10/2/2008
DUTCH TREAT
FAIR TRADE ORGANIC SUMATRA GAYO MOUNTAIN
Back in the days of the colonial trading companies, the Dutch traders brought coffee from Ethiopia, its birthplace, to the East Indies or Spice Islands, now known as Indonesia. They tried growing coffee on many of the islands that make up the Indonesian archipelago. Sumatra, the largest island, provided one of the best climates for coffee cultivation.
Coffee is cultivated in Banda Aceh, a remote corner of Sumatra where there was a separatist movement going on until a tsunami displaced everything in its sight a couple years ago. Coffee was undisturbed due to the high elevation it is grown at. The ports were all wiped out, though, and there was no way to get the coffee to market. The coffee is grown at an altitude of between 4,000 and 5,000 feet. The high altitude, enormous bean size and special prep at the processing facility make this coffee special. The mill was built by Dutch Aid about 20 years ago and is surrounded by a compound including 22 homes, drying patios, 23 fermentation tanks and processing for washed, semi-pulped and natural coffees. The Dutch had seen washing mills in Africa and Latin America and then duplicated one in Aceh. Plans are underway to build a health clinic, nursery, school and cupping facility.
The bugaboo of Indonesian coffee had been the inconsistency in its preparation. The mill facility allows for the sought after consistency and the proof is in the cup. Those beans plump up like Ball Park franks when we lay a dark roast on them. They have a slight floral aroma up front with a background of roasty, malty and nutty notes. This is a big boy in terms of body. It has low acidity and is slightly earthy. The balance is achieved when you layer in spicy, nutmeg flavors and finish it off with some cocoa.
This cup, cultivated in the archipelago of Indonesia, is for those who are cultivated enough to appreciate a complex cup or story like The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Go Dutch with a friend and take home a couple pounds of FTO Sumatra Gayo Mountain coffee to brew along the arc of your life.
posted by roastmaster at 11:49 AM
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