I’ll enjoy a good strong dark mug of any Sumatran coffee you throw at me, but this one is one of my favorites. Gayo Linge is a fair trade organic certified, rainforest alliance certified co-op in Northern Sumatra. The "Blue Gayo" tends to refer to any Sumatran bean grown around Lake Toba because of the blueish hue apparent in the bean color.
It’s a lot more clean tasting and complex than Sumatra Mandheling. With this Sumatra, you get just a slight amount of earthiness, but a lot more complexity. There is a cedar aroma, a syrupy sweet sambuca black licorice taste, slight black peppery spiciness, baker's chocolate. It's such a thick syrupy mouthfeel, and that's part of what makes it so satisfying. I can’t imagine anyone not liking a mug of this.
You have to at least get it to the 2nd cracks to bring out the chocolate notes. You can end the roast there for a lighter coffee, or anywhere over the next 50 seconds. The darker you go, the sweeter it gets. We like to get it well into the rolling 2nd cracks to pull out the smoky deep intense flavors.
US Arrival March 2023