Sumatra Aceh Gold

So you know about La Minita Costa Rica — the world’s most meticulously prepared coffee -- at every step from planting, picking, washing, drying.  And even at that, they are so picky and sort through the beans so many times at every stage of processing,  less than 25% of the crop ends up branded with the La Minita name.

So now, the company owns an estate in Sumatra, and they do the exact same thing there.  The resulting lot is what they used to brand as Aceh Gold Sumatra, or now more commonly known as Mutu Batak, a clean, complex, washed process coffee.  

(Pronounced “Ah–Chay” -- it’s a region in the upper part of Sumatra.  And “La Minita” means “little gold mine” so that’s how they came up with the Aceh Gold name.

If you look on the web at how other roasters are treating or recommending this coffee, it’s almost always a light-medium roast.   I like it best almost heading into the 2nd cracks.  You get all the great flavor and body of dark syrupy Sumatra, but none of the earthiness or smoke or burnt tastes.  In a french press, I pick out definite notes of grapefruit and cedar beneath the rich body.

Lighter roasts than that?  Well, really full bodied thick mouthfeel, but I would never guess it to be from Sumatra.  The most fruity juicy Sumatra you've likely ever had, and it's really nice.  Grapefruit, creamy, sweet, no earthiness at all.  Dark roasts?  Definitely nice, but flattens out the acidity and you lose a lot of the flavors.  Mostly just the cedar remains.   Either way, this is a tough coffee to get our hands on because there's not enough of it to meet demand. The price point on this one has garnered it quite a reputation and demand is always high.  

US Arrival March 2024