Our review of a medium-roast Ethiopia Sidamo, from Driven Coffee.

Many thanks to the folks at Driven Coffee who sent us a couple of their coffees to try, including this Ethiopia Sidamo.

Driven Coffee is based in Minneapolis, and has a hands-on approach to sourcing, roasting and brewing their coffees.

Of particular interest to me is that fact that they choose to use a relatively low-tech-roaster - a vintage German Gothot Roaster.

I’m a big fan of low-tech coffee. In fact, I have written previously about the benefits of using a low-tech roaster to get the best from quality coffee beans.

In addition, Driven Coffee is community driven and donates 5% of all coffee sales to organizations that advocate positive change.

In other words, I like these guys and their approach to both coffee roasting and business.

As for the Ethiopia Sidamo, we liked that too.

We ground it just before brewing and brewed it in our Bonavita drip brewer.

We found the aroma to be light and fruity.

As for taste, it has a light boldness we immediately enjoyed. It's strong enough to carry its full profile of tastes, but not so strong that it was dominated by its acidity.

The result is a smooth feel in the mouth. 

As the aroma suggested, the coffee’s sweetness comes from a fruity taste. More berry than citrus, and with the dryness of something like blueberry. In other words, without the sharper sweetness of a more citrus fruit.

There is not a lot of drama in this coffee, but it is a very pleasant brew, with its varied tastes nicely balanced, and with some welcome subtlety in its dry sweetness.

If you like fine coffees, it’s well worth a try.

You can find this Ethiopia Sidamo at the Driven Coffee website.

About the author: Nick Usborne, aka Coffee Detective, is a writer and long-time coffee enthusiast. Read more…