thick bodied cup with notes of caramel, molasses, rustic chocolate, pipe tobacco, malted grains, cinnamon stick, and earthy sandalwood.
The first thing some will notice is that this coffee looks more like a dry process (see image). It looks like some of the fruit mucilage was intact during the drying phase, which has led to the yellowish hue in the green. This is consistent with coffee that’s been processed with a demucilager to remove the outer cherry, and not fermented to remove the remaining fruit (like honey process coffee). One thing is for sure, it falls under the “wet process” category and tastes like it!
Cameroon is an oddball in the Specialty Coffee terms. For starters, this is West African coffee, not East African like most other arabica offerings such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Rwanda. And a large percentage of Cameroon coffee has traditionally been robusta, grown in all provinces except the north, while arabica is mainly produced in the high altitudes of the west, northwest and east. The western highlands of Cameroon, where much of the coffee is grown, averages about 5,000 feet (1500m) above sea level and has two distinct seasons, the rainy season and dry season, which benefits quality arabica.
This lot is from the Caplami Cooperative, located in the region of Mifi. Caplami Cooperative has around 2500 members, and farms are situated at an altitude range of 1300 to 1800 meters above sea level. This is an unusual longberry Java cultivar, quite similar in appearance to the long, pointed Java longberry from Buenos Aires that we offer, though how the two are related is a bit murky.
- Origin: Cameroon
- Region: Mifi
- Producer: Caplami Cooperative
- Altitude: 1300-1800m
- Cultivar: Java cultivar
- Processing: Wet Process (Washed)
- Sourcing: Sweet Maria’s