Indonesia, Gayo (Winey) – Coastal Coffee Collective

Indonesia is a region I am not overly familiar with—especially outside of Sumatra. I was especially intrigued by this coffee from Coastal Coffee Collective though for its “winey” processing method, also known as carbonic maceration. Carbonic maceration is fairly similar to anaerobic fermentation (I’ve been able to try a variety of coffees around the world that have used this processing), but the major difference is that in carbonic maceration the coffee cherry is left in tact, and not pulped prior to entering a sealed tank. It is a process adapted from wine making. I was intrigued by the profile potentials in the processing since I’ve been so enamored with anaerobic fermented coffees throughout the last year and the flavors they can produce.

The coffee begins with a rich, subtly sweet fragrance full of chocolate. In the flavor I tasted apricot, caramel, chocolate and black tea. Usually I find tea notes in coffee within the body, but this coffee clearly had taste and bitterness that reminded me strongly of black tea. As the coffee cooled, it became sweeter and notes of dark berries became more pronounced. The sweetness was creamy and reminded me of caramel. The mouthfeel was silky smooth with a full body. The coffee had a lingering sweetness that drew out more of the berry notes as well.

I loved the complexity in this coffee. The medium roast drew out perfectly the complexity in the coffee creating a beautiful combination of fruit and caramel/chocolate that was extremely fun to explore.

The Bottom Line

This was a rich, sweet cup that I think would appeal to a wide range of coffee drinkers. It has a lot of complexity to explore, but is also a great coffee to get a lot out of without thinking too much about it.