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Bean: Sigri AA SHG, Washed & Sun Drying process, Papua New Guinea.
Shop: Out of the Grey, Pennsylvania, USA.
Out of the Grey – Papua New Guinea Sigri AA: Bakcground Information.
The Sigri AA (where AA stands for the size of the bean, and not the quality per se) comes from Papua New Guinea. Papua is the name of the eastern part of New Guinea and it has two main locations for coffee to be grown: Mount Hagen where they mostly grow Sigri coffee, and the eastern highlands where farmers grow estate coffees known as Arusafa or Arona coffee. The Sigri coffee is grown at an altitude of over 1500m above sea level. The farms are all eco- and bird-friendly farm that work on water preservation as well. The farms provide two types of shade trees that will help with the slow ripening of the cherries, but also give home to over 90 species of birds. The Sigri coffee is handpicked and checked for uniformity of the cherries. The coffee is then being fermented for three days, broken by a washing each 24 hours. In the next 21 days the coffee is color sorted and checked on grading and hulling. In the last 5 years or so, the quality of coffee from Papua New Guinea has taken to a rise and you can clearly taste it in the cup.
Out of the Grey – Papua New Guinea Sigri AA: Opening the package.
The Out of the Grey Papua New Guinea comes in a beige 12oz bag with a ziplock and degassing valve. When tearing open the ziplock, a sweet soft fragrance comes forth that reminds me of some earthy notes with soft chocolate. The beans are medium dark roasted and when I bite down on one; it is crumbly and gives of an earthy note that sweetens a little before getting a little bitter at the end. I pour the coffee in the hopper and almost immediately get the right grind size. As I grind the coffee, I can clearly smell an earty scent and a fruity note as well.
Time to brew!
Out of the Grey – Papua New Guinea Sigri AA: The Tasting.
I started with a low dosage of only 16 grams of coffee at first, but soon made my way up to 19 grams. This is not a coffee that you want to brew with a lower dosage, you want this coffee to burst open in your cup. The machine starts brewing and the coffee starts to flow into my cup as a beige brown syrup. The aromas are already coming off of the brew: earthy, sweet and fruity. I swirl the coffee in my cup and inhale the aromas once more; its heavy on the nose like I expected it would be. As I take a sip, I slurp oxygen inside and I notice the thick crema coming along with the brew. The coffee feels flimsy and oily in my mouth but still has a full body with a medium to low acidity. The coffee opens up and the first things that come to mind are dark notes of earthiness, almonds and leather. Slowly it sweetens a little and gives off the impression of a sweetened grain cookie, almonds and a rising sweetness. As I swallow the coffee a very faint menthol aspect to comes forth at the lower back side of my tongue. It does not taste like menthol at all, but the tongue stimulation of menthol is there and it keeps pulling saliva making the aftertaste sweeter by the minute. The aftertaste is sweet but also carries a dark chocolate mouthfeel with it.
I also made a Cappuccino and flat white with this coffee and it is a matching pair. The earthy, leathery and almond notes go very well with the milk. It results in a Cappuccino where the coffee does not overrule the milk, but actually complements it.
Out of the Grey – Papua New Guinea Sigri AA: The Verdict.
The Papua New Guinea Sigri AA shows that the coffee from Papua New Guinea is on the rise. The quality of the roast, aromas and flavors are great and they make this a really good all-day-every-day coffee. I think that you will want to use a high dosage of the coffee when brewing because it intensifies the flavors in your cup. The best thing about this coffee is the fact that the sweetness gradually makes its appearance. That way you can clearly make out the earthy, leather and almond notes in your cup before enjoying a combination of dark notes and sweetness in the after taste.
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