Sumatra Wet Hulled Ribang Gayo

Asman Arianto and the rest of the Ribang Gayo Musara coop members are some of many Aceh farmers affected by the recent typhoons. They are isolated in a rural area that can only be reached by air (at the moment), and there are currently aid efforts underway to get them critical supplies, like food, water, and fuel. You can read more about this effort here, as well as donate to help bring aid to Sumatran coffee communities.

This lot is made up of small-holder coffees in the Pantan Musara region of Aceh, who belong to a coffee cooperative called "Ribang Gayo Musara Cooperative". Farm altitude in this region starts at 1500 meters on the low end and tops out around 1700 meters above sea level. One unique aspect of this particular Sumatran coffee coop, is that they focus on processes like fully washed, natural (dry process), and honey, in addition to the traditional wet-hulled that you mostly find from Sumatra. There's a greater financial return on these process methods, at least for the time being (read more about Giling Basah process method). They've refined their technique, each lot of coffee undergoing extensive hand sorting in order to prepare to grade 1 standards. The coop has also built large drying domes with both raised beds and patio space to dry their coffee. This is a wet-hulled lot, a first from Ribang Gayo for us, and a real treat. There's SO much more going on in the cup than just earthy sweetness and rustic cup characteristics. Ribang Gayo has earth tones, sure, but also intense fruited sweetness, body, and waves of chocolate bittersweetness if roasted dark.