Indonesian Premium Sumatra – Asman Gayo Mill – Washed Processed

Burman Coffee Traders

Details

Origin

Indonesia

Process

Washed

Roast Suitability

Description

This Sumatra Asman Gayo Mill washed lot comes from the Pegasing district of Aceh Tengah, in the Gayo highlands of northern Sumatra, picked between 1300 and 1650 masl. The varieties are the usual Gayo mix of Ateng, Bor Bor, Catimor and Timor, all Timor hybrid descendants, and the lot was fully washed instead of wet hulled, which is still the exception in this part of Indonesia. The mill is run by Asman Arianto, a name Gayo buyers will recognize: he placed seventh in the 2022 Indonesia Cup of Excellence with a honey lot from Koperasi Ribang Gayo Musara that scored 88.68. Asman Gayo Mill serves a group of smallholders in the Pantan Musara villages, families who were pushed off their homes and their land by a natural disaster years ago and rebuilt around coffee. Almost every other receiving station in Sumatra only wet hulls. This one runs washed and natural lots too. Gayo arabica carries its own geographical indication, covering the Aceh Tengah, Bener Meriah and Gayo Lues regencies, with arabica planted between 900 and 1700 masl on volcanic soil. Rainfall averages about 1834 mm a year over roughly 149 days and temperatures sit between 16 and 24 C, so these highlands stay wet and cool almost all year. That climate is the reason Sumatra processes coffee the way it does, and it also gives the region two picking windows, November to January and April to May, which is when this coffee came off the trees. Arabica has been grown up here since the 1920s, and in 2023 Gayo arabica added European Union recognition to that geographical indication. If you have roasted Sumatra before you know the usual routine: the farmer pulps the cherry at home, carries it to a collector at 30 to 50 percent moisture with the mucilage still on, and the parchment comes off while the bean is still wet. That is wet hulling, locally giling basah, and it exists for a practical reason, since these highlands are rainy and cloudy most of the year and pulling the parchment off early is the fastest way to dry