mycuppa July 2015 Newsletter

Sumatra Blue Batak 

There are a couple of spectacular coffee origins that we had deliberately held back from featuring in our monthly article.

 

The reasons are simple - relative scarcity (difficulty) in sourcing those raw coffees at decent volumes.

 

We have seen tremendous uptake from the coffees featured in our monthly newsletters.

 

It's therefore reasonable then to expect that we hold enough raw to cover higher ordering volumes during the weeks following the article's release.

 

Just like the Monsoon Malabar, Sumatran coffees are unique in the world of coffee.

 

They are unlike all other coffees because of the method used to process the picked/harvested cherries and the varietals grown in the region.

 

It's a process only performed in the Indonesian (Sumatran) farms - wet hulling.

 

If you imagine a tub, some water and a baseball bat to pulp the coffee and then allow it to ferment overnight, there you have it.

 

Sumatran coffees evoke a mysterious and romantic notion.

 

They are complex in ways no other origin can match - spice, fruit, flavour, deep body, aromatics and decadent richness - Sumatrans are surely the equivalent of Willy Wonka's Never Ending Gobstopper.

 

The coffee is processed in 3 steps and heavily fermented, resulting in a dense, heavy bean with an intense, unpleasant aroma reminiscent of a forest floor.

 

The physical appearance of Sumatran coffee in the raw green state is off-putting, mottled and inconsistent, with lots of chaff and skins.

 

Sumatran coffees have the highest moisture content of any coffee bean and, therefore, require significantly more energy to roast.

 

Once roasted, Sumatran coffees don't smell sweet or traditional but instead emit an earthy aroma.

 

Grind and brew or extract Sumatran coffees when the magic transformation occurs - from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

 

Throw some Sumatran beans into your espresso grinder, and be prepared for a revolution.

 

They require a much finer grind, and once you nail the espresso shot, there is nothing that can match a great Sumatran - tons of low acid, thick, syrupy body, complex spice, lemony fruit and a long, long, buttery finish.

 

Milk-based espresso gives off nice chocolate notes, but it's the wonderful silky-smooth buttery body that is exquisitely balanced.

 

Another interesting fact about Sumatran coffees is that once roasted, they need a lot of rest before they peak - sometimes ten days, sometimes longer.

 

Trying to drink a wet-hulled Sumatran coffee just a few days off the roaster can result in a cup that is not "clean" - the bean is still developing.

 

There will be a distinct lack of sweetness and flavour until it has set.

 

At that point, there will be a major "turn" in the coffee, and you would swear the coffee you had yesterday was different to the coffee you had today.

 

Sumatran coffees deliver a punch of flavour and finish that is difficult to match from other origins.

 

Up until three years ago, I used tons and tons of Sumatrans in all my blends to add body, length and balance.

 

These were what I regard as the "golden age" of our espresso coffee journey, as it was then possible to source clean Sumatrans at a reasonable price.

 

Unfortunately, over the last few years, the price of Sumatran coffee has skyrocketed, and supply has shrunk considerably.

 

This is mainly due to excessive rainfall during growing seasons, resulting in lower crop yields and crop damage during fermentation or drying stages.

 

Another factor affecting the price of Sumatran coffee has been the increasing demand from around the world.

 

Whereas once the US and Europeans were only small buyers of Sumatran coffees, now they compete for the best lots, and this pressure pushes up the pricing.

 

It's common for large US coffee companies such as Starbucks and Green Mountain to buy entire farms and plantations to lock in their supply chain for future seasons.

 

In terms of the different offerings that fill the market, you tend to see Mandheling and Lintongs as the most common products - these are typically Grade 1 in our need as the Australian coffee drinker has high standards and won't accept a taint coffee such as a grade 2 or lower.

 

Many higher-grade Sumatrans are double or triple-sorted (picked).

 

The sorting process performed at the origin is the most critical contributor to quality, as there can be a lot of really bad Sumatran coffee that has fermented taints mixed in with the good stuff.

 

We buy quality from the Volcafe Blue Batak and Lake Tawar along with our FAIRTRADE Organic offering from Bennets called Gayo Supreme.

 

In between, we also grabbed quite a few lots of the various Wahana Estate coffees - some of these natural Sumatrans were remarkably nice, but alas, they are not easily available.

 

Two seasons ago, we jumped from the eponymous and rather famous Sumatra Kuda Mas used in our blends to the highly regarded Lumika before discovering the amazing Blue Batak.

 

In Sumatra Blue Batak, we found a superb, intense and satisfying coffee - clean, buttery, rich and complex - everything a great Sumatran should be.

 

It's a Lintong from the Bayan Farmer Group grown 1,400m above sea level.

 

Grab yourself something very special.

 

These beans have since sold out, but we have other great Sumatran Coffee Beans for sale here.

                         

New Roasting Platform

It's been a tough four-month slog at the new Centre Way facility.

 

Last week, we finally commissioned the new roasting plant - a journey we started in September 2014.

 

We are yet to migrate across our current operational roasting plants.

 

This new roasting platform is highly customized and unique among the roasting operations installed in Australia.

 

With more than 1,000 brands of coffee being sold in Australia, it was critically important to develop a unique flavour stamp to differentiate our offering.

 

The easy choice would have been to go with one of the popular or common roasting platforms, but inevitably, we would end up with coffee like everyone else.

 

Instead, we have gone down a path that will enable us to develop and leverage more from the humble coffee bean than our competitors.

 

Many years ago, we installed a roasting platform that ensured a clean, reliable cup - free of bitterness and harshness.

 

This platform relies upon hot air, and we developed our reputation and reliability by producing many hundreds of tons of quality, defect-free coffee.

 

The new platform uses an old-fashioned roasting technique, applying greater levels of conduction to enhance the native flavour of coffee.

 

We then coupled the new architecture with the most advanced control software available.

 

In effect, we have moved from a large single-package burner to 72 fully modulating atmospheric burners - providing greater precision and control.

 

Now that we have three different roasting platforms operational, you may notice a subtle series of changes evolving over the next four months.

 

Occasionally, we may roast certain coffees on a platform and then change to another platform.

 

This transition is something we will manage, but ultimately, we are trying to consolidate the majority of our roasting onto a single platform.

 

As part of the new plant, we also installed a new dual channel afterburner system, which has been designed to double the effective capacity of our plant to ensure our impact on the environment and our emissions are effectively eliminated.

 

In early 2016, we will be undertaking a program of implementing sustainable energy sources.

 

Ultimately, you can be assured of one very important thing - it's always going to be me that roasts every batch of coffee - nobody is allowed to touch my shiny toys. 

 

This is our other key differentiation in the market - no learner drivers, no experiments and no disenchanted, distracted or disconnected staff turning green stuff brown.

And now we sell organic coffee capsules, too.