3 lb Bundle: Dark

Description

BCT’s coffee special includes three of our best dark roast coffees. Featuring our:

Congo Org. Kivu – Virunga Coffee – Mukwinja Station – Washed

have always had a fascination with the Congo – perhaps from a movie I watched as a child. What a different place and culture!  It is often seen in a dark light, but specialty coffee cultivation serves as a beacon of progress in a troubled place.

Roasting Notes:
Easy to roast and tasty at most roast levels. Lots of small little hints that get burned out into 2nd crack make this tailored toward lighter roasting, but tastes great as you push it towards or into 2nd crack. A strong medium roast was our favorite, just starts popping out that caramelized tone without burning out complimentary floral/fruit tones.

Colombian Premium Narino – Buesaco Sareni – Washed Processed Top Lot

A very high rated and fresh Colombian! Contains pretty traditional Colombian tastes but above average acidity with a small hint of a fruit note. If roasting a bit lighter, it will be a much more lively and citric cup comparatively to the traditional Supremo, or most other regional examples.

Sourced from the elevated terrains of Buesaco, Nariño in southern Colombia, this exquisite coffee is cultivated at over 2,000 meters above sea level on average. Buesaco’s unique geographic and climatic conditions, characterized by volcanic soil and an average temperature of 18.6 °C, provide an optimal environment for producing coffee with distinct mild taste, high acidity, and sweet notes.

The region’s coffee cultivation heritage dates back to the 18th century, growing over time to become an integral part of the local cultural, economic, and social fabric. With its first international exposure in the early 20th century, Buesaco Nariño’s coffee has since been celebrated in the specialty coffee segment worldwide for its unparalleled quality, cultivated in the unique environmental conditions of the region.

Tasting Notes: We thought it best within the light to medium roast levels. Jazzy citric acidity, a little floral some would say, a hint of soft fruit providing a sweet edge along with some wonderful darker toned balance, on the walnut/almond side. Light roasts themselves will be a bit citric, the cup is very clean and handles the roast level well, but needs a longer setup and a tongue that doesn’t mind a bit of acidity. Medium roasts are great daily drinkers and promote a little hint of caramel in the nuttier cup profile, retains just a pinch of citric acidity upfront but it really helps with the depth of flavors. Good body with a smooth mouthfeel. Dark roasts were equally as tasty but it loses the cool crisp citric, and soft fruit, that shows at lighter roasts. Full bodied with stronger nutty and chocolate like tones, a bit of roastiness but it compliments the cup nicely.

Roasting Notes: A very easy to roast bean, good prep and even roasting. Lower chaff, shouldn’t cause any issues. A denser bean that darkens up quickly, can look one shade darker than it really is. Good to slow down the roast a bit at the light-medium roast levels or the citric can be a bit punchy. A longer setup time helps if looking for daily drinking, smooths it out and pops the sweet nutty tones out a bit more.

Indonesian Sumatra Org. Takengon – KPGLA Gayo Mandheling Gr. 1 – Wet Hulled

Aceh (pronounced AH-CHEY) is the northernmost province of Sumatra. Its highland territory, surrounding Lake Tawar and the central city of Takengon, is considered to be the epicenter of one of the world’s most unique coffee terroirs. Coffee farms in this area are managed with the experience of many generations of cultivation, while also harmoniously woven into their surrounding tropical forests. The canopies are loud and fields are almost impenetrably thick with coffee plants, fruit trees, and vegetables, all of which are constantly flushing with new growth. Year-round mists and rain showers never cease, farm floors are spongy and deep with layered biomass, and almost every square meter of the region seems to exude life. Nothing is ever still. Including coffee ripening, which occurs ten months out of the year.  

Farmers in this group are organized around the Gayo Lauser Antara cooperative (shortened to KPGLA), which was first established in 2013. KPGLA is located, along with its grower members, in the Jagong Jeget district, on the western end of the Aceh Tengah regency, one of Aceh’s most prolific coffee producing areas. Collectively the cooperative’s members control 770 hectares of farmland.   

Tasting Notes:
A very nice fresh crop arrival. Full bodied with a creamy mouthfeel, low acidity and spot on tastes from a traditional Mandheling Sumatra; peat moss, smoky, chocolaty, fuller bodied and strong. A clean enough cup to get a decent medium roast, gives a smoother mouthfeel and has a bit of sweetness upfront, darker roasts will turn thicker but also edgier and promote the smokier semi-sweet side of the profile.

Roasting Notes: 
As with most Sumatra coffees, the processing promotes a couple different shades in the roaster. It is normal to see some beans lighter than others. Make sure if shooting for the medium roasts, that you judge it from the lighter looking beans, important to get them all through first crack. When roasting darker, judge it by the darker looking beans for if they get too dark or burn, gets a little ashy tone in the cup.

Sumatra’s smallholder coffee is a complicated process. Notably, processing is typically not overseen by a single individual or team; instead, coffee moves task by task through different parties before reaching its final, fully-dried, state. Coffee farms in Aceh Tengah average 0.5-2 hectares each. Every village with cooperative members has a collector (or more) who receives fresh-picked cherry for washed processing each day. Once a batch of coffee has been depulped, fermented overnight, washed clean, and then sun-dried to the touch, each collector then delivers the batch to the cooperative’s central mill. It is at the mill where the coffee is mechanically hulled of its parchment, leaving behind just the soft, high-moisture coffee bean (thus earning the term “wet-hulled”), all of which is spread out on large patios to continue drying. Each handoff is orchestrated by the cooperative, and the members’ coffee is traced throughout each step of the chain. 

KPGLA, along with many local industries in the region, identifies itself as “Gayo”, after the Gayonese ethnic group which has long made Aceh their home, and which comprises a vast majority of farmer members. Regional coffee distinctions in the northern provinces of Sumatra are interestingly all based on human ethnicity, rather than geography itself, which unfortunately has muddled the island’s traceability over time. “Mandheling” for example, is a broad label for a widespread cultural group in Sumatra and Malaysia and subsequently the broadest coffee trading term, applying to almost any chosen blend of wet-hulled coffees from across the northern half of the island. These terms are malleable, and it is often difficult to pinpoint a coffee’s exact origin without direct partnerships that allow buyers to trace the entire value chain themselves. So, it is helpful to work with exporters with a local supply chain, who themselves operate in the highlands and are personally invested in their community’s success. KPGLA regularly distributes farming tools and cash dividends to cooperative members, as well as school supplies for families with schoolchildren.