How to Roast Ethiopia Sidamo at Home: NCT Filter E Dialed-In Recipe
Data-backed home roast case study for Ethiopia Sidamo ETH04: profiles tried, rest lessons, and the Filter E corridor.
BrewedLate Coffee
Coffee Expert
The short answer: for washed Ethiopia Sidamo (ETH04), the current dialed-in home recipe is NCT Filter E at level 2.2 / 100g — fruity, smooth, ~12% DTR. Earlier NordicLight ~2.8 / 120g was the first clear fruit win after rest; F-WSH 1500-2200 failed hard on this lot.
Ethiopia · Sidamo · Washed · 1,400-2,200 MASL · G2 · John Burton
aroma of caramel, lemon flower and spices. Flavours of madeira cake and black tea with lemongrass undertones. Long lemon black tea finish. Crispy acidity, medium coating body. Score: 82.5+
“nice and fruity, smooth, a little darker, could probably be roasted a tick lighter.”
Winning batch R-094 · 2026-07-14
Cup quality across 13 attempts
Each point is a roast scored from tasting notes (1 = miss, 5 = dialed in). The series stops at the teal halo — once dialed in, later repeats aren’t scored the same way.
Where the good cups live
Roast level vs batch size. Color = profile family; larger dots = better cups. Notice how quality clusters once batch size moves to 100–120g.
Roast mechanics that stuck
DTR, roast loss, and rate-of-rise across attempts with klog data. Each series is scaled on its own axis so shapes are comparable.
What the data taught us
- 1NordicLight ~2.8 / 120g (R-037) first hit “nice and fruity” after rest — early 9min/Raost runs were green or dark-flat.
- 2NCT Filter E around 2.2–2.5 / 100g became the cleaner modern lane (R-069, R-094): fruity, no green, watch for a touch dark.
- 3F-WSH 1500-2200 at 2.3 was awful underdeveloped on this lot — same family that works for Gatugi is not automatic here.
- 4Current fine-tune: Filter E at 2.0 (R-101) after “tick lighter” feedback on R-094.
Want to log a journey like this?
Track profiles, klog metrics, and tasting notes until the cup clicks.
About this Sidamo
Sidamo (Sidama) is one of Ethiopia’s trademarked regions — caramel, lemon flower, madeira cake, black tea, lemongrass, crispy acidity. This JARC-varietal G2 lot was roasted for origin clarity with a light finish just after first crack.
Journey highlights
Early misses: 9minFilter and Raost
First cups were green with dark bitterness, or dark-flat with caramel/chocolate instead of fruit — wrong balance for a bright washed Ethiopian goal.
NordicLight breakthrough
NordicLight ~2.8 / 120g after proper rest became “nice and fruity,” with one batch improving substantially between day 7 and day 17. Rest time was part of the recipe.
NCT Filter E as the modern lane
Filter E @ 2.5 was “nice and fruity, no green — but a little dark.” Filter E @ 2.2 (R-094) kept the fruit and smooth body with a note to go a tick lighter — which became 2.0 on R-101.
The F-WSH trap
F-WSH 1500-2200 at 2.3 — the family that later won Kenya Gatugi — was “awful, underdeveloped, no sweetness no fruit” here. Copy-paste profiles across origins fail.
Dialed-in recipe
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Profile | NCT Filter E |
| Level | 2.2 (fine-tune 2.0 if dark) |
| Batch | 100g |
| DTR | ~12% |
| Loss | ~13.9% |
| Rest | 7–10+ days |
Full charts and attempt history: Sidamo case study →
Related reading
- How to roast Ethiopia Yirgacheffe
- How to roast Kenya Gatugi peaberry
- Kaffelogic Nano 7 profiles
- Sidamo coffee guide
- Data page: /roast-logs/ethiopia-sidamo-eth04
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How to roast Ethiopia Sidamo on a Kaffelogic Nano
Dialed-in recipe from a 13-roast log for washed Sidamo ETH04
Load 100g green
NCT reference load for stable heat transfer.
Select NCT Filter E at level 2.2
Or start 2.0 if prior cups tasted a touch dark on the bloom.
Target ~12% DTR
Match the winning corridor when ambient allows; prioritize cup over chasing a number.
Rest 7–10 days
Re-evaluate after full rest before changing family.
Taste for madeira cake, black tea, lemon
Fruity and clean — not grassy, not dark-flat.
Frequently Asked Questions
What profile works best for washed Ethiopia Sidamo on a Kaffelogic?
Can I use F-WSH 1500-2200 for Sidamo like for Kenya?
What DTR should I target for Sidamo filter roast?
How long should Sidamo rest after roasting?
Is NordicLight or NCT Filter E better for Sidamo?
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