| Sumatra |
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 GEOGRAPHY
& CLIMATE:
Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago between the
Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean; it achieved independence
from the Netherlands in 1949.
Mostly coastal lowlands; larger islands have interior
mountains. Tropical; hot, humid; more moderate in highlands.
COFFEE BACKGROUND:
The Arabica coffee was brought in from Africa around 1696
and has been commercially cultivated until today. Sumatra
is now the biggest Robusta coffee producer in the world
and 3rd coffee producer overall.
 SPECIES:
Arabica & Robusta
ALTITUDE AT WHICH GROWN: 3,500 - 6,500 ft
The large Indonesian island of Sumatra produces some of
the world's most distinctive arabica coffee. Although
most Indonesian coffee farmers plant the (less flavorful,
but hardier) Coffea robusta species of coffee trees, many
Sumatrans continue to plant Coffea arabica trees that
produce the richest tasting coffee. Indonesian coffees
generally have little of the bright acidity that arabica
coffees are known for, yet few other coffees can deliver
such bold impact of coffee body. The high elevation mountainous
regions in Sumatra produce the most distinctive tasting
coffees.
Sumatra
Lintong and Mandheling.
This praise applies mainly to the finest of the traditional
arabica coffees of northern Sumatra, the best of those
sold under the market names Lintong and Mandheling. Lintong
properly describes only coffees grown in a relatively
small region just southwest of Lake Toba in the kecamatan
or district of Lintongnihuta. Small plots of coffee are
scattered over a high, undulating plateau of fern-covered
clay. The coffee is grown without shade, but also without
chemicals of any kind, and almost entirely by small holders.
Mandheling is a more comprehensive designation, referring
both to Lintong coffees and to coffees grown under similar
conditions in the regency of Diari, north of Lake Toba.
PREPARATION METHOD: "Unwashed" |
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