly intriguing for people who dig darker roasts. One thing that I haven’t been crazy about with a lot of Ethiopian naturals is that there tend to be a lot of duds. But these must be better sorted than most, because the uniformity is quite good. The difference between the most-roasted and least-roasted beans isn’t bad at all. Smokin Beans’ packaging is perhaps overkill, considering that green coffee keeps quite a while just in a burlap bag. They include a burlap bag for decoration, but the real packaging is a foil-laminated bag like the ones roasted coffee comes in. So the freshness out of the bag is really good. The beans ship fast, and the prices are competitive. Definitely buy some, but make sure to leave a bag for me.

My first home-roasted beans! I only thought I knew what great coffee was- I would buy beans from the nearest store, grind them myself (because I'm cool) and make me a mug of drip coffee, or I would buy a big (they call it "venti") cup of freshly brewed coffee from one of the ubiquitous Starbucks in my city. What I thought was "great coffee" was over-roasted and thus, a burned flavor I assumed meant "great." Using my own roaster, I decided Yirgacheffe beans were a good first choice. Per the reviews and suggestions, I roasted past first crack and closed in on second crack- a nice city roast. After a few days, I did a grind of those beautiful brown beans, squeezed out a cup of joe using my AeroPress (because you HAVE to have an AeroPress to be certified as a coffee snob), and BAM! Seriously, I was amazed. I could taste flavors I never had tasted before in my coffee. It was a bright, rich flowery zing that literally made my head snap back. I simply had no idea what all the fuss was about until that moment. Burnt coffee is the experience the majority has and ever will have. This is something elevated and existential. I can't compare Yirgacheffe to anything else... yet, but I can say this bean has a beautiful floral character and has a great ancestry- Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee and I don't think I could have started my journey into green beans and home coffee roasting with a better bean. Oh yeah, Smokin'Beans is top-notch. The delivery was fast and the packaging was great. I love the labeled burlap bag, the price, and the 20% discount coupon for my next purchase. And after I roast through these 5 pounds of deliciousness, I will be taking advantage of that coupon!

As far as Ethiopian coffee goes, it seems Yirgacheffe/Sidamo is what I see everywhere, but IMO Harrar is the best of the best. If you're reading this while looking up green coffee to roast yourself, you probably already know Ethiopia is the birthplace of coffee. It's embedded in the culture. I've been to Kenya, and looked for green beans, and Kenyans I was with could only find me instant Nescafe at the little town markets. Hardly anyone I ran into drank brewed coffee. I was shocked! All of Kenya's best coffee is exported. In Ethiopia, they export their second best. The best of the best they keep for themselves. I bought a bag of green Harrar at a little corner grocery store, roasted it when I got home to the US, and fell in love. Then I tried roasting Yirgacheffe and other Ethiopian green beans, and nothing I found compared to Harrar. A fellow coffee aficionado that I gave some to confirmed, this is one of the best coffees he's ever tasted. Harrar is known to have smallish, often irregularly sized beans, unlike other graded coffee beans. Buy from Smokin Beans. They're serious about their beans, and not just a markup retailer looking for a profit on turnaround. (No, I have no affiliation with the company.) I've gotten green Harrar from a number of Amazon and eBay sellers, and this is the best I have found anywhere. I've tried a few cheaper options (only a little bit cheaper by the way), but the beans were junk, and I was stuck enduring 5 pounds of mediocre coffee. These beans are a relatively consistent size and shape for Harrar. They're fresh and packaged well, and the price is very nice for such high quality coffee. I think this is the best coffee I'll find, short of flying back to Ethiopia and going to that little corner store. I started with Smokin Beans with a 5 pound bag. Most recent purchase was the 12.5 pound bag. That'll last me a while, and when it's done, I'll gladly click "reorder."

Ethiopian Yirgacheffe-2 10 lb bags This was really good (green, you have to roast it yourself) coffee. Great value for the price, but unfortunately when I went to order again, the 20 lb was no longer available. I've asked the seller when (or if) this product will be available again, if it's going to be in the next month or so I'll wait (it's that good). I've made two orders fairly recently with this seller and both items were very good quality. Took a second to get the hang of roasting it myself, but I've managed now to get consistent results, and the flavor is fantastic. There are a couple other bulk sellers out there that I haven't tried yet, and although I will if I have to, I'd far rather buy from these guys again, if they can get it back in stock (hint, hint).