(05/30/13)
The Coffee: SulawesiSulawesi coffees are low-acid with great body and that deep, brooding cup profile akin to Sumatra. The coffee is sometimes known as Celebes, which was the Dutch colonial... AA Tana Toraja
The Roasts: City, Full City, and stretched drying City+City+ roast is an ideal roast level that occurs roughly between 425 and 435 degrees Fahrenheit in many coffee roasters with a responsive bean probe where First Crack...
This offering from Sulawesi is unique in that it’s not been processed in the traditional wet-hulled method common for coffees here where the coffee parchment is removed at the same time as the fruit and mucilage of the coffee, and the exposed coffee seed is allowed to dry on tarps in the ground. The wet-hulled process leads to a very distinct vegetal, mulchy, earthyEarthy is a flavor term with some ambivalence, used positively in some cases, negatively in others.: Sumatra coffees can have a positive earthy flavor, sometimes described as "wet... flavor, and the point could be made that in tasting these coffees you are tasting the process more than the coffee itself, just like in dry processed coffees. The dilemma is that when similar varieties have been processed without the wet-hulling method, the coffees lacked much of any character and so were fairly boring.
There have been a few really nice, clean Sulawesi coffees that have appeared in the last couple of years, and these coffees have shown the potential that lying underneath the processing flavors were some really sweet and lovely coffees. This coffee from Tana Toraja has been processed in an almost pulped-natural/honeystyle, with the removal of the fruit and most of the mucilageMucilage indicates the fruity layer of the coffee cherry, between the outer skin and the parchment layer that surrounds the seed. It readily clings to the inner parchment... but with some remaining on the parchmentGreen coffee still in its outer shell, before dry-milling, is called Parchment coffee (pergamino). In the wet process, coffee is peeled, fermented, washed and then ready for drying..., and then dried to a fairly low moisture in the parchment.
While this definitely results in a much cleaner, clearer cup, there is still some familiar Sulawesi character, specifically in the weighted mouthfeelHow a coffee feels in the mouth or its apparent texture, a tactile sensation : A major component in the flavor profile of a coffee, it is a..., but also with a bit of sweet herbaceous notes in the lightest roasts.
City – This roast was very pointed at front of the palate with lemony citric acidityAcidity is a positive flavor attribute in coffee, also referred to as brightness or liveliness. It adds a brilliance to the cup, whereas low acid coffees can seem.... In the warm cup, the bodyAssociated with and sensed by mouthfeel, body is sense of weight and thickness of the brew, caused by the percentage of soluble solids in the cup, including all... is custardy, complimenting the lemonLemon notes, as well as other related citrusy flavors or acidities, are prized in coffee. These usually express themselves as a bright accent in the cup, or aromatic... nicely with plenty of vanillaVanilla notes in coffee are often related to caramelization notes, as butter and vanilla can be found in flavors and aromatics of roast reactions from reducing of sugars. wafer cookie in the finishSimilar to aftertaste, but it refers to the impression as the coffee leaves the palate. Aftertaste is the sensations gathered after the coffee has left the mouth. We.... Sugary sweet through out. There’s a thread of basil-like herbaceousness in the cup, but only as an accent, though it does come out a bit more as it the coffee cools. It really tastes like a complex dessert built from some really simple and clean elements, more cake and cake frosting in the cool cup, with that lemony thread woven throughout. It should be noted that this coffee performed best a couple days out of the roaster, and brewed a superb Hario V60 cup that was full on lemon cake.
Full City – This had a lot of roast character in the front of the warm cup that was a little rough, but the finish was quite sweet. Much more cocoa and also much more of the herbalA flavor descriptor in coffee reminiscent of herbs, usually meaning aromatic, savory, leafy dried herbs. Usually, more specific descriptions are given, whether is is a floral herb, or... notes with a more potent basil accent throughout the cup. This cup was the most like the familiar Sulawesi cup, but the finish did have some really lovely honeyIn coffee, honey-like sweetness is often found, but we use terms such as refined honey (highly filtered and processed) as opposed to raw honey rustic honey sweetness. This... and cocoa sweetnessSweetness is an important positive quality in fine coffees, and is one of five basic tastes: Sour, Sweet, Salty, Bitter, Savory (Umami). In coffee, sweetness is a highly....
stretched drying City+ – Thinking of how the JavaThere are several types of Abyssinia variety coffee, but they are not from Ethiopia but rather Indonesia. Abyssinia 3 = AB3. PJS Cramer, a Dutch plant researcher, introduced this variety... Mayang behaves in the roaster as well as approaching this coffee how I would a wet-hulled version of it, I thought it would be wise to try a profile with a stretched drying time to try to really push the sweetness as well as to try to take some of the citric edge off of the acidity without moving into any of the more roasty characteristics of the Full City version. The results were spot on! The stretching is really a function of both expressing the sweetness as well as best developing the weighted mouthfeel in this coffee. And boy howdy was this roast so super juicy and creamyCreamy is a mouthfeel description indicating thickness and soft, rounded texture. See also buttery., and yet still very well-structures, not at all a sloppy coffee. The brightnessA euphemistic term we use often to describe acidity in coffee. A bright coffee has more high, acidic notes. : A euphemistic term to describe acidity in coffee.... was also much more integrated into the whole cup, showing more of a melon-like soft brightness that even had some Guatemala-like black cherryEither a flavor in the coffee, or referring to the fruit of the coffee tree, which somewhat resembles a red cherry.: Either a flavor in the coffee, or... notes in the cool cup through to the finish. There is also some well balanced sweet spice to the cup as well that doesn’t show as much in the lightest roasts but perfectly accents this cup with some clove and cinnamon. This is a very complete cup of coffee, while the City roastCity roast is what we define as the earliest palatable stage that the roast process can be stopped and result in good quality coffee. City roast occurs roughly... tasted complexThe co-presence of many aroma and flavor attributes, with multiple layers. A general impression of a coffee, similar to judgments such as "balanced" or "structured" but made up of simpler elements, this cup had much more depth in the middle and the spice and melon and black cherry made this cup seem much more textured.
