Heirloom Coffee Boutique

Dalat Paradise Blend
- Heirloom Variety: Bourbon Arabica and Robusta

Robusta flower and leaves

This coffee starts with a base of Indochine Estates heirloom Bourbon Arabica beans, shipped to us as green coffee beans, then roasted fresh by a local roaster. It's a special heirloom species of Arabica, trees which have been pampered on their family estate farms for multiple generations. These beans have a delicious buttery caramel taste that is very distinct, and a wonderful 'classic coffee' aroma that fill the kitchen with that scent we love. We then blended in about 20% Dalat Robusta peaberries to give the coffee amazing body and fullness, as well as improving the crema when brewed as espresso.
Key notes: Caramel, butter, milk chocolate, "classic coffee" aroma.

Sumatra Lintong
- Rare varietal

Traditional Batak house in the Lintong coffee region
overlooking Lake Toba

An exciting new addition to our heirloom coffee selection, this Arabica has a fantastic aroma and smooth, low-acid taste that nonetheless has the desirable "edge" that sharpens the palate. When ground fine, it makes a really exceptional espresso, all intense flavor with no trade-offs. (Although, as is generally the case with Arabica, it produces only a thin layer of crema.)

The island of Sumatra has a unique geography, featuring high plateaus with steep drop-offs to the ocean. The combination supports several prized heirloom varieties of coffee, including this Arabica from the Lintong growing region located near Lake Toba. Sumatra Lintong gains much of its unique character from its processing methods, which involve a partial wet-process followed by a three stage drying cycle which "cures" the unroasted bean.

True premium Lintong coffee is very difficult to secure right now. We have bought a supply of green, unroasted beans and formed a partnership with a local coffeehouse roaster, allowing us to roast the coffee as needed and allowing us to offer Lintong without fear of market fluctuations interrupting our supply. Lintong needs to be roasted with care, since the cured bean roasts to a slightly lighter color than other beans and requires a delicate touch; the result is extraordinary.

Organic Shade-Grown Philippines Robusta
- by Bantai, makers of Bantai Kopi Luwak

The Mountain Province
where the park is located

Grown at high altitude under the shade of old-growth jungle, this Robusta will shatter all expectations with its depth and complexity. Growing Robusta this way is almost unheard-of, but the result is extraordinary. Low acidity and no bitterness make it easy to drink, too. Bantai is a coffee company that employs indigenous peoples to harvest the beans from wild trees growing in the national forest preserves of the Philippines, and supports local conservation efforts. This is the same ultra-premium Robusta that the Philippines civets turn into Bantai's kopi luwak. Key notes: Chocolate, vanilla, spice; surprising depth and richness.

Vietnamese Dalat Bourbon Arabica
- Heirloom Variety

Town in the Central Dalat Highlands region
showing coffee terraces in background

100% pure fresh-roasted Indochine Estates heirloom Bourbon Arabica beans, shipped to us as green coffee beans, then roasted fresh by a local roaster, and finally vacuum-packed while still optimally fresh in foil one-way-vent bags. Indochine Estates is one of our favorite suppliers to work with because not only do they grow a delicious heirloom variety of Arabica on their multi-generation family farms, they are also deeply involved in their local community and sustainable growing pratices.

Bourbon Arabica beans are characterized by a roundness and mellowness of flavor that modern arabicas often lack, coupled with a balanced acidity and smooth mouthfeel. The trees these beans grow on were preserved on Indochine's estate farms when everyone else was re-planting their farms with modern hybrids, and we're very glad that they were!

Paradise Blend: South American Decaf

Southeast Asian coffee creaters don't really understand why decaf is so important to Western coffee drinkers. The closest of our usual coffees to decaf is Passiona, which is about 1/3 of normal caffeine. So, when our new partner, Mystic Coffee Roasters, offered to source us some of their fine Swiss Water process decaf for the holidays, we jumped on the opportunity.

This coffee is a blend of Brazilian and Columbian Arabicas produced to extremely high standards. In the July, 2010 issue of coffeereview.com, the World's leading coffee buying guide, this coffee was ranked as the best decaf coffee in North America; it was the only one with a score of 90 points. It's a medium-dark roast with great flavor, quite bold, with rich mouthfeel.

This is what the reviewers had to say: "Blind Assessment: Roundly balanced and deep. Flowers, orangey fruit and molasses in the aroma. In the cup soft, integrated acidity, syrupy mouthfeel, with the continuing orange-toned fruit and molasses adding a distinct chocolate complication. The chocolate and molasses carry into a richly sweet finish haunted, as the cup cools, by a faint wisp of flavor-flattening wood."

These beans are decaffeinated by the chemical-free, water process, the preferred decaffeinating method. Traditional decaffeinated coffee uses Methylene Chloride (MC) to remove the caffeine; however, the water process (in this case by the trademarked, patented Swiss-WaterŪ process) removes caffeine from coffee beans without the use of solvents or chemicals.

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