Two Roasts Three Brews – Java Sunda Gunung Patuha 

In QC-ing a few of the Shrub coffees this week, this 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... stood out as cuppingCupping is a method of tasting coffee by steeping grounds in separate cups for discrete amounts of ground coffee, to reveal good flavors and defects to their fullest.... especially fresh and sweet. I figured that now is as good a time as any to write a short feature of sorts — roast the coffee to a couple different roast levels, brew it a few different ways, jot down some notes, and share. Actually, that’s how we write most of our reviews, judging a coffees potential across a small range of roast levels. But it’s been a few months since we wrote the original review (end of January), and while we do our best to taste the coffees we sell throughout their proverbial ‘lives’ in our warehouse, we don’t normally follow up with you all about these results. So in the spirit of transparencyTransparency is a flavor characterization synonymous with clarity. It is also a business ethics term, implying that as much information as possible about a product is made available..., here is an updated look at Java Sunda – Gunung Patuha.

Both roasts were handled in a sample roaster, and so roast times and temperature settings aren’t transferable to production roasting. That said, we learn a lot about a coffee’s cup potential with our sample roasts, and are able to get a general sense of what type of roasting is complimentary. For this coffee, I roasted 90 gram batches, reaching first snaps at almost exactly seven minutes. The first roast was pulled two minutes after the start of first crackAn audible popping sound heard during roasting. In coffee, one refers to "first crack" and "second crack," which come from two different classes of chemical reactions.: An audible... with just a few latent snaps in the tray – a solid 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... level. The second roast was taken to 10:00, a full minute longer than our City roast. It’s nowhere near 2nd snaps, and judging from color and taste, I’d call it just north of Full City.

City Roast:

Smelling the ground coffee, the 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... is like brown bread baked with molasses – not overt ‘sugary’ sweet, but like baked goods – and a fair amount of ground cinnamon too. It has an aromaAroma refers to sensations perceived by the olfactory bulb and conveyed to the brain; whether through the nose or "retro-nasally": The aromatics of a coffee greatly influence its... like steeping tea, and smells surprisingly fresh and clean. The cup is sweet up front, ‘clear’ like simple syrup, with brisk tea-likeA term used to describe coffees with light, tannic, slighly astringent mouthfeel and tea aromatics. We find it in some Rwandan flavor profiles, among others. 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.... It’s a simple, balanced coffee at this roast level. But personally, I find the sweetness just slightly lacking in comparison to the roast nearing Full City, though it’s a brighter cup.

Full City:

 This roast level sees much more developed sweetness, a pungentRefers to an aggressive, intense aroma or flavor, often related to spices (pepper) or roast tastes. Pungent foods are often called "spicy", meaning a sharp or biting character,..., caramelizing bittersweetness of sugar burning in a pan. That’s the theme of this coffee at Full City, where bittering roast tones and molasses sugar sweetness strike a near-perfect balanceSuggests a harmony and proportion of qualities, and implies mildness since no one quality dominates.: Balance is both an obvious and slippery taste term. It implies a harmony.... The cup is loaded with baking spices and chewy chocolate flavors (like Tootsie Roll) as it cools down a bit, and 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... has a flavor of Mexican spiced hot chocolateA general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of chocolate. But what type? Usually described with more specifics.: Chocolate is a broad, general flavor or aroma term reminiscent of.... There’s a subtle plum note too, but this plays much more of a background role to 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" sugar and chocolate flavors.

All Brewed Up:

I brewed a pot of the FC roast in our mini Trifecta too, and the cup has juicy 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... and texture, with even more balance than found in the cupping spoonA cupping spoon is specifically designed for the tasting procedure of the same name, cupping. It is similar to some bouillon spoons or gumbo spoons, and features (usually).... We see this a lot, coffees showing one way on our cupping table can be surprisingly different when brewed. Cupping is an efficient way of evaluating several coffees at one time, but not always the best representation of the brewed experience customers have!

Shot in the Dark:

Well, not that dark, but Full City roasts of this coffee is a great starting point for espressoA small coffee beverage, about 20 ml, prepared on an espresso machine where pressurized hot water extracted through compressed coffee.: In its most stripped-down, basic form, this is... shots. RistrettoA smaller version of espresso where extraction is restricted is called a Ristretto. While espresso averages 20 ml, a ristretto is 15 ml. shots produce superb viscosity, a 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... somewhere in between thick hot cocoa and chocolate syrup itself. There’s quite a bit of sweetness, and like the cup, it’s counteracted by heavy, bittersweetBittersweet is from the language of chocolate, and describes the co-presence of positive bittering compounds balanced by sweetness. It is directly related to caramelization, but has inputs from... cocoa notes. Great on it’s own, and I imagine will work well as a blend component (would fit in place of a chocolatey Central American coffeeCentral American coffee is known for its "classic," balanced profile.: Central American coffee is known for its "classic," balanced profile. Centrals are primarily wet-processed since the climate is...).

All in all, this coffee has fared these past three months in our warehouse quite well. Looking back on our original review, it scored 86.8 points, which still holds true today. This is largely due to the wonderful job of preparationPreparation refers to the dry-milling steps of preparing coffee for export: hulling, grading, classifying, sorting.: Preparation refers to the dry-milling steps of preparing coffee for export: hulling, grading,... by the group in west Java who we buy these “Sunda” coffees from. And though I did find two quakersA quaker is an industry term to describe under-ripe, undeveloped coffee seeds that fail to roast properly.: A quaker is an industry term to describe under-ripe, undeveloped coffee... in 180 grams of roasted coffee, the cleanliness found in the cup can be attributed to attention given to cherry sortingCoffee is sorted by size, density, and color in its preparation for export.: Sorting refers to several steps performed in the preparation of coffee for export. Coffee is..., wet processingThe removal of the cherry and parchment from the coffee seed.: Coffee is either wet-processed (also called washed or wet-milled) or dry-processed (also called wild, natural or natural..., and the final dry milling stage. This is one of two Javas on Shrub right now, and when they’re gone, we won’t have more until the end of the year.