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Best Sumatra Coffee Brands
About Sumatran coffee and choosing the best brand.
Published February 8, 2022
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Daniel Hedlund
Coffee experts@The Coffee Lab
Sumatran coffee is one of the best-known coffees from Indonesia. Today, it can be found in many popular coffee blends including Kirkland, Starbucks and many other international and premium brands. It’s widely considered to be one of the best coffee beans to buy. Drinking a cup of Sumatran coffee offers an amazing coffee experience, as you may already know if you are a coffee-lover who has tried it. Typically, Sumatran coffee beans produce a complex, heavy, smooth coffee that’s thought to be one of the tastiest options on the market.
What Makes Sumatran Coffee Different?
From the moment you take your first sip, you’ll taste the smooth, warm, and rich flavor of the Sumatra coffee beans. Each blend that you can get is a little bit different, allowing you to experience the unique tastes from the region where the beans were grown and processed. Sumatran coffee flavors can range from deep and sensual flavors to lighter, fruitier tastes. It’s definitely a firm favorite among many specialty coffee lovers.
What is Sumatran Coffee?
What is Sumatra coffee? Sumatra coffee is a broad term referring to a wide range of different coffees grown in the Sumatra region of Indonesia, covering hundreds of miles and including a range of terrains from steep mountains to low coastal areas. Farmers throughout the region grow coffee beans, with each change in terrain and climate contributing to the flavor of the various coffees that come from this area. Mandheling and Lintong are two areas that produce the majority of Sumatran coffee.
How Sumatran Coffee is Processed
The processing of the coffee beans leads to changes in the final flavor in your cup of coffee. For Sumatran coffee beans, two main processing methods are used, which are:
Dry Processing
This is the most predominant processing method used for Sumatran coffee. The farmers typically pick the coffee beans and remove the skins before they are fermented overnight in woven plastic bags until the pulp is loosened. In the morning, they are washed by hand before being laid out on drying sheets where they are left to sun-dry naturally. Some beans are dried on the ground rather than on a drying sheet, which produces a final coffee product that has an earthier taste. During the drying process is when the coffee beans begun to acquire the subtle differences that can be noticeable between different coffees from this region.
Wet Processing
While most Sumatran coffee beans are dry processed, a small percentage are processed using wet-hulling methods. This involves picking and then only partially drying the beans. It is a newer process that involves removing all four layers that surround the bean, which results in coffee that tastes fruitier and brighter.
The ‘purest’ version of Sumatran coffee are beans that are dried completely before the outer layer is removed, since the drinker then experiences only the flavor of the coffee bean rather than any characteristics that are added during the drying process if it occurs outside of the hull.
Special Sumatran Coffees
Sumatran coffee connoisseurs will often look for aged green coffee beans grown in Sumatra’s western region, Aceh, as the aging process highlights the earthy and spicy notes of this coffee.
Kopi Luwak coffee is a gourmet type of Sumatran coffee where the coffee beans are excreted by a small animal known as a luwak. Coffee fruit is a main part of the luwak’s diet, and their excreted contains beans that are collected, roasted, and sold for around $300 per pound.
Another less-famous Sumatran coffee is Gayo Mountain coffee beans. These are beans that are grown in the shade and are not usually treated with any types of chemicals. They are typically grown on small coffee farms in Aceh and processed using the backyard washed method, which results in coffee that offers a range of flavors from thin and grassy to sweet and rounded. Some Gayo Mountain coffee is semi-dried.
How to Choose the Best Sumatran Coffee
If you want to try Sumatran coffee for yourself, then the first step is to select the right brand. The best option is to buy from a larger coffee store or specialty roaster as they will usually offer a range of good quality Sumatran coffee beans. However, no matter where you are buying from, it’s important to choose your coffee carefully and avoid using price alone to determine the quality of the coffee that ends up in your cup.
Most people who enjoy drinking Sumatran coffee like these blends for their unique combination of low acidity and smooth tastes along with the various subtle flavor differences. Drinking a cup of high-quality Sumatran coffee should leave a rich, lingering flavor in your mouth. Hand pouring or a siphon coffee maker are some of the best ways to brew Sumatran coffee.
Best Sumatran Coffee Brands to Try
If you are ready to try Sumatran coffee, then these are some of the most reputable, high-quality brands to consider.
Fresh Roasted Coffee LLC
This is a company that is committed to being environmentally friendly, with coffees that carry a range of certifications including Rainforest Alliance, USDA Organic, Fair Trade, and Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center Bird Friendly. They offer Kosher products and use a smokeless process for roasting their coffee beans, which helps to reduce the company’s carbon footprint by a huge 80%. They offer organic Sumatran coffee from the Central Aceh region, sourced from a cooperative with almost 900 growers and members. The coffee plants are grown at an elevation of between four and five thousand feet and include several varietals including Bourbon, Catimor, Caturra and Typica. The coffee is processed using a traditional well-hulled, sun-dried method and offers a chocolatey, earthy profile with a peppery flavor.
Fresh Roasted Coffee Organic Sumatra Swiss Water Coffee
If you’re looking for a Sumatra coffee option with lower caffeine content, this one from Fresh Roasted Coffee might be an ideal choice for you. It carries all the certifications that you might be looking for if you are environmentally conscious including Fair Trade, USDA Organic, Kosher, and Rainforest Alliance. These beans are grown in the shade to protect harvesters and produce the best flavors. The half caff coffee has all the characteristics of the original Sumatra coffee by this company, but with dramatically lower caffeine content. The Swiss Water Process is used to remove the caffeine from the beans, leaving all of the bold and rich flavors and avoiding the use of chemicals.
Volcanica Sumatra Coffee
A well-established coffee brand, Volcanica produces some of the best Sumatra coffee available. Their coffee is roasted weekly in Atlanta, and they are committed to producing only the best fine specialty coffee. One percent of all their sales is donated to water charities. The Sumatra Mandheling coffee is medium roasted, allowing the lemongrass and dried fruit flavor notes to be highlighted. It still has the chocolatey and earthy flavor notes that Sumatra is best known for, including notes of caramel, toffee, and brown sugar. The coffee beans are sourced from north Sumatra and undergo a traditional wet hulling process. The coffee is Certified Kosher and Fair Trade Certified.
Stumptown Bies Penantan Coffee
Stumptown sources Sumatran coffee from smallholder famers in the Aceh province, and the coffee is named for the community that produces it. The coffee beans are grown at an elevation of between 4000-5200 feet and they go through a wet hulling processing method. Stumptown get the coffee exclusively from the Ketiara Co-op, which is female-led and founded in 2009, building the empowerment to growers that was started by fair trade coffee. There are several varietals including Catimor, Bourbon, Caturra and Typica, resulting in a full-bodied brew that is medium roasted with sweet, spicy and cedar notes along with the typical chocolate, earthy flavor profile.
Cooper’s Cask Coffee Uprising Sumatra Coffee
Cooper’s Cask source their coffee beans from the Lintong area of Sumatra. Beans grown in this area have a balanced flavor and a clean aftertaste. One of the unique selling points of this coffee is that the beans are aged in Sons of Whiskey barrels, which adds a caramel and vanilla sweetness to the coffee. The coffee has a woody, earthy taste with mild notes of tobacco and ripe tropical fruits. This Sumatra coffee from Cooper’s Cask is one of the few Sumatran coffees that makes good espresso. You will also get great results using a range of other brewing methods including pour-over, drip coffee, and French Press. The coffee is Fairtrade and USDA Organic certified.
Starbucks Dark Roast Sumatra Ground Coffee
If you like dark roast and Sumatra coffee, then Starbucks is a good brand to choose. It has earthy and herbal notes, and the typical full body and rich chocolate notes you would expect from Sumatra coffee. Starbucks is one of the biggest buyers of southeast Asian coffees and Sumatra coffee is not only available as a single-origin coffee but also as the base note of many of the other blends that they offer.
Sumatra coffee from Indonesia is known for being rich and full-bodied. It’s definitely worth trying for anybody who loves coffee.
About the author
Daniel Hedlund
Working with the Era of We initiative and loves knowledge sharing and a really good cup of coffee.
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