It’s always fun to taste the same coffee from different roasters to see how differently they approach the exact same product. Often the differences from one roast to the next are astounding, and taking part in this little case study can be quite illuminating in terms of what sort of roasting style you like and even what sort of flavors you prefer. Four roasters across Oceania and the UK are taking this to the extreme, simultaneously releasing the same extremely rare coffee processed three ways. It’s Wush Wush 12 ways; that’s 24 Wushes.
The four like-minded roasters—Proud Mary and Grace and Taylor in Australia, Flight Coffee in New Zealand, and Assembly Coffee in England—have come together to concurrently put out their takes on the same coffee. That coffee is the incredibly rare Wush Wush varietal, grown by the Maca family at El Zafiro in Cauca, Colombia. Originally from Ethiopia, the Wush Wush is a low-yield coffee plant, which is one of the reasons for its relative obscurity.
Each roaster will release a box set containing 100g of each of the three processing methods: washed, natural, and honeyed. Only a total of 500 box sets will be made. Total. A quick math check puts the number of box sets per roaster at 125.
The box sets are in various stages of availability; Proud Mary and Flight’s versions were released this week, with Grace and Taylor and Assembly releasing theirs on April 3rd and 5th, respectively. The price for a set is $45 AUD (£25 and $45 NZD, which are roughly equivalent depending on the Australian dollar to pound to new Zealand dollar exchange rates). The Wush Wush box sets are available via each roaster’s website (here, here, here, aaaaaand here).
It’s a pretty unique opportunity to try a rare coffee altered along a variety of axes for anyone lucky enough to get their hands on more than one box set. All I’m saying is, it’s only $150 USD to get all four, and I’ve spent that same amount of money is worse ways. It’s just a little over $6 a Wush.
Zac Cadwalader is the news editor at Sprudge Media Network.