Staff Picks: Four Coffees We’re Loving Right Now

Our coffee team recently tasted through four of their current favorites from the green coffee Marketplace. Here’s a quick look at each one: what they picked, how it tasted, and how they’d roast and brew it.

For every coffee in the Marketplace, our team sample roasts, tastes together, and builds four roast profiles: light, medium, medium dark, and dark. Those profiles come loaded with your green coffee, so you can roast to a professional result without dialing anything in yourself, or customize from there.

Ethiopia Limmu Kossa

Michael’s pick · Washed

Michael picked this one for the taste and the relationship behind it; our green coffee buyer, Gabe, has visited the farm and knows the farmers. In the cup, it’s a classic washed Ethiopian: layered sweetness, honey, and a lemon curd citrus note. What stood out to the team is the body. Washed Ethiopians at this cup profile can come across as thin; this one has more weight while staying clean, and it holds together as it cools.

Michael tasted it as a light roast and thought it shined there, but noted it holds up across roast levels. Taken to medium or medium dark, the body and sweetness deepen enough to work as espresso. Because it keeps that body, it also performs well in an americano or cold brew. Garrett, who usually leans toward Central and South American coffees, said he’d put it up against his favorites from those origins.

Nicaragua Los Ocotes

Garrett’s pick · 95% washed / 5% honey

From Ocotal, in the department of Nueva Segovia, this coffee takes its name from the ocote, a native pine common in the region. Garrett picked it because it offers the familiar comforts of a Central American coffee — spice, cocoa, toasted nuts, good body — while staying exceptionally clean, with a bright acidity and red fruit notes that set it apart from others in the region.

The processing is unusual: 95% of the coffee is washed and goes through a 36-hour anaerobic fermentation before drying, blended with 5% honey-processed coffee with no fermentation. The result is a cup that feels classic at first, then opens up into warm spice and soft red apple with real clarity.

Garrett tasted it at a medium roast, which brought out the body while keeping the fruit and terroir intact, though he noted it performs across roast levels, with spice and toasted nut coming through even light. Zoe’s first thought was holiday blends: the warm, nutmeg-like spice makes it a natural fit. It’s an easy all-day coffee that stays complex as it cools, and an uncommon origin that tends to surprise people.

Colombia La Candelaria

Zoe’s pick · Natural

Colombia is one of Zoe’s favorite origins, and the La Candelaria is her favorite coffee on the menu right now. It comes from Huila and is a naturally processed blend of four varietals from two farms run by a third-generation coffee family. The cherries are pre-dried in the shade to stabilize moisture before finishing in a modern mechanical dryer with controlled temperatures for uniform, consistent results.

The aroma is the first thing everyone notices. Garrett said he can smell it through the glass walls of the lab when Zoe is cupping. Zoe tasted it as a light roast: bright acidity with grape soda, grenadine, and pomegranate. It reminded the team of a Jolly Rancher, sweet and juicy but without being artificial.

What makes it notable is that it still tastes like coffee. Heavily fermented naturals can lose cleanliness or pick up defects; this one has stayed clean and consistent across the batches Zoe has roasted. It also keeps its fruit character at darker roasts, where many naturals flatten out. This is a special-occasion coffee; Zoe suggested it as a pour-over to sit with, or as a special-reserve espresso.

Tanzania Usawa Kahawa AA

Jonathan’s pick · Washed

This washed Tanzania is a women-produced lot, now in its second year on the Marketplace. Tanzanian coffees tend toward bright, lively acidity with a savory quality underneath, and this one balances the two well. The red fruit that some East African coffees carry is more subtle here, framed by floral notes and deeper fruit, with a savory character that stays clean rather than muddy.

In a recent palate session, the team cupped it alongside fresh fruit and kept landing on gooseberry, with a darker elderberry note underneath; a profile that’s genuinely hard to place against any single origin. Jonathan calls it an East African all-star and likes it as an all-day batch brew or house coffee. It’s also very food-friendly; the team agreed it pairs especially well with coffee cake.

All four coffees are available in the green coffee Marketplace now. Marketplace offerings rotate with the harvest, so these won’t be around forever. If one sounds right for your menu, it’s a good time to try it.

Quick reference

• Ethiopia Limmu Kossa: Washed. Honey sweetness, lemon curd, clean cup with more body than most washed Ethiopians. Versatile across roast levels; works from filter to espresso to cold brew.
• Nicaragua Los Ocotes: 95% washed (36-hr anaerobic) / 5% honey. Spice, cocoa, toasted nut, red apple, clean body. A good all-day coffee and a natural holiday-blend component.
• Colombia La Candelaria: Natural, four varietals from Huila. Grape soda, grenadine, pomegranate; keeps its fruit even at darker roasts. A special-occasion coffee for pour-over or espresso.
• Tanzania Usawa Kahawa AA: Washed, women-produced lot. Gooseberry, elderberry, floral, clean savory. An all-day batch brew that pairs well with coffee cake.