Sumatra Takengon Gayo Organic

Discuss flavors, brew temperatures, blending, and cupping notes.
CoffeeOwl
Posts: 1096
Joined: 17 years ago

#1: Post by CoffeeOwl »

This is the coffee I'm drinking and I like it that much to post about it. It's roasted City+.

My first shot of it was like that:
Round mellow warm taste, rich aroma, perfectly balanced coffee. A bit muted fruits and not too heavy body, not too light and wonderful mouthfeel. Taste was mainly honey and peach with just a tiny touch of a bitter note (like placing it on the dry side if comparing dry vs sweet wine) and then chocolate aftertaste.
Then with slightly lower temp:
lighter cup, still balanced, but molasses rather then honey and more fruity notes, cherry. The end of cup chocolate, but not bitter one - milk chocolate. And then cherry aftertaste.
I was brewing a tad more volume then normale, at around 91C (and lower) and 14g. Then the other time I made finer grind and temp up and I got normale,
a cup similar to yesterday morning, just the fruits were a bit more enhanced and present at the finish and chocolate aftertaste sweeter.
Then I raised temperature to 92C and dose to 15g and I got the most of it really - like the first shot, but fruits more vivid and the bitter chocolate aftertaste. Awesome taste, I love it!! A kinda perfect espresso cup and repeatable - somehow first time in my life I got coffee that I like that much! Then I brewed it as singles instead of doubles - at 9g very creamy cup, with fruital variety and creamy aftertaste. Then I got one shot a bit too far and it tasted completely different - deep earthy notes, then some sweetness and some orange notes in the end.
Then I made a comparison with Caravel - 10g in the Caravel basket and about the same temp (measured in the boiler). It tasted creamy, leaving a buttery note for the end, but the fruity aroma and taste was plain - lack of complexity in comparison to Vivaldi. Also with a slightly smaller dose result was similar cup. I didn't go further with Caravel for I am not much of lever maniac, I have to have much more practice to go really for lever tasting of specific beans.
And for the very last, I made a bit of experimentation and reverting again to doubles on Vivaldi, I lowered the dose to 13.3g and made the grind finer one whole point, temp same. Result was amazing to me - no honey, no chocolate, definitely lighter body, orange aroma, grapefruit notes and intriguing wooden taste, followed by some smokey towards the end and leaving this as goodbye - grapefruit and smokey with a touch of a slight bittery.
It's first time when I discovered a whole world of different tastes in one same beans. Usually after I dialed in a coffee, I was drinking it mostly the same, occasionally alternating between singles and doubles and sometimes brewing on Caravel. Most times if I drifted from the point I matched the taste was getting poorer or I did not discovered anything I could really appreciate much.
'a a ha sha sa ma!


LMWDP #199

CoffeeOwl (original poster)
Posts: 1096
Joined: 17 years ago

#2: Post by CoffeeOwl (original poster) »

It has been two weeks from roasting, and the coffee is still tasting and appearing great. Temp raised to 93C, 15g dose, aiming at the best honey-fruity-chocolaty tasting shots from the blooming period after roast, but taste is of course different - body is heavier, fruits are muted, no recognizable fruit but some bright notes, composing well with overall warmth of the cup. Chocolate is present along from middle to the end (non-sweet, non-creamy, like good bitter one) and a lighter note at the end, and leaves some smokey notes aftertaste. I must say it is aging very nice. What I am missing most is the lightness of the cup that is gone - but if I didn't know the taste of it being fresh after roast, I would not have any complaint.
'a a ha sha sa ma!


LMWDP #199

CoffeeOwl (original poster)
Posts: 1096
Joined: 17 years ago

#3: Post by CoffeeOwl (original poster) »

This is the second time I have this coffee and I must say that my experience with the roasterie is very good; as with other coffees, the quality of the roast and taste of the beans is equal from batch to batch.

Here is photo:

Sumatra Takengon Gayo Organic, roasted City+ on 26.04

This coffee ages with class: it is not getting really stale up to 20 days past roast date. Its taste changes, yet it is not getting worse - it becomes different. Without any changes to brew parameters it gives sweetness along with dried fruits, very balanced together; the honey taste disappears into this two. The cup resembles character of a good semi-dry fruit wine. As I said I could chase the blooming period but it's really not worth doing.
Yesterday (21 days post roast) it finally showed signs of getting stale.

Today I opened the frozen bag and I think I waited a little too short after getting it out of the freezer, the beans were still cold to touch. First cup (made with same brew params) gave a little less amplified taste then the non-frozen original. But then, I had to dial in the coffee again - sweetness and acids were present but with lack of the bitter flavors. Result is just higher dose.

Since I also commented on the quality of the roasterie, let me add another picture to the praise:


Papua New Guinea Sigri Plantation, Full City roast

This beans I got as present and they left me speechless in this post:
sweet taste a bit behind a wonderful, cool cream taste, smooth, round, nondivers; and then through this developed orange warmth and juicy top, giving the cup total balance and completeness, and that also last for afterstaste, turning a bit caramel as it faded.

And now I'm also wondering if I shall order this sumatran beans roasted Full City instead of City+. What do you think?
'a a ha sha sa ma!


LMWDP #199