Ethiopian natural vs Kenyan for pour-over: which to buy

Buy No. 2 Good Sense if you want a sweet, fruity cup that tastes of milk chocolate and caramel. Buy No. 4 Conjuncture if you want the loudest, brightest cup, with orange, lemon and floral notes. Both are $28 for 12 oz, ship free in the US, and come whole bean or ground, so you are choosing by taste only.

How do they compare on the label?

Everything in this table is printed on our bags or the roaster's product notes. Where the roaster does not state a roast level for a coffee, we do not state one either.

The biggest difference is process. A natural coffee is dried with the fruit still on the seed, which is why naturals lean toward fruit and sweetness. A washed coffee has the fruit removed before drying, which is why washed coffees usually taste cleaner and more acidic. That is common public knowledge, and it matches the two sets of notes above.

Which one is better for pour-over?

Both do well, which is why this is a taste question and not a quality question. Pour-over is a good test because it shows what each coffee does when nothing covers it. A paper filter gives you a clean cup, so the difference between a natural and a washed process is easy to taste.

• Good Sense is the easy one. It is sweet and forgiving, and a small mistake in grind or timing still gives you a pleasant cup.
• Conjuncture is the sharper one. The roaster says Kenya is acidic on purpose, so it rewards a careful brew and shows every mistake. If it tastes sour rather than bright, grind finer.

Both coffees can also be brewed with milk, but the roaster says to drink Good Sense black, and Conjuncture is meant to be tasted by itself too. If this is your first pour-over, start with Good Sense and read pour-over for beginners for gear and the first three brews. If you already brew most mornings and want something with edges, take Conjuncture.

How do you brew each one?

Use the roaster's recipe for each, and compare the cups side by side.

No. 2 Good Sense: 60 g per litre, water at 94 °C (201 °F), and a 40-second bloom. For one 250 g cup that is 15 g of coffee. Drink it black. The roaster notes that a natural Ethiopia goes to fruit and milk buries it.

No. 4 Conjuncture: the same 60 g per litre and 94 °C, with the grind a touch coarser than usual. If the cup tastes sour rather than bright, go finer. Our No. 4 Conjuncture brewing guide has three ways to make it, and the pour-over ratio cheat sheet has the grams for every cup size.

A good way to choose is to buy one bag of each and brew them back to back in the same dripper. Taste Good Sense first, since the brighter cup can flatten the sweeter one if you go in the other order.

Which should you buy?

You can read about each bean before ordering: our Sidama bag and our Nyeri bag each have their own page. The short answer is below.

Choose Good Sense for fruit and chocolate with a gentle finish, a cup that works for almost anyone. Choose Conjuncture for a bright cup that tastes like citrus and flowers, for someone who likes tea or sparkling water more than milk.

If you cannot decide, the subscription is 11% off, with skip or cancel in one click, and you can switch bags between orders. See all ten coffees for the rest. Another comparison with the same method is Tanzanian vs Kenyan for iced coffee.

Brew them side by side once, and you will know your answer by the second sip.