Sabri · 15 June 2026 · Not Another Boring Roastery
Playful Packaging: Ethiopia Sasaba from Czechia
A washed Ethiopia Guji out of NABR's playfully packaged lineup, straight from Prague. A cheerful nose that calls to mind jasmine and peach iced tea; a balanced cup that takes a bit of coaxing to open up but turns mouthwatering with the right adjustments.
- Roaster Not Another Boring Roastery
- Origin Ethiopia · Guji
- Process Washed
- Altitude 2,000–2,150 m
- Grind Comandante 18 clicks
- Ratio 1:16.6
- Time 2:45 - 3:00
- Water Temp 96°C
- Bloom 30 seconds
- Pour 3 stages (50/75/75)
The name behind this cup comes from Prague: NABR — Not Another Boring Roastery. I smiled the first time I heard it, because there’s a genuine attitude behind it. They were founded in early 2024 as an offshoot of the Dudes&Barbies collective, a crew that’s clocked more than a decade in the city’s food scene — so this isn’t a team that stumbled into coffee on a whim, but one that was already deep in the trade.
They live up to the claim in their name, too: instead of letting coffee settle into a dull routine, they want to do it their own way, with passion and honesty. They keep most of their production under their own roof and can trace every bean back to its origin. Since transparency and terroir are exactly the things I care most about on this page, being a guest in a cup from a roastery like this is its own kind of pleasure.
Brew Recipe & Equipment
This isn’t a coffee that rewards you on every brew — it took some work, but it was worth it.
Since it turned out to be a far lighter-roasted washed Ethiopia than I expected, I dialed the grind finer and bumped up the temperature. For my Orea V4 dripper, which I normally run with the open base, I switched to the classic base instead.
On the Nose (Aroma)
On the nose there’s a fruity scent reminiscent of peach iced tea. The lemongrass and jasmine underneath are what make this coffee worth writing up here. Hot or cold, it doesn’t matter — the aroma carries on in this same vein.
On the Palate
On the palate the coffee has a mouthwatering structure. Because it’s a tough one to coax open, the astringency in those first brews gets resolved with the higher temperature and finer grind. As the tannins fade, the coffee’s cheerfulness comes back into place, and the adjustments don’t push it toward bitterness. The one thing I don’t love about this coffee is that the acidity is a bit lackluster. The body holds up well, which is why it still gives enjoyable results even at 12/200. Sasaba isn’t an especially complex or balanced coffee, but its cheerful nose is enough to win me over.
Final Word
NABR will stay in my mind as a roaster who does light roasts well, and I hope my future orders land on more of their coffees worth writing about.