Sumatra Bener Meriah Asbi Anaerobic Lychee Cofermented Wet Hull

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Sumatra Bener Meriah Asbi Anaerobic Lychee Cofermented Wet Hull

Flavor Profile: Lychee, rose, dark chocolate, and melon

Overview: This is a high intervention yeast-inoculated and anaerobically fermented coffee, both cofermented and infused with lychee fruit, and subsequently wet hulled. It hails from Bener Meriah, Sumatra, Indonesia produced by Asbi’s estate in association with the Aalamin brand and Central Sumatra Coffee company.

The flavor profile is on-the-nose with hyperrealistic lychee fruit flavor, augmented by notes of rose, dark chocolate, melon, and hibiscus.

When brewed, our baristas enjoyed high dose pour-overs in conical filters.

Taste Analysis: In the lush forests of west Sumatra, innovation takes place in the form of this expertly curated Lychee cofermented coffee.

Equally whimsical and sharp in its execution, prepare yourself to experience a melody of honeydew, jolly rancher, root beer and bubblegum. These flavors might seem disjointed, but as they play together in the cup, it presents itself as ethereal. Of course, we get hyperrealistic flavors of lychee, without the artificial twinge that sometimes come with coffees that are processed like these.

Rambunctious and clean; all in one go, you won’t be able stop thinking of the magical whimsy that the Asbi’s estate, Aalamin brand and Central Sumatra Coffee have created.

We get it, co-ferments are all the rage, you love them, or you hate them. No matter your opinion, this is an incredibly special project and not one to miss out on. You’ll wow anyone by serving them this coffee.

Source: As so often happens in Indonesia, I was introduced to Enzo Sauqi and Hendra Tjanaka of Central Sumatra Coffee through friends I’d met on past visits. In this instance, it was my friend Novrin Situmorang who was in the same Q-graduating cohort as me, way back in 2014. In some ways, this was a meeting 10 years in the making! It’s a small coffee world.

Central Sumatra Coffee’s (hereafter ‘CSC’) projects in Northern Sumatra have been undergoing development for more than five years now. Their crew has solidified methods and procedures for producing excellent coffee over this time, and has grown their community along the way. Through an organic compost program that uses the organic material leftover from processing, to a technical assistance program that focuses on pruning, rejuvenation and replanting, CSC is also engaged in assisting production from harvest to final sale. They are currently working with 400+ farming families and are expecting to expand.

This particular coffee is sourced from the estate of one smaller producer, Asbi. As is common in this area of the world, this is his full name. Go to Bener Meriah and ask for Asbi, and you might find that someone can point you in the right direction. Asbi’s estate mostly grows Typica and Abyssinia, but also has some of the usual S795 and Sigarar Utang. Don’t let this common spread fool you, you’re about to dive into a very uncommon coffee processing story.

Under the guidance of Chief Science Officer Ricky Sugiarto T., who has attained his Q Processing Professional status, and Saiful Hairi, the Manager of Processing, CSC explores novel methods of post-harvest processing for coffee. After numerous trials with different types of yeast, inoculation, and infusion methods, CSC and Aalamin found their desired set of best practices for producing incredibly unique and lively coffees.

For this coffee in particular, they start with ripe red cherry which is pulped and placed in fermentation tanks for 14-16 hours. Then the coffee is added to sealed vessels with fresh water and Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast sourced from Lallemand, and allowed to sit for 48 hours. On the third day of fermentation, they add freshly juiced lychee fruits and leaves. From this point the coffee is moved directly to drying tables without further flushing or soaking. At 55% moisture, a mixture made from the juiced lychee fruits and leaves suspended in food grade propylene glycol is applied. After drying in direct sunlight to 25-30% moisture, the coffee is hulled and allowed to rest before shipping. The result is a mouthful in so many more ways than one: a yeast inoculated, anaerobic, inoculated, infused, wet hulled lychee coffee.

The result is a flamboyantly vibrant juice-bomb of a coffee. If you’ve ever tasted fresh lychee, the verisimilitude in the cup here will wow you. In line with Isabella’s comment of hyperreality above, this coffee is almost more lychee than what we would commonly understand lychee to be. In counterpoint to this notion, CSC offers the reality through their transparency, disallowing the information to devour its own content so that you can devour it yourself: the true fruit and leaves of lychee, no simulacrum necessary.

So move over Baudrillard, this is a McLuhan coffee. The medium is the coffee, and it’s delicious!

Green: A blend of a regional Catimor and Typica cultivars there is a blend of yeast inoculation as well as cofermentation with lychee. Catimor, initially planted in Brazil, in the 60’s was created to retain hardiness and produce high yields. Typica is the original cultivar introduced by the Dutch, but much was wiped out in the coffee least rust epidemic.