Sumatra Atu Lintang

Intro

Our triple picked organically grown Sumatra Atu Lintang surprised us with its perky acidity and over-the top complexity of flavor. However, this is no ordinary Pacific island coffee. The coffee is grown as a mix of family-owned farmland and collected local smallholder groups just down the road from Atu Lintang, and processed at a wet mill located in Jagong Jeget, near Bukit Harapan village in Aceh. About 400 farming families contribute their coffee to this project. Their cherries are pulped and fermented for 12 hours at the washing station, then fully washed.

The Jagong dry mill is operated by Irham Junus, and his children Ina and Andi. Their strict adherence to ripe cherry collection is one excellent example of their attention to detail and rigor in quality selection. This particular coffee is both part of the Red Cherry project and is "triple picked", a designation reserved for the highest grade of handsorted coffees.

Roast

We roasted the Sumatra to a nice medium roast. Depending on the grind and with proper brewing, this Sumatra Crown Jewel can produce notes of Clove, Maple Syrup, Buttered Toast and Chocolate all the way to Apricot, Yellow Plum, Orange, Honey, Almond, Sage and Tea notes.

Brewing

As with most Top-Shelf coffees, we suggest using the pour-over method to maximized the aroma and flavor of this Crown Jewel coffee using either a 1:16 or 1:17 coffee to water ratio with the water between 200F and 205F. Once grounds are placed in the filter, pre-soak grounds by covering with water for ~30sec to allow for blooming, then finish with either a steady pour or a couple of short pours to complete the brewing process.

Brew Observations

Brew Observation by Royal Coffee
For the brew analysis of this delicious coffee from Sumatra, I had a feeling that the coffee could benefit from a small bypass to help highlight its notable acidity and minimize some of the earthier notes that are the calling card of Sumatran coffees. With that in mind, as well as our experiences brewing a honey-processed coffee from Sumatra on the brew bar earlier this year, I opted for the immersion/infusion hybrid brewer, the Clever Dripper.

After a quick re-read of Sandra’s earlier blog post on brewing with a bypass, I brewed up the first brew, using a 20% bypass to dilute the brew to a (hopefully) light, pleasant 1.10 TDS. The resulting brew was a little lighter than we had hoped for, and a little dry on the finish, but we could definitely taste the acidity we love in this coffee with notes of melon and stone fruit. I was confident a few small tweaks could really make this coffee pop.

For the second brew, I used slightly less brew water, and a slightly higher bypass percentage; both changes that I hoped would help mitigate the overextraction and really let this coffee’s acidity and sweetness shine through. This cup was delicious! We tasted lots of complex acidity in the form of apricot, plum, pear, orange, and peach, plus the brew boasted tons of sweetness – think honey, nougat, almond, and maple syrup – with a delightfully round and creamy body. This coffee is a fantastic new offering from Indonesia that might change the way you think about Sumatran coffees!

Producer Background

Sumatra Atu Lintang Junus Family Triple Picked Organic Crown Jewel is sourced from the family run Jagong Mill and surrounding farms (owned by Irham Junus, his son Andi and daughter Ina), located in the Jagong Jeget coffee region of Aceh province in Sumatra, Indonesia. By only using ripe red fruit, Irham and his family are pioneering something truly unique in Sumatra. As they control the whole process from tree to mill to export, they are able to avoid the long and convoluted supply lines that can compromise Sumatran quality.