Exotic Procedures in Far Places: Aged, Monsooned and Luwaked Coffees

Sweetly rich in aroma and cup, with ripe orange, clayish earth, caramel, roasted nut and grapefruit notes. The body is medium but the mouthfeel silky. The finish is particularly impressive: rich, sweet and long, saturated to the end with distinct, pleasing grapefruit notes.

Low-toned, simple but resonantly deep coffee, with variants of smoke and chocolate notes running from aroma to cup. As the cup cools the smoky character subordinates itself to delicate chocolate and orangy floral notes. Very clean, sweet finish. The smoke notes, by the way, appear to be a variant on the musty/malty character of the unroasted monsooned beans, not a symptom of a darker roast.

A classic Sumatra balance of sweet fruit and rich earth notes animate aroma and cup. The fruit displays a distinct black-cherry and orange character, particularly in the aroma, though flavor fades rather quickly in the very mildly astringent finish.

Impressive and unique aroma: sweet-toned, delicate yet heavy with notes of night flowers, orange, honey, and moist fallen leaves. In the cup soft acidity, silky mouthfeel, and continued lush notes of honey, fresh fallen leaves and night flowers. The sweetness carries into the finish though the flavor fades quickly. A hint of a note that I associate with raw nuts surfaced now and then. I do not care for this note and neither do most coffee cuppers; otherwise I would assign a rating of well over 90 to this quite unique sensory profile.

The aroma is sweet and soft with surprising and agreeable floral and fresh orange notes that carry into a heavy, sweet, lushly floral-toned cup. An odd note in both aroma and cup that for me suggested raw, unroasted nuts dampened my enthusiasm for this otherwise distinctive and impressive coffee. This background note struck me as cloying and on the edge of unpleasant, but if you like it then you will no doubt like this coffee, because the dominating floral and orange notes are both unusual and attractive.

Sweet-toned, deep, complex aroma: spice notes (ginger, cardamom) and sweet clayish earth that suggests a sort of butterscotch. In the cup syrupy mouthfeel, very sweet, almost candyish. Some surprising floral hints surface, and the spicy earth notes turn toward a dark chocolate. The finish is sweet with a slight astringency. A hint of an off note resembling raw potato in some cups discouraged a higher rating for this complex, interesting coffee.

Distinct musty notes in the aroma read as aromatic wood, black pepper, orange, grapefruit. In the cup medium body but syrupy mouthfeel, with continued musty notes that are more explicit here than in the aroma, with aromatic wood, pepper and raw nut dominating. Simple, sweet, mildly astringent finish.

Intense, low-toned aroma with semi-sweet chocolate, crisp nut (walnut?) and hints of cedar and clay. In the cup fullish body, muted acidity, and a continued intense presence with complex chocolate, walnut and earth notes. A rather heavy astringency when the cup is hot softens as it cools.

Intense, deep aroma: distinct dark chocolate, spicy cedar and hints of orange and nut. In the cup low in acidity but rather astringent, with a rich, attractive cocoaish chocolate. Both chocolate and astringency carry into the finish, where the shadow nut tones turn (to my palate) slightly cloying.

Evaluated as espresso. As a drip coffee fell quite short of 80. As espresso revealed some virtues. In the aroma sweet-toned with distinct chocolate and butter notes. In the small cup medium bodied, round-toned and sweet, with earth, aromatic wood and herbal notes (I read fennel) and hints of nut and chocolate. The finish was simple in the short and mildly astringent in the long. Surprisingly disappointing in milk: leanish in mouthfeel with banana and chocolate in front but a slight though disturbing note toward the finish that for me suggested salted meat.