Sumatra Blue Gayo

I’ll enjoy a good strong dark mug of any Sumatran coffee you throw at me, but this one is one of my favorites. This 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. 

Even though this is still a wet-hulled process in the traditional Indonesian style, the coffee is a lot more clean tasting and complex than Sumatra Mandheling. Part of this is because of how well they sorted it, and part of it is just from where it grew. With this Sumatra, you get just the slightest amount of earthiness, but a lot of complexity.  There is a deep aroma, a syrupy sweet molasses taste, sambuca black licorice, slight allspice herbal note, and slight chocolate. It's such a thick syrupy mouthfeel and then finishes clean, 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 full potential of this coffee, but it really shines as a dark roast. We take it about 40 seconds into the 2nd cracks where it isn't yet bitter or burnt, but it's got some oils.

US Arrival November 2024