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Sulawesi coffees are low-acid with great body and that deep, brooding cup profile akin to Sumatra. The coffee is sometimes known as Celebes, which was the Dutch colonial name for the island. Indonesians are available as dry, semi-washed and washed coffees. While a fully washed coffee may appear to have less defects, it may be inferior in the cup to a ugly, dry-processed coffee. (A recent Sumatra sample I cupped that was perfect & polished was probably the most flavorless, dull Mandheling I have ever had!) Dry processed, wild coffees will have more body and often more of the character that makes Indonesians so appealing and slightly funky: grading seems to often ignore percentage of weird looking beans. The fact is, most dry processed in Indonesia are truly semi-washed: the coffee seed, encased in its outer parchment layer, is pulped out of the outermost fruit skin while on the farm, then the coffee is either fermented a bit and washed, or just washed, and laid out to sun dry. Later, the coffee seed is milled out of the parchment layer, as done with wet-processed coffees. I have heard this called a "miel" or "dulce" coffee in Central and South America, although this is very rarely done since the results are often poor: if the coffee is exposed to rain while on the patio it is quickly ruined. Even without added moisture, the fruity mucilage layer can ferment into a very undesirable off cup flavor. (True dry-processed coffee is simply laid out to dry with the fruit intact, then skin and parchment layer are striped in one step, and hand-sorting begins). There is a tendency to over-roast Indonesians. The reason is that they don't show as much roast color, and have a mottled appearance up until 2nd crack and even a bit into it. Don't let this make you think you have to roast them dark (although they can be nice this way too). Great Indonesians will be wonderful roasted just to the verge of 2nd crack but NOT into it at all. So ignore the weird beans you see green, and ignore the mottled appearance of lighter roasts, and focus on the what you get in the cup! |
Our Sulawesi Offerings: (You
will need to read the reference page to
interpret terms and numbers used below)
We are in that "window of time" where the current crop has sold out, but new crop is due in August-September.
We choose to run out of this coffee and wait for new crop offerings rather than offer old coffee.
So the review below is FYI. -Tom 6-11-08
Tom's Sample Cupping Log | Moisture Content Readings This page is authored
by Thompson Owen and Sweet Maria's Coffee, Inc. and is not to be
copied or reproduced without permission
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