This lot is a special selection of the largest screen size seeds from the Lintong area coffee (19/64ths and greater in size) and is triple hand-picked after drying to remove defects. It is absolute top-of-the-line in terms of preparation, near zero-defect, and size, sorted both at the primary collector warehouse in Lintong and again in the capital of Medan before export. Now, as you know, larger bean size does not mean a better cup, but in the case of Sumatra, where coffee is so mishandled and poorly sorted, this does ensure that small broken bits, or split beans are totally removed from the finished coffee. And more important than the appearance of the green coffee is, of course, the cup quality.While this lot is a very clean preparation, but I wouldn't dare call this a "cleaned up" cup profile. It is potent, bittersweet, herbal, and intense ... VERY intense. If you think a triple pick coffee, a carefully prepared Sumatra, necessarily loses it's Sumatra intensity, then this Lake Toba lot will disprove that notion. This is a pungent, brooding, opaque, full-bore Sumatra.

The dry fragrance is intriguingly balanced between sweet and earthy tones, caramel sweetness, pungent notes, and the scent of fresh cut wood at a sawmill. The wet aroma has complex sweetness, bordering on spicy. It has strong chocolate roast tones, with accents of sage and thyme. There's a very intense bittersweetness here too, a bit like butterscotch. I wouldn't call it mossy (a flavor I do not like in Sumatras), but there is something intensely "foresty" about this cup; cedar, pine bark, somewhat resinous, with sweet tobacco and a hint of blackberry. The mouthfeel is juicy. There's a dark herbal note a bit like Riccola drops, sage, thyme. The coffee finishes with an strong, heavy-handed baker's chocolate, laced with tobacco and leather. Yes, leather. Allow the coffee to rest after roasting for minimum 24 hours to enjoy the entire effect of the body in this coffee.

Dolok Sanggul is a city within the coffee growing area we refer to as Lintong. Lintong Nihota is the town that has become synonymous with the entire southern part of Lake Toba area most of the coffee from the southern shores are sold as such. Lake Toba defines the landscape of the area, the largest volcanic crater lake in the world, and the result of the largest volcanic event on earth in the last 25 million years! It is huge, and the coffees from the north and eastern shores are quite different from the Lintong coffees. Dolok Sanggul is a local marketplace for coffees; once a week the farmers gather to sell their parchment coffee to trusted vendors, who "collect" it on behalf of specific mills, or as freelancers. The mill we work with has certain farmers from higher altitude areas, and who produce a very clean, high-quality parchment coffee sold direct, not traded through the market. That's part of the reason this has great cup character ... the other is special milling and sorting practices. This coffee is a special preparation: It is prepared by density in Lintong, then it is density sorted and triple-hand-sorted in Medan once again before export. And since my latest obsession is inspecting coffee under ultraviolet light while grading them, this lot still shows the normal wet-hulled issues, but is infinitely better than most Grade 1 "Mandhelings" and the like.

The dry fragrance has chocolate and caramel biscuit tones, with a slight herbal notes and a humus earth scent. Lintongs have a reputation for herbal notes; I would say Dolok Sanggul classifies as a Lintong in this respect, but is less herbal than most Lintong coffees. Surprising fruits come forward in the wet aroma, even a momentary whiff of dried fig, as well as bittersweet cocoa and wet earth. The cup has a great rustic sweetness, tree bark, cinnamon stick, black tea, and strong mulling spice in the finish. Light roasts have a malty roast taste, thyme herb, fading to chocolate with plum/prune fruit. Full City roast level has dark malt syrup, and a thick slab of fruity chocolate flavor. The cup is more aggressive than the other Lintong lots we have this year, even though they come from areas that are very close to each other. Esrpesso shots I have made from Dolok Sanggul have been really fantastic, like no other Sumatra I can think of ... but only when rested 5 days or more after roasting. It needs rest! Another roast note: many roasters over-roast Sumatras looking for surface color similar to other origins. They don't color the same as other origins, so you might end up darker than your target quite easily.

This lot is from one Fair Trade and Organic certified cooperative in the Gayo area around Lake Tawar, called Tunas Indah coop. It is part of KSU Arinagata (a coop of coops, essentially) in the town of Takengon, where I have spent quite a few days cupping, riding motorbikes and marveling at the amazing local marketplace. We like Aceh coffees because they have the classic balance of earthiness, pungency, body and rustic sweetness that signifies "Mandheling" type coffee. If it's a bit confusing, you have reason to think so. Mandheling (the Dutch spelling of Mandailing) is a region and a people from West Sumatra, but they grow little to no arabica coffee! Yet their name was borrowed to signify a specific flavor type, at a time when most coffee from Indonesia was exported as "Java" coffee. Coffees grown in the state of North Sumatra, centered around Lake Toba, are often called Lintong coffees, and have a more herbal character. These Gayo coffees have a flavor less distinct than Lintongs, but epitomize the cup character people might expect from the name "Mandheling". This is a wet-hulled coffee, meaning the farms each pulp the fresh-picked coffee cherries and semi-dry in small batches on the farm. Then they are delivered to the coop mill for further drying, wet-hulling, and final drying.

At lighter roast levels, the dry fragrance from this cup has a rustic caramelly sweetness, laced with malt syrup. Darker roasts have a pungent bittersweet quality, molasses and chocolate notes. The wet aromatics add a more rustic element, a foresty scent, with mossy wet earth. The cup is impressive for the balance of dry-fruited sweet notes and (especially at FC+ roast) potent dark spicy notes; cinnamon, allspice, clove, mulling spices. The acidity is low, as expected, and the body very dense and thick. There's no mustiness that I find so often in bad Sumatra lots, but foresty dark-earth notes, wet humus-like flavors, linger in the aftertaste of the darker roast levels. It's intense, heavy on the palate.

Lintong coffees are from Sumatra, the island that is politically and geographically part of Indonesia. Lintong Nihota is the town that has become synonymous with the entire southern part of Lake Toba area. Lake Toba defines the landscape of the area, the largest volcanic crater lake in the world, and the result of the largest volcanic event on earth in the last 25 million years! It is huge, and the coffees from the north and eastern shores are quite different from the Lintong coffees. Lintong coffees are farmed by the Batak peoples that are the indigenous tribe that works the coffee in this area. Tano Batak, which simply means "Land of Batak" is a coffee that is carefully prepared and sorted again in Medan to the highest standards. The Tano Batak project is sourced from a family of Batak collectors in Lintong, known for their long-term, direct relationships with the small-scale farmers. They pay a premium to get the best parchment coffee. After the coffee is brought to Medan for export, it is density sorted and hand-sorted again. This coffee works at a wide range of roast, with great sweetness and the complex foresty and herbal notes of the Lintong terroir. It might go against common sense, but I find Sumatras like this more complex in the lighter roasts than in the usual darker roasts they receive. The main reason is that many commercial roasters use color and surface texture as indicators of roast level. They roast coffee until the bean looks attractive. With a Sumatra like this, you will mostly likely hit 2nd crack at the point where the surface texture and variegated bean color evens out, and (I think) you may have gone too far at that point.

The dry fragrance has Oreo cookie chocolate, but with a slightly rustic tinge to it. There is molasses note, and foresty-woodsy aspect too. The wet aromatics are more pungent and a little herbal, with chocolate brownie. The cup has a complex and intense sweetness at City+ roast, with malt syrup turning toward sarsaparilla, and herbal tones as it cools. There are hints of mild sweet tobacco and spice (clove, pepper), with sandalwood and a smokey sweetness the long aftertaste. The darker roasts have more chocolate, as expected, with a sweetness that reminds me of chicory root and molasses. The body is syrupy and thick. Of course, I roasted this to FC, FC+ and Vienna and it's a great cup across the board, turning more to bass-note flavors and a "noir" cup profile at FC+. But it was my lightest roast, C+, that was the most complex. Give it a try. This makes interesting and sweet espresso, but might be too herbal and rustic for some palates