Sumatra Giling Anaerobic Aulia Kahfi

Cupping Notes:

Dark fruits and herbal-accented sweetness bring depth of flavor to this earth toned cup. Rice syrup, fresh tarragon, dried prune, winey ripe fruits, rustic cacao, and woodsy cedar aroma. Good for espresso.

Region: Bebesen, Aceh
Variety: Abyssinia, Ateng, Tim Tim
Altitude: ~1300-1600 masl
Processing: Anaerobic Fermentation, then Wet Hulled (Giling Basah)
Certification: Farm Gate

Farm Description:

This coffee comes from a quality-savvy coffee collector named Aulia who buys in the districts of Bebesen and Kute Panang, in Sumatra's Aceh province. Farms in these regions tend to span an altitude range from about 1300 to 1600 meters and are planted in older, long berry types (you'll see the long, canoe shaped beans) Abysinnia, Ateng and Tim Tim. In the scheme of things, Aulia's operation is quite small. He usually buys a few bags at a time, and then processes coffee with family at home. With small scale comes the capability for a high level of quality management, which he puts into all of the different process technics he employs. This coffee is an anaerobic-wet hulled coffee, a hybrid of sorts that constructs incredibly complex cup flavors. The first step of this hybrid coffee process involves storing the whole cherry in a sealed environment, which is where the name "anaerobic" comes from (though not entirely correct, since there is still oxygen inside the barrels or bags used). While the cherry is fermenting in this closed system, the CO2 that is created during the process builds into a high pressure environment, that supposedly allows for a more controlled fermentation process. One thing's for sure, most of the anaerobic fermented coffees we've tried skew toward outlier fruit flavors, winey in character, and with lower acidity. This seems to be the case here, though tempered by the wet hulled/giling basah step that follows. The cherry and fruit are peeled straight from the fermentation tanks, and then dried the rest of the way on raised beds. This step of the process is what constructs the earth-toned flavors we tend to associate with Sumatra, and certainly what popularized the coffees from this region. But here we have a unique hybrid process that brings out the best of both worlds. A cup of fruit and foresty flavors, big body, low toned, and complex through and through. 

Description from Coffee Shrub.