Description
BCT’s coffee special includes three of our best dark roast coffees. Featuring our:
Luyombe is a coffee-producing area in Tanzania, known for cultivating high-quality Arabica beans. The region’s coffee is typically grown at elevations ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 meters above sea level, benefiting from fertile volcanic soils and a temperate climate ideal for coffee cultivation.
Luyombe is known for their washed Peaberries. Peaberry beans are unique, as they develop as a single, rounded bean within the coffee cherry, unlike the typical two flat-sided beans. This natural mutation occurs in about 5-10% of coffee cherries and is often associated with a more concentrated flavor profile.
Tanzanian coffees, including those from Luyombe, are known for their bright acidity and complex flavor profiles. Common tasting notes include black currant, chocolate, and a sweet, fruity aftertaste.
The coffee industry in Tanzania is vital to the country’s economy, with approximately 90% of farms managed by smallholder farmers.
Tasting Notes: Rich and chocolaty, Tanz coffee is always high on our go to list for stronger chocolaty darker roast coffee. At the medium roasts one will see a more gentle cup with good body, a little sweeter edge, hints of acidity and stronger chocolaty spice. Darker roasts get much fuller bodied and bring out the very strong bakers chocolate edge balancing nicely with classic African spice note and complimenting roasty/smoky tones.
Roasting Notes: A very versatile coffee and easy to roast. We would avoid the cinnamon roast level (super light) but anything past that will be tasty. Lighter roasts will have some acidity but provide nice clean cups. Darker roasts work very nicely as well, smooth, strong with chocolate, spice, smoke in the cup profile.
Rwanda FTO Dukunde Kawa Musasa – Ruli Mountain – Washed Bourbon
Finally the Musasa project started separating out Ruli coffee, in the past Ruli coffee has always been a notch above the rest in my book – some of my favorite lots of Rwanda have been from Ruli.
Dukunde Kawa is a well-known producer group in Rwanda, as much for exceptionally bright and memorable coffees as for its exceptional business structure: the cooperative carries multiple certifications for its various washing stations including Fair Trade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance, and UTZ, and more than 80% of its workforce is women. Not only that but the organization is located in the Northern province, which, despite its closeness to Kigali, tends to be little-known in specialty coffee compared to the west and south. Since first organizing in 2000 with a single wet mill, years before the majority of washing stations in Rwanda even existed, Dukunde Kawa has received sustainability awards from the SCA as well as placing in the top positions in Rwanda’s Cup of Excellence competition. Today the cooperative has over 2,000 farmer members and 4 washing stations in the Gakenke District north of Kigali. Ruli is one of these stations.
Tasting Notes:
Stand up beans good from light to dark, but we thought best at the fuller roast levels. Medium to full bodied, lower acidity, clean and chocolaty with some nice fruity overtones. Lighter roasts will have a little citric/floral tone with a sweet and herbal edge, a hint of soft fruit. Medium roasts get much more chocolaty and less herbal providing a balanced cup, works nicely for all taste buds; smooth and rich. Darker roasts brew a strong and bold cup, very chocolaty with a hint of spice in the aftertaste, roasty accents.
Roasting Notes:
Good at almost any roast, would start where you personally tend to enjoy coffees, a medium roast is great if unknown. Easy to roast, even roasting with medium to low chaff.
Indonesian Sumatra Gr. 1 – Mandheling
“Mandheling” is one of the broadest coffee trading terms for a regional blend in Indonesia, applying to almost any blend of wet-hulled coffees from across the northern half of the island of Sumatra that suit a generic cup profile that is heavy on the palate, earthy in balance, and complex. Regional coffee blend distinctions in the northern provinces of Sumatra were originally based on human ethnicity, rather than geography: Mandheling is a widespread cultural group found across Sumatra and Malaysia; “Batak”, to use another example, is a Mandheling sub-ethnicity based around Lake Toba and considered a smaller regional coffee pedigree unto itself, and often marketed as such.
The large majority of coffee blends labeled “Mandheling” tend to be drawn from across a variety of local parchment collectors across two main coffee producing provinces, both of which are fortified with volcanic soils: Aceh and North Sumatra. Aceh province (pronounced AH-CHEY) is the northernmost province of Sumatra and 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. North Sumatra province, just below Aceh, is a varied territory with high elevation grasslands, mountain ranges, and the massive Lake Toba, another of the island’s most famous coffee producing areas.
Tasting Notes: A very clean traditional Sumatra cup. Best from medium to dark roasts. Fuller bodied with some nice exotic incense spice notes intermingled with a bakers chocolate and smoky cup profile. Light roast are not recommended (for almost all Indo coffees). Medium roasts were nice and balanced, a little lemony acidity upfront mixing with a bunch of spice and hints of an earthy slightly peaty chocolaty factor; a decent roast point for pour-overs or drip. Darker roasts were fuller bodied and very smoky with the spice lingering in the aftertaste, very low acidity; good for dark roast fans, espresso or blend bases.
Roasting Notes: A nice screen for a Sumatra makes it a bit easier to roast then many Sumatra beans. Low in chaff due to the processing (wet-hulled). A longer setup is nice for this cup, gives much more rounded edges and smooth characteristics. Very light roasts are to be avoided, a medium to dark roast matches the cup profile very nicely.
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 tend to average 0.5-2 hectares each. Every coffee village has a collector (or more) who receives fresh-picked cherry, or humid parchment, for processing each day. Once a batch of coffee has been depulped, fermented overnight, washed clean, and then quickly sun-dried to the touch, each collector then delivers the batch to a central miller. 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.
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