A special Aged variety of Sumatran Mandheling
This Grade 1 (highest grade) coffee originates from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. A reach heavy body, exotic flavour, and low acidity all characterize this spectacular, but rare, coffee.
Aged for three years and dark roasted for maximum richness and complexity, few producers are prepared to take the risk, but the rewards can be incredible: a rare, expensive coffee that challenges connoisseurs in a way few coffees can.
The goal of the ageing process is to bring flavour out, not create a new flavour. For this reason, the best candidates for ageing are high in body and low in acidity. Acidity throws the process: even with flawless processing techniques, a highly acid coffee will fail to age and just grow old, expensive and tasteless.
Ageing of the green coffee bean must take place in a tropical environment, where beans take on moisture at the height of the monsoon season, and give it back during the drier season, without ever drying completely. This process causes the Sumatra (which is already low in acidity) to provide a mellow, syrupy cup while accentuating certain taste components over others.
Once the ageing process is complete, beans need a longer rest after roasting to fully even out and gain the best taste profile possible. Aged coffees typically taste best at a dark roast, which helps to accentuate the body.
Aged coffees can be a bit of an acquired taste, but it really does take coffee drinking to a whole new level.
Begin by smelling: you can smell leather and candied sugar in the dry aroma, and then an earthy, spicy raisin scent in the wet aroma, this is a result of the ageing process.
The first sip might come as a shock, so give your taste buds a minute or two to adapt to the extreme flavours: intense, deep, savoury, woody, syrupy, rustic, you should also get a peppery initial hit, and then a rum-raisin finish?
The flavour is incredibly complex, a Sumatra to the power of ten. And like anything this complex, it appeals to those extremes of the taste buds.
This is a dark roast, and the intense, brooding weight of the roast pairs beautifully with the original flavours of the bean.
If ever a coffee was made for espresso, Aged Sumatra is it.
Roastmasters notes:
- Medium Roast; 3/5
- Full Body; 4/5
- Acidity; 3/5
- Strength; 4/5
Convection Roasted - Packed in 50 x 44mm single pods in per pack. 7 grames per pod