Natural Kintamani and Washed Blue Moon

[Ron]

I've been ordering natural Kintamani green coffee for several years from Happy Mug and it's always been excellent. However, they are now out of Bali coffee and I did a search to find another source. Theta Ridge came up in my search and I received 10 lbs. of a coffee they called "Bali Kintamani." Since Happy Mug states that the natural bean is called "Kintamani" and the washed is "Blue Moon," I assumed that I was getting the natural from Theta Ridge. Well, I just roasted a batch and I could tell it was the washed variety because of the absence of chaff and the dark green color. The natural has lots of chaff and has a lighter green color. I can't reach them by phone so I'm putting the message here for now. I first have to see if I like the washed as much as the natural and if I want it. For now, I'm wondering if it's mislabeling to called the washed Blue Moon "Kintamani," or if that name only applies to the natural bean I wanted. I'm not sure it would be cost effective to send it back and I'm not sure if Theta Ridge will recognize this labeling as a mistake. Any views on this?

[yakster]

There's plenty of search results for Bali Kintamani Washed Coffee, so given that the name Kintamani is the region that the coffee is from it looks like you can have both washed and natural Kintamani coffee.

[Ron (original poster)]

I just had a chance to have an espresso with the Bali washed coffee. It turned out to be excellent but not the same taste as the natural. A little brighter with more "acid" but lots of flavor like the natural.

So, my conclusion is that a seller is offering a good product either way with a Bali Kintamani, but it would be very helpful to identify the product as natural or washed, as the case may be. Many shops do identify this but some do not. Here is a small list of sites and their method of identifying natural or washed Bali, copied off their websites:

Captain's Coffee: Bali Kintamani Natural Organic
Burman: INDONESIAN BALI KINTAMANI NATURAL RFA ORG.
Coffee Bean Corral: Bali Organic Kintamani Natural
Fonte Coffee: BALI KINTAMANI NATURAL
Seattle Coffee Works: Bali Kintamani Natural
Walla Walla Roastery: Bali Organic Kintamani Natural
Home Roast Coffee: Bali Blue Moon Organic Wet Hulled Indonesia Kintamani Highlands Arabica Coffee
Home Roast Coffee: Bali Organic Kintamani Natural Arabica Raw Coffee Beans
Happy Mug: BALI BLUE MOON
Happy Mug: BALI NATURAL KINTAMANI

I would end by asking Theta Ridge to simply add the word "washed" to its description of their Bali coffee.

[bean2friends]

My experience as I remember it is that dry or natural processed greens are marked that way. If the seller doesn't say anything about it, I can assume it's washed.

[Ron (original poster)]

The next time I buy Kintamani, I'll definitely ask which it is, unless it's clearly labeled. Not that anything is wrong with either one, but the washed type is much brighter, tasting like a lighter roast. Maybe that's because the dark green color makes it look like a darker roast than it really is. At least the flavor comes through really strong, which is what I wanted to balance off lots of others that have less flavor when I blend two varieties. A good strong flavor lets me use up the nondescript types by blending 3/4 of the better stuff with 1/4 of the lesser variety.

[Ron (original poster)]

I just got a call from Theta Ridge and they explained their website system.
If you go directly to the listing of coffees on their site,

https://thetaridgecoffee.com/

you get the full information about washed or natural. However, if you go right to the "Shop" button at the top, you get abbreviated information, which leaves out the details about washed/natural. So, I originally saw the "Shop" button and clicked it, then bought "Kintamani," without checking the full information on the site's first page. I'll know about that in the future.