November 2013, we set out to Sumatra to answer a question: Is it possible to find high-end micro lots in Sumatra? We have been cupping good and very good container lots, and in 2012 we received a cherry selected lot that was very good for us. This lot was made up of ripe cherry of a single variety from a single farmer; quite unusual for Sumatra. In fact, it was that cherry selected lot that finally instigated our trip.
Now, if you were to boil down the challenges facing high-end micro lot production in Sumatra to a single word, it would be “selection.” At every link in the chain of production, selection in some form emerges as a weak point. One of the problem areas unique to Sumatra has to do with the structure of the Sumatran coffee trade. In Sumatra, farmers sell to collectors, who then sell to coops or exporters. It is common practice for processing, i.e., sorting for quality or blending different lots, to be performed to some extent by all three. This means that any selection a farmer does could be nullified by another party at a later time. The extra exchange by a person who is essentially a broker on a very local level renders any selection that a coop or exporter might want to do meaningless. Full stop… almost…
Sabri, the producer, has been able to identify varieties by cherry and by plant where other farmers that we met with could not. He is doing selective picking of the cherries and the results are shown in exceptional cup quality. Sabri had never been asked to separate lots before, which underscores the infrastructural and logistical challenges to selection and separation in Sumatran coffee. This is why Sumatran coffee has historically always been regionally marketed- Mandheling, Lintong, or even sub-regionally with the “Blue Batak” and “Lake Tawar” marks. In January 2014 we received pre-shipment samples representing both a single farm, single variety Bourbon lot and another Absynia lot.
To read more about Sumatran coffee click here.
The photos in this Beanology show an Absynia coffee tree. It is possible to distinguish the characteristics of this variety because the green cherry has a matte green color, and there is a distinctive narrow disc visible on the bottom of the cherry.
