Sumatra — Tano Batak Lintong ($7.15/lb)

This green coffee is from the Lintong area of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, just southeast of lake Toba (Danau Toba), which is a huge lake toward the north end of Sumatra. This deep lake boasts a depth of more than 500m, formed as the result of a massive collapse/depression from a supervolcano. This area, sitting on a high plateau, has some of the highest growing altitudes in north Sumatra.

This special lot of coffee is hand curated by a group of six collectors that seek out and purchase green coffee beans directly from small farmers and in weekly village markets. These collectors then "wet hull" the coffee at 28-32% moisture.

This traditional post-harvest processing of green coffee beans in Sumatra is called Giling Basah. Instead of the typical drying of coffee to 10-12% moisture in the parchment before milling, this process removes the coffee bean from its external layer at a much higher moisture content — hence, hulled while still "wet." This process has a dramatic effect on flavor profile and gives the beans their signature dark, blue-green - almost emerald - color.

Once hulled, these beans are dried in greenhouses until they reach their 11-12% moisture content. From there, they are sent to our import partner in the port town of, Medan, where they are hand sorted. While this coffee here is denoted as "Tano Batak Lintong," a handful of micro-lots assembled by each collector all bear this name. As such, we do the final selecting from these micro-lots and are jazzed about this one here that stood out to us among a lineup of standouts.

Like the rest of the top-shelf lineup we evaluated, this coffee has a cleaner mouthfeel and brighter acidity than other Sumatra offerings. But the complex fruit and acidity of this selection really seemed to jump out of the cup. A vibrant and tart pineapple flavor are immediately present, but then the whole experience softens into richer tones of scented tobacco and earthiness. The coffee lingers and lingers on the tongue — clean and syrupy. We tasted this over the course of three days after roasting and seemed to enjoy something special and different each day.