Flavor Profile: Lush, syrupy body dripping with rich golden dark roast tones (known in some circles as “King of the Dark Roasts”) with surprising clarity and deep sweetness. Notes of dates, pine, semi-sweet chocolate, grape leaves, citrus and nut reveal as the cup cools.
This coffee comes from the highest altitude family-run farms within two cooperatives—Ketiera and Koperasi Kopi Gayo Organic (KKGO)—located in the Takengon highlands of the northern Ache province on the island of Sumatra. In effect it is double select coffee: we are selecting the coffees we like from select high-altitude lots produced by the two cooperatives, both of whom are committed to improving cup quality and living conditions in their region.
To insure quality a neat twist has been added to the traditional Sumatran wet-hull method. Instead of removing the parchment layer surrounding the coffee beans when the beans’ moisture content measures the usual 30-40 percent, they wait until the moisture content registers closer to 20 percent before hulling, they then finish sun- drying the exposed beans on raised screens or patios. While wet-hulling is largely responsible for the signature Sumatra heavy body / low acidity profile, the result of the more carefully protected drying is a cleaner, slightly brighter cup with less hard earth tones found in many traditional wet-hulled lots. This is all in contrast to the wet or washed processing method practiced in most of the rest of the world, where the beans are fully dried, then rested in parchment, which is not hulled until the initial stages of dry milling and export preparation.
