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Crescendo Coffee Roasters

Sumatra Black Panther

Blind Assessment: Crisply and deeply sweet. Mango, blood orange, fermented tobacco, baker’s chocolate, sweet lilac in aroma and cup. Round, balanced acidity; full, syrupy mouthfeel. The rich, resonant finish is saturated by tobacco and mango notes.

Notes: This exceptional coffee was selected as the No. 19 coffee on Coffee Review’s list of the Top 30 Coffees of 2016. Produced by small-holding farmers of the Catimor, Typica and Tim-Tim varieties of Arabica. Coffees 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. This coffee tied for the top rating in a cupping of Sumatra coffees for Coffee Review‘s July 2016 tasting report. Founded by a bassoonist in 2015, Crescendo Coffee is an online shop that offers consumers a variety of coffee beans freshly roasted with the Easyster, a Korean-made roaster. Crescendo donates a portion of its profits to developing clean drinking water in coffee-growing regions of Africa. For more information, visit www.crescendocoffee.co.kr.

The Bottom Line: Earthy tobacco, pungent fruit, sweetly heady flowers, an impressive example of the finest wet-hulled Sumatra profile.