Pungent bittersweet tones, torched sugar, dark cocoa, snappy rindy citrus note, chocolate malted grains, sage-infused dark chocolate. A profile for milk drinks, if there ever was one. City+ to Full City+. Good for espresso.

This wet process lot from Ribang Gayo is a well-balanced brew, and a lot less rustic than the typical wet-hulled Sumatran coffees. That's not a good or bad thing, really, but a fact worth pointing out since the traditionally wet-hulled coffees can be quite polarizing due to their characteristic earthy flavor profile. The dry grounds held notes of raw sugars, bittersweet cocoa, and a savory accent of toasted barley. The wet aroma let off a note of caramelized sugar that resonated in the steam, along with accents of dark chocolate and dried herbs. Roasted light, Ribang Gayo boasts snappy acidity relative to the origin, with a note of rindy citrus peel emerging from pungent bittersweet tones, torched sugar, rich dark cocoa, and chocolate malted grains. Full City roasts are very deep-toned, the roast bittering intensifying in the long finish, and an herbal note that brought to mind sage-infused chocolate. A profile for milk drinks, if there ever was one, and certainly worthy of a run through the espresso machine.

Asman Arianto and the rest of the Ribang Gayo Musara coop members are some of many Aceh farmers affected by the recent typhoons. They are isolated in a rural area that can only be reached by air (at the moment), and there are currently aid efforts underway to get them critical supplies, like food, water, and fuel. You can read more about this effort here, as well as donate to help bring aid to Sumatran coffee communities.

This lot is made up of small-holder coffees in the Pantan Musara region of Aceh, who belong to a coffee cooperative called "Ribang Gayo Musara Cooperative". Farm altitude in this region starts at 1500 meters on the low end and tops out around 1700 meters above sea level. One unique aspect of this particular Sumatran coffee coop, is that they focus on processes like fully washed (wet process), natural (dry process), and honey, in addition to the traditional wet-hulled that you mostly find from Sumatra. There's often a greater financial return on these process methods, at least for the time being. They've refined their technique, each lot of coffee undergoing extensive hand sorting in order to prepare to grade 1 standards. The coop has also built large drying domes with both raised beds and patio space to dry their coffee. This is a fully washed, wet process coffee, meaning the fruit is removed from the green coffee, which then undergoes full wet fermentation to remove all of the remaining fruit mucilage before laying to dry on raised beds for about a week. When done well, you're left with a much cleaner coffee than the traditional wet-hulled Sumatra's that are known for their rustic cup characteristics.