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Sumatra-Dry-Process Gunung Tujuh

Sumatra Dry Process Gunung Tujuh

$11.00 – $16.00

Palm and date sugar, herbaceous aroma, dried basil, tarragon, fruited accents of fig bar and dried prune, along with a root-y note of sarsaparilla that points to some of the earth tones. City+ to Full City+.

SKU: FRD-020 Category: Tags: , , ,

  • Process MethodDry Process
  • CultivarHeirloom Types
  • Farm GateYes
Region Gunung Tujuh and Kayu Aro, Mount Kerinci
Processing Dry Process
Drying Method Raised Bed Sun-Dried
Arrival date October 2019 Arrival
Lot size 20
Bag size 60 KG
Packaging GrainPro Liner
Farm Gate Yes
Cultivar Detail Ateng, Jember, Tim Tim
Grade Grade 1
Appearance 1+ d/300gr, 15-17 screen – expect some broca damage, split beans, quakers…typical of Sumatran coffee
Roast Recommendations City+ to Full City+
Type Farm Gate

 

This is a dry processed lot, so different than the typical giling basah method and starts with the coffee cherry being thrown straight to the drying beds, fully intact. Because the fruit is still on the seed, the drying time is exponentially longer than when the fruit is removed prior to drying, sometimes taking up to 3 weeks time. During this period, there is a slight fermentation that occurs inside the cherry, and the coffee is turned regularly to keep the coffee drying evenly and avoiding mold. The process no doubt influences cup flavors, as you’ll likely taste with this coffee, and you can expect fruit flavor notes, mild acidity and big body as a result. This coffee comes from Gunung Tujuh and Kayu Aro areas, two higher elevation areas around Mount Kerinci. There’s a cooperative that serves this growing area, and who produce wet hulled, honey/wet hulled (a hybrid process coming later), and fully washed coffees. The farms in this area are planted in older Typica types, and benefit from the high slopes, situated between 1400 – 1500 meters above sea level. Right now we have four different process types from this cooperative, a unique opportunity to try them all side by side and taste the role processing plays on cup flavors: Check out the wet-process, honey-process and giling basah lots from this cooperative. This lot was a later 2019 arrival, but the cupping notes in this review are based off a November 2020 cup test. The coffee has held up extremely well and still scores above 87 points!

What an interesting and unique Sumatra cup, the process method bringing out dried, sticky fruit flavors amidst the more typical herbal and earth-toned Sumatran coffee characteristics. The dry fragrance and aroma have a sweetness of palm and date sugars, both showing a molasses-like smell with rustic pungency, and also present hints of dried date. I pick up on an herbal flavor note in middle and dark roasts that reminds me of dried basil, a hint of tarragon too. An herbaceous aroma lines this complex coffee, and accents fruited flavors like fig bar filling, and dried prune, along with a root-y note of sarsaparilla that points to some of the earth tones also present. An intense brew with body to match and my preferred roasts were in the realm of City+ to Full City and I imagine Full City+ will capture quite a bit more of the bittersweet side this coffee is capable of producing.

Origin Information

Grower: Niguse Gemeda
Variety: Indigenous Landraces & Selections
Region: Keramo Village, Bensa District, Sidama Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR), Ethiopia
Harvest: December 2019
Altitude: 2100 masl
Soil: Vertisol
Process: “Natural” dried in the fruit on raised beds in the sun
Certifications
 

Background Details

The climb from the southern end of the Great Rift Valley, through Shashamene and past Awasa is gradual, and coffee trees slowly increase in frequency, large, lanky, and dusty by the roadside, many so tall they lean on the roofs of houses for support. Coffees here are generally earlier than in the far south, delicate, and citric. Sidama has one of the most robust cooperative unions in the country with 53 member cooperatives, as well as a thriving industry of independent washing stations. It also has a growing industry of estate producers with brand new market connections, whose coffee is starting to get some serious recognition. Niguse Gemeda is one such farmer. Niguse’s farm is in the Keramo community, part of Sidama’s Bensa district, just inside the zone’s eastern border with the Harenna Forest National Park. This part of Sidama contains some of the zone’s highest farming elevations and coolest daily temperatures. The farm itself is 2 hectares, only slightly larger than the average among smallholders in the region. But the quality potential was so apparently high that Faysel Yonis, founder of Testi Coffee and the innovative Testi Ayla coffee washing station, decided to pre-finance Niguse’s crop. This is the first harvest commissioned as a microlot by Faysel, the first microlot produced by Niguse, and the first exclusive purchase by Royal Coffee. Pre-financing a coffee crop, perhaps especially on a single smallholder level, is a sensitive undertaking. Niguse employs 30 people to complete a harvest, and with an elevation of 2100 meters, harvest is later and slower than many other farmers in Sidama. The two coffee professionals collaborated in processing, which was completed at Testi Ayla washing station, to which Niguse is a regular supplier. Drying demanded additional sorting and care to be sure only the best cherry was represented and dried as meticulously as possible. The results are exemplary: one of our highest-scoring natural Ethiopias this year (which is saying a lot), Niguse’s microlot is incredibly juicy, strawberry-sweet, and intense in the cup. Testi Ayla processes equal volumes of both fully washed and top-grade natural coffees, which are very rare in Sidama. And, especially in this case, Faysel has had success with micro-processing select volumes, drawing from some of the best fermentation knowledge in the coffee world today, and making the most of close farmer connections. One clear advantage to being a private processing team like Testi Ayla is the ability to identify potential in your suppliers and make space for them to really shine. It’s no small investment. The expense of isolating multiple nanolots of green coffee through overland transport, dry milling, sampling, contracting, vacuum-packing, and shipment, requires constant attention and extra hands, especially in Ethiopia where this kind of small-scale exporting is almost never done. Royal’s investment in promoting these coffees is a shared mission with Testi Ayla—that historic coffees are worth it.

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