A classic Sumatran Mandheling coffee. Dark chocolate, along with the deep and rich complexity you would expect in a Sumatra Manhandling, and a thick, creamy body.
Here’s a bit of speciality coffee history trivia for you, if it wasn’t for a serendipitous encounter with Sumatra Mandheling, there may not actually be such a thing right now as speciality coffee!
The godmother of speciality coffee, Erna Knutson, bumped into the son of a coffee importer who had a sample of this very special coffee bean that was intended for another trader, she convinced him to come in and cup it, and that lead to her practically singlehandedly forging what became speciality coffee.
This is a fantastic example of a high quality Sumatra Mandheling, from the Permata Gayo cooperative in the Gayo Highlands region of central Aceh in Sumatra, where over two thousand smallholders work together to produce this incredible coffee which is grown at an altitude of 1200-1600m.
How it Tastes
If you’re looking for a particularly deep and bold coffee with a real punch, smokiness & dark chocolate notes and a deliciously creamy body, then this is for you!
This isn’t for the faint of heart, it’s not one that I’d expect pourover enthusiasts to go for, but if you like a bold pot of filter coffee, cafetiere, stove top or espresso, and you like dark chocolate and smoky notes, you might just love this.
One of the reasons Indonesian coffee has such a characteristic flavour, is the unique ‘Galling-Basah’ processing method, in which the beans are dried to three different humidity levels as they make their way down the mountain. If you’ve not tried a Sumatran before, this would be a great one to start with.
The Permata Gayo cooperative
