Coffee

Taylortat said:
I finished the Malabar and just opened a bag of iron bean Tanzania peaberry. Very contrasting cups of coffee.
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I always liked Peaberry. I used to get a Costa Rican peaberry. It had a floral note that not all coffee does.

Sadly, that's a category of notes I've been missing since my second round of COVID. It has only been since February but there has been some instance of lingering symptoms or possible "long COVID". I've been doing some exercises that are supposed to help with smell but I don't know if the little bit of recovery so far has had anything to do with it.

In the meantime, I've either been enjoying the textural qualities of french-pressed Major Dickason's or the convenience of Taster's Choice. :eek:
 
I've been buying this at Costco because it's cheap.

Sumatra1.jpg

Suspicious by nature, I searched for Usaha Tani Gayo Co-op, alleged producer/member of "The Coffee Farmer's Co-op," and discovered that it is a real business with an address in Takengon, Sumatra.

Recommending this coffee to my stepson in Vietnam (which has no Costco) I wondered if he could drive there from Ho Chi Minh City to buy directly. Guess what? If it weren't for the pandemic making international travel problematic, it looks like he could.

Trip1.jpg

The "tolls" are fare on an auto ferry from Singapore to Medan, Sumatra's principal port.

Takengon is a lakeside market town of 230,000 in Sumatra's misty northern highlands, average temperature 68º F year-round, far from any tourist destination, and no alcohol or drugs (except caffeine) which kind of spoils it for me. The best things to do there are buy coffee, drink coffee, and eat fish caught in Lake Laut Tawar. The restaurants are typical Indonesian home cooking, nothing special but the fish are good. There is a possible side trip to Mount Geureudong, a towering complex of four volcanos (one active) with nice hot springs.

Beautiful, scenic Takengon:

Takengon1.jpg

I read online that 96% of Sumatra's coffee is grown on owner-operated small farms. I think people there would live better growing less coffee and more upland rice and fruit trees, but I'm still impressed.

Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 28 October 1785:

Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on. If for the encouragement of industry we allow it to be appropriated, we must take care that other employment be provided to those excluded from the appropriation. If we do not, the fundamental right to labor the earth returns to the unemployed. It is too soon yet in our country to say that every man who cannot find employment, but who can find uncultivated land, shall be at liberty to cultivate it, paying a moderate rent. But it is not too soon to provide by every possible means that as few as possible shall be without a little portion of land. The small landholders are the most precious part of a state.
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^^ My Wife has been to that part of the world...looks nice. The closest I've been...Japan.
I couldn't take the locally roasted coffee. Here comes IronBean (Tanzania peaberry, Ethiopian ,and Colombian).
 
Piso Mojado said:
I've been buying this at Costco because it's cheap.
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Is any decent coffee "cheap" now?

I always keep instant coffee on hand. Sometimes, I just want a quick cup. I used to enjoy Davidoff and other higher-end instants from the European market. Unfortunately, some cut-backs on the grocery budget settled me on Taster's Choice. It's not bad and does the job when I'm not pressing. They carry it at my local wholesale club. The 14oz. container was somewhere around $12 earlier in the pandemic. I just re-upped today. That same container cost $17.79 :(
 
rampco88 said:
I like anything Sumatra even if it’s blended with another bean. Lately been enjoying a Sumatra/Peruvian blend.
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I’ve never had any Sumatra. I usually prefer single origins as well but there’s definitely good blends out there. Usually a natural Ethiopian/washed South American is a good blend for me
 
Dcdavis said:
I’ve never had any Sumatra. I usually prefer single origins as well but there’s definitely good blends out there. Usually a natural Ethiopian/washed South American is a good blend for me
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Give the Boyer’s Mash Up Sumatra/Peru a try. It’s usually found at most grocers. It’s advertised as a dark roast but it’s not overly charred like Starbucks so it has a better, more complex taste.
 
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