This is a peaberry preparation of the Blue Batak Lintong-area coffee. 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. We offer the top grade, specially- prepared Lintong coffees as Blue Batak in honor of the Toba Batak people.

The Tarbarita peaberry can take light roasts as well as dark. Many commercial roasters use color and surface texture as indicators of roast level, and tend to go dark on Sumatras in general because of this. The peaberry has a different roast dynamic, and seems to be a more dense bean that the flats. (Sumatra is known as a fairly "soft" bean, overall). The dry fragrance of this coffee has a strong raw honey sweetness in lighter roasts, as well as chocolate, aromatic wood and herbal notes. There's sweet sarsaparilla and root beer scents in the wet aroma, caramel and butterscotch, darker malty scents, and pungent spice. My lightest roast was a bit too light (City, just through first crack and stopped) and it has a tomato stem smell - so make sure you allow the roast to progress a bit beyond City (unless you love tomato in your coffee)! At City+ the strong, rustic sweetness reminds me of chicory root, molasses and sorghum syrup, laced with pungent clove and cinnamon. It's definitely a brighter than other Lintong coffees. The body is lighter than the non-peaberry Blue Batak lot, but still quite syrupy and substantial. There's a dark malty note, as well as caramelized sugars and butterscotch with a rustic overlay. The long finish has a nice cinnamon-laced black tea note that I find very pleasing, and hints of aromatic cedar and cinnamon bark, come through. I made a few tries at SO espresso with the Tarbarita, but preferred it as a brewed coffee. Still, it has potential straight, or as a blend component. I just couldn't nail it.

Sumatran coffees can be the most earthy, low-toned, and rustic of the Indonesian coffee-growing world, flavors entirely sensed in the anterior regions of the palate. The flavor of Sumatra coffees result from how the coffee is processed, and to a lesser degree the types of coffee varietals planted. Sumatra coffees were once dry-processed, where the cherry is picked from the tree, laid out to dry, and then hulled to green bean in one step. This never worked well because the climate is so wet during the harvest in Sumatra, and rather unpredictable too. So now most Sumatra coffees are wet-hulled (called Giling Basah). Processing starts on the small-holder farms, where they pick the coffee and pulp off the fruit skin in a hand-crank machine. Then most farmers ferment the coffee in small containers to break down the fruity mucilage layer, others simply leave the bags of cherry intact overnight and pulp in the morning. Then they dry the coffee for a few hours on tarps or concrete, and sell it in the local market to coffee collectors. The collectors might dry the coffee a little more, but it is still exceptionally wet when they hull it (hence the term wet-hulled. This wet-hulling is not done anywhere else in the coffee world. The collector then puts the wet, soft green bean (called Kopi Labu, or pumpkin coffee) out on the tarps or concrete to dry. That's another unique aspect of Sumatra processing; nowhere else is the green bean exposed directly to the elements to dry. But in this wet climate, hulling off the outer parchment layer so soon makes the coffee dry much faster, and allows the collector to get it dried down to 14% moisture and sell the coffee to an exporter much sooner than other processing methods. The dried coffee, called Asalan, is prepared on gravity tables and hand sorted again by the better exporters to meet the standards of Grade 1. It takes some work to find a good Mandheling-type coffee, one that doesn't "cross the line" from pleasant earthy tones into the realm of dirty flavors (or worse of all, musty or moldy notes). Our Sumatra Gayo Mandheling coffee is from the ethnic Gayo region around Lake Takengon. Mandheling is used as a trade name for these coffees but is not a region; It is a different Sumatran ethnic group that historically produced Arabica coffees.

We selected this lot of coffee for it's rustic fruited character, heavy body and low acidity. The dry fragrance has tamarind fruit notes in the lighter roast levels, with more chocolate bittersweet and foresty notes emerging at Full City+ roast level. The wet aroma has rustic sweetness, Ricola-like dark herbal character, molasses, dried plum, and clean earthy notes. The cup has layered chocolate roast taste and thick body. This lot is very nice because it has a hint of fruit that comes through in the cup, raisin and tamarind. The finish has a slight dryness and bittersweet quality, reminiscent of Baker’s Chocolate. There's a clove spice note that emerges as the cup cools. I am recommending darker roasts here, which highlight body and the overall "bass note" character of the cup. Full City+ a few snaps into 2nd crack was my favorite. Fruited notes are best at City+, and are obscured when going darker, so a lighter roast is also an option for a different flavor profile.