TASTING NOTES 
Flavours of plum, rockmelon, brown spice, caramel + raspberry. Sweet, silky + unique. 

ORIGIN
Pegasing Sub-district, Pantan Musara Village, Aceh Tengah, North Sumatra, Indonesia

HEIGHT

1500 - 1700 MASL

VARIETAL

Abyssinia, Ateng, Gayo 1& 2, Timtim

PROCESS
Honey 

PRODUCER
Asman Arianto

ABOUT ME

This is a really interesting, complex, unique and tasty honey process coffee from Sumatra, produced by Bapak Asman Arianto.

Originally from Palembang, South Sumatra, Asman has been living and working in Aceh Tengah since 1998. Most of the farmers in Aceh Tengah are migrants. Many of them were evacuated from Sinabung Berastagi in North Sumatra after the long-dormant volcano became continuously active again in 2013. 

When he arrived in Aceh, Asman entered the coffee industry and began collecting and processing wet-hulled coffee. He soon switched to collecting cherry and processing as Fully washed, Honey or Natural. 

He decided he wanted to build a cooperative to unite coffee farmers. In 2018, Asman formed the Ribang Gayo Musara Cooperative. His goal is to offer competitive prices that can help farmers reinvest in their farms and their families. The cooperative currently has over 350 members who deliver cherry to their processing facility in Pantan Musara. 

The benefits for cooperative members are threefold. First, they get higher prices for their cherry when they sell to the cooperative. Second, as cooperative members, they receive end-of-season ‘second payment’ premiums that share a portion of profits earned for higher-quality lots. In 2019, that premium was 500 Rupiah per kilogram. Finally, the cooperative provides training and outreach for farmers in everything from cultivation to processing.

Almost all farms on Sumatra are small. On average, farms are between 0.5 to 2.5 hectares. Coffee is usually the primary cash crop for farmers, but most also intercrop their trees alongside vegetables, maize and fruit. This intercropped produce will make up a substantial part of the family’s diet for the year.

In addition to growing coffee as a cash crop, many smallholder farmers also work as hired laborers at the nearby tea plantations. Tea is also a huge crop in the area. The bigger tea plantations are often near coffee farms. When the harvest is finished, coffee farmers will go there and pick leaves under contracted labor.

Ribang Gayo Musara is profiting and expanding. Members doubled production yields in just 5 seasons (2016 to 2020). While Indonesia is known for its unique ‘Wet Hulled’ Process (Giling Basah), Asman and his team are expanding Indonesia’s coffee possibilities by diversifying the cooperative's processing methods. 

For this coffee, cherry is handpicked on member farms, delivered to the cooperative wet mill then undergoes a rigorous selection process. Cherry is then pulped using a disc pulper. After pulping, the parchment is laid to dry on raised beds in greenhouses with the mucilage still attached. To ensure even drying it's sorted and raked regularly.

RECIPE: 

We recommend the following recipes as a starting points: 

Espresso
Age best used: 9-24 days after roast
Dose: 21 grams  
Brew temperature: 93.5ºC
Bar Pressure: 7.5 
Brew time: 25 - 30 sec  
Brew weight: 38 – 42 grams 
Brew Ratio: 1:2 – 1:2.1

Pour Over
Age best used: 7-24 days after roast
Brew temperature: 94ºC
20g in 280ml out (1:14)

Espresso recipe developed on a La Marzocco Linea using 20g baskets and should be taken as a starting point, not set in stone as different machines extract in different ways.

Pour Over recipe developed using Hario v60 and dry (not pre-wet) filter paper. Have fun experimenting.

SHIPPING OVERVIEW 
We ship freshly roasted coffee Monday - Friday and aim to dispatch within 24 hours. Orders placed after midday Thursday may not ship until the following week. 

Please note that we cannot ship to PO Boxes and see our FAQ for all shipping details.