Blind Assessment

Complexly structured; tart, sweet-savory, balanced. Mango, cedar, molasses, fresh pipe tobacco, grapefruit zest in aroma and cup. Gently crisp acidity; plush, syrupy mouthfeel. Tobacco, cedar and the mango-like fruit carry into a quiet finish.

Notes

This exceptional coffee was selected as the No. 18 coffee on Coffee Review’s list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2017. An unusual coffee in several respects. Coffees like this one from the northern part of the Indonesian island of Sumatra are valued for their complex earth and fruit notes that appear to result largely from unorthodox fruit removal and drying practices called “wet hulling.” This is a particularly refined example of the type. In addition, this coffee was subjected to a deliberate aging process by being held for three years in a specialized warehouse in Singapore. This sample consists entirely of peaberries, a kind of bean that results when the coffee fruit develops only a single, oval bean rather than the usual pair of flat-sided beans. Peaberries produce a somewhat different (often better) cup than normal beans from the same crop, from which they may or may not be separated during grading. This coffee tied for the highest rating in a cupping of aged, casked and specially cured coffees for Coffee Review‘s May 2017 tasting report. Founded in 1995, Equator Coffees & Teas is a women-owned wholesale coffee roasting company that focuses on sustainability in coffee-sourcing and business practices. Visit www.equatorcoffees.com or call 800-809-7687 for more information.

Bottom Line

The great wet-hulled Sumatra profile takes on a particularly graceful resonance in this traditionally aged version.

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