$24.99
Process: Wet-Hulled
Tasting Notes
Dark chocolate, dried fruit, earthy, syrupy.
Cupping Notes
Origin
Details
The unique microclimates of Sumatra encourage slow cherry development, producing coffees with distinctive earthy depth and layered complexity. Produced by smallholder farmers who typically cultivate coffee on 1-2 hectare plots, this coffee is part of a long tradition of community-driven agriculture. This lot is classified as GR1 DP (Grade 1, Double Picked), meaning it has undergone careful hand-sorting twice to meet the highest quality standard for export. It is processed using wet-hulling (Giling Basah), a traditional Indonesian method where parchment coffee is hulled at a higher moisture content than fully washed coffees. This unique step, combined with Sumatra's humid climate, contributes to the region's hallmark profile: syrupy body, deep spice notes, and tea-like finish.
TasteMatch starting point · dark roast
French press
For this darker roast, French press is a starting point for a fuller-bodied cup. Use Hoffmann’s settling technique; adjust extraction to avoid bitterness.
Full-bodied and forgiving. Patience matters more than technique.
Recipe references: James Hoffmann, Barista Hustle
Sour or thin coffee usually means under-extraction, so grind finer or brew longer. Bitter or drying coffee usually means over-extraction, so grind coarser or brew shorter. Change one variable at a time. Research from UC Davis's Coffee Center and Jonathan Gagné's writing explains the physics behind these rules.
Professional tasters score coffee on fragrance and aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, sweetness, uniformity and clean cup, following the SCA cupping protocol. You can borrow the same habit at home: smell the dry grounds, then the wet crust, then taste the coffee hot, warm and cool. Flavor opens up as the cup cools, so don't judge it in the first sip.
The SCA Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel, built on the World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon, works from the inside out. Start in the center with broad families — fruity, sweet, nutty/cocoa, floral, spicy, roasted — then move outward to specifics like berry, citrus, caramel or jasmine. If a coffee tastes "fruity," ask what kind of fruit. Naming flavors gets easier the more deliberately you compare cups side by side.
Acidity is brightness, not sourness: think citrus, apple or wine-like sparkle, and it's prized in high-grown coffees. Body is the weight on your tongue, from tea-like to syrupy. Sweetness signals ripe fruit and a clean roast. When a brew tastes flat or harsh, adjust the extraction first, then revisit what you taste.
V60, French press and AeroPress techniques
Pour-over and extraction science
French press and espresso
AeroPress recipes
Espresso, drip and cold brew standards; cupping protocol; Coffee Taster's Flavor Wheel
Sensory Lexicon behind the flavor wheel
Coffee extraction research