Our offering for this Asia Coffee sampler will include 6 - 2 oz. pouches, one from each country for your drinking enjoyment. A 2 oz. pouch will make 10-12 standard cups of coffee. These coffees will all be ground and medium roasted to maximize the natural sugars and flavor characteristics of each coffee bean!!
1. Thailand Kao Jai
2. Mondulkin Cambodia FT
3. India Monsooned Malabar
4. Laos Naga Boloven Plateau
5. Vietnam Lam Dong Arabica G1 RFA
6. Papua New Guinea
1. Thailand Kao Jai:
Region: Asia
Roast: Medium
Our Thailand Kao Jai Coffee (in Thai this means Understanding) is truly one of the finest Arabica (a hidden gem) coffees grown and harvested in the world. It is very well balanced and enjoyable for a breakfast coffee and/or a coffee to compliment your evening meal. For your drinking pleasure, you will not be disappointed. We purchase this coffee directly from the farmers on Doi Chang Mountain in Chiang Rai Province and we pay them a sustainable wage.
Cupping notes: Milk Chocolate, Honey, Citrus
2. Mondulkiri Cambodia:FTO|
Mondulkiri Cambodian is a rare coffee to find Fair trade A traditional way to prepare Cambodian coffee (as well as other Southeast Asian coffees) is to roast the coffee until it is nearly black by using vegetable fat. Once the coffee beans have been roasted they are ground up to create a very fine powder that is used to brew a very rich and dark cup of coffee. Typically the coffee is brewed using either a cloth sock-like sieve or a Vietnamese coffee filter. Among the coffee producers of Indochina the most well-known is Vietnam which is the second largest exporter of coffee on the planet. Less well known are the coffees of Laos and Cambodia though these areas are likely to see increased coffee production in the future and may eventually emerge in the gourmet coffee market. |
3. India Monsooned Malabar
Monsooned Malabar, also known as Monsoon Malabar, is a process applied to coffee beans. The harvested coffee seeds are exposed to the monsoon rain and winds for a period of about three to four months, causing the beans to swell and lose the original acidity, resulting in a flavor profile with a practically neutral pH balance. The coffee is unique to the Malabar Coast of Karnataka and Kerala and has protected status under India's Geographical Indications of Goods Act. The name Monsoon Malabar is derived from exposure to the monsoon winds of the Malabar coast.
The blend is heavy bodied, pungent, and considered to be dry with a musty, chocolatey aroma and notes of spice and nuts.
The origins of Monsoon Malabar date back to the times of the British Raj, when, during the months that the beans were transported by sea from India to Europe, the humidity and the sea winds combined to cause the coffee to ripen from the fresh green to a more aged pale yellow. In the past, when wooden vessels carried raw coffee from India to Europe, during the monsoon months taking almost six months to sail around the Cape of Good Hope, the coffee beans, exposed to constant humid conditions, underwent characteristic changes. The beans changed in size, texture, and appearance, both as beans and in the cup. Modern transportation reduced the length of this journey and better protected the beans from weathering and humidity. However, the coffee beans now arriving in European ports lacked the depth and character of the coffee beans previously received.
In the past, the coffee beans had been changed by exposure to the sea air and monsoon winds and rain. An alternative process was implemented to replicate these conditions. A typical ambiance could be simulated along the coastal belt of southwest India during the monsoon months, bringing about the same characteristic change to the ordinary cherry coffee beans.
Varietals
Different varietals of the coffee bean may be processed in this way, hence monsoon malabar arabica and monsoon malabar robusta.
Monsooning process
Whole crops of cherry coffee are selected and sun-dried in expansive barbecues. The dried beans are cured and sorted into 'AA' and 'A' grades, after which they are stored in warehouses until the onset of monsoon. From June through September, the selected beans are exposed to moisture-laden monsoon winds in well-ventilated warehouses (12 to 16 weeks time). The monsooning process involves careful handling, repeated spreading, raking and turning around in regular intervals. The beans absorb moisture and get significantly larger, turning a pale golden colour. Further micro-sorting is done to separate fully monsooned beans.
Laos Naga Coffee is a grade 1 Arabica that is fully washed with 14 and up screen size. The coffee is carefully selected from farmers with which we maintain long-term relationships in the Champasak region of the Boloven Plateau. Specifically, the coffee is grown from Paksong, the coffee capital of the Boloven Plateau, to the southern edge of the Plateau where the Nonglouang River cascades down the Tad Kameud Waterfall to the lowlands. The target cup profile for this coffee is Sumatran like cup with tobacco and herbal notes.
Nagas are considered natural spirits protecting bodies of water such as rivers, lakes,
seas, springs, and wells. They bring rain, wealth and fertility. In the traditional Lao
agricultural context, water provided to a plant at the time of planting is considered as a direct offering to the serpent god.
Consistent with the theme, our mesmerizing Lao Naga coffees are sourced from the
best growing regions on the plateau. The farmers, mostly from Laven ethnic tribe,
have been traditionally growing coffee for over a century since it was introduced in the region by the French colonists
The cherries that arrive at our wet processing mill on regular basis during the season are segregated based on growing regions. These coffee lots are separately pulped in our state of the art water-efficient Penagos wet mill the same night. Wet parchment is there after dried in isolated cocoons specially designed for the purpose. The resulting coffees are far superior in cup and aspect when compared to conventional coffees from Laos.
ORIGIN: Laos
REGION: Boloven Plateau
PROCESSING: Washed
COFFEE GRADE: Grade 1
GROWING ALTITUDE: >1000m
5. Vietnam: Lam Dong Arabica G1 RFA|
Vietnam is the 2nd largest producer of coffee in the world. However, 95% of it is Robusta. Here is some of the first Arabica imported into the USA. Lam Dong is a grade 1 arabica. Most of the coffee that is grown in Vietnam is robusta, so it's a challenge to get arabica, much less grade 1. The beans are a beautiful blue-green, looking like the coffees from Indonesia. In the cup, it's sharp and sassy up front, with a hint of anise. Full body, dry finish, almost a buttery touch there. The brightness early eases off as it cools, bringing a dark chocolate nip out. Very different, exotic coffee ... After-dinner, with your creme brulee - it would shine. Going on the shelf tomorrow. Vietnam Lam Dong Arabica G1 RFA This is a wet hulled, grade 1, Rainforest Alliance (RFA) certified coffee from Lam Dong, Vietnam.
60% of Vietnam Arabica crop is in Lam Dong Province. Lam Dong's altitudes range from 900- 1400 masl, and this area experiences rains from April to July, with fertile basaltic soil. Varietals grown here are 95% Catimor and 5% Bourbon/Typica. Harvesting is from September to February. The processing of this coffee starts with the farmer delivering high grown coffee cherries to Olam where it gets pulped using Penagos DCV Pulpers and a Dry-fermentation is done in concrete tanks for up-to 14 hours. The following morning, post washing, parchment is pre-dried on Vibrating dryers, using air at temperature <= 45 degrees C. After mechanical drying, parchment is fed to Wet hullers. After Wet Hulling, the wet bean is transferred to Green Houses to be dried on raised beds for up to 7 days. Each Green House is monitored for humidity levels and coffee is raked consistently as it drops from 40% to 12% moisture by weight. Cupping Notes: Good body, prune, dried fruits, bakers chocolate, almond |
Farm: Various Small Farms from Lam Dong
Varietal: Catimor
Processing: Wet hulled & sundried; finished in mechanical driers
Altitude: 900 -1400 metres above sea level
Owner: 38 smallholder farmers
Town / City: Various towns in Da lat & Lac Duong district
Region: Lam Dong Province, Central Highlands
6. Papua New Guinea
Our Papua New Guinea is a fabulous Indonesian coffee with a full, rich body and excellent balance. It is sweet and clean in the cup and the aroma is full of mango fruitiness!
Papua New Guinea lies to the north of Australia and shares the island of New Guinea with the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya. The original seedlings in Papua New Guinea were from Jamaican Blue Mountain planted in 1927."
We have hand-picked these incredible coffees and we hope that you enjoy each one. Our continent samplers allow you to try a little taste of unique and wonderful coffees from around the world, while not having to commit to a large size just incase they're not for you. But one you do taste them, make sure to come back and purchase your favorites in half pound or full pound bags!