Hits: 103
Beans: Typica, Catimor, Caturra, Washed, Sigri Plantation, Waghi Valley, West highlands, Papua New Guinea.
Shop: Coffeexperts, Webshop, Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.
Coffeexperts – Sigri AA: Background information.
In this review I will discuss the Sigri AA coffee from Coffeexperts. This Sigri AA comes from Papua New Guinea, a relative new country that was established in 1942. This mountainous country contains lots of tropical rainforests with several unknown species of plants and animals that are yet to be discovered. Papua New Guinea has 65.000 acres of land on which coffee is cultivated. The coffee industry is located in several districts such as the Eastern Highlands, Western Highlands and the Chimbu province. In the Western Highlands there are six plantations that produce 40% of all the coffee: Kindgeng, Bunum Wo, Kudjip, Kigabah, Aviamp and of course Sigri.
The Sigri farm is located at an altitude of 1600m above sea level in the Waghi Valley. The volcanic soil on which the farm cultivates the coffee is covered in tropical and subequatorial rainforests and provides a nutritious environment for the coffee plants. The weather is warm and very humid with an average of 2000mm to 2500mm of rainfall each year. The varieties on the Sigri farm are Typica, Catimor and Caturra. After harvesting the coffee gets sun dried or, during the monsoons, mechanically dried. This Sigri AA is a washed coffee.
Coffeexperts – Sigri AA: Opening the package.
Coffeexperts is a private label roaster which means that shops ask them to roast their coffee for them, but get to put their own label on the package. The package that I got from Coffeexperts had their own label on the package and the package had a zip lock and degassing valve. On the label is a lot of information about the coffee, including tasting notes. When opening the package there was a soft floral and sweet scent coming off of the beans. When I tasted a bean, I noticed that there was no bitterness to the bean. A soft sounress only appeared at the end and the overall taste was a little tea-like. The roast was even and there were hardly, if any, defects in the package. Nice job!
As my grinder was doing its job, the scent of sugared cookies came off of the ground coffee and filled up the room.
Coffeexperts – Sigri AA: The tasting.
I started brewing the coffee and the beige coffee that flowed into my cup looked great. The scent coming off was floral and sweet. I got a hint of lavender and a bouquet of flowers when I smelled the coffee in the cup and, as the coffee cooled down, the smell became sweeter. I took a sip and slurped oxygen inside to stimulate the pallet and the flavours in the coffee. The coffee feels oily and supple and the first thing I notice in my mouth is a pleasant lemony sourness that reminds me of lemon peel. This flavour is accompanied by a sweet sugary undertone.
As the sourness fades pretty quickly, the floral aspect of this coffee takes over together with a honey like sweetness. I swallow the coffee and a pepper-like sensation can be felt up in my mouth. It tingles for a second and fades away shortly after. It is then that I notice the acidity of this coffee to its fullest. The citric acidity has a vibrant touch to it and it stimulates the sides and the tip of my tongue. It feels sublime. The aftertaste is mellow, sweet and when I breathe back through my mouth I get a strong flavour of caramelized sugar. The aftertaste lingers for quite some time!
Coffeexperts – Sigri AA: The verdict.
When people think about coffees from Asia, they quickly assume the coffee will have spicy and earthy notes to it. This Papua New Guinea Sigri AA coffee proves that that is not the case at all. Coffeexperts have roasted this coffee to perfection and they have created a coffee that will satisfy the common coffee lover, and the experts alike. The best part of the coffee, aside from the beautiful floral and honey notes in the cup, is the vibrant acidity that this coffee produces. Also the lemon peel flavour that can be found right at the beginning of your sip is very pleasant. The acidity is not that high so that you will stop drinking it after a cup or two. Instead I noticed that during the review I drank almost all of the 250 grams that I got in the package over the course of two days. A job well done!