by Nigel Ong
Sumatra Gayo coffee is a popular single-origin coffee from Indonesia. Many coffee reviewers rave about its herbal, earthy taste and low-acid profile. How true is this? I picked up a bag of Sumatra Gayo coffee myself to find out.
In this post, I review the Sumatra Gayo single-origin coffee. I’ll brew it three ways and then sample it with popular flavorings like milk and sugar. Finally, I’ll compare the coffee with other roasts in my stash.
About Sumatra Gayo Coffee
Sumatra is one of the world’s largest islands and produces a lot of coffee. Most are regular Robusta, although premium-grade Arabica is planted and harvested in some regions. One such region is Gayo.
The Gayo mountain range is located in the north of Sumatra, in the province of Aceh. The altitude ranges from 1,000 to 1,500 meters from sea level, and has great weather for Arabica beans to grow.
The region is also rich with volcanic soil, making growing plants such as coffee very fertile.
The Dutch colonial government likely recognized this and began planting coffee in the region as early as the 19th century. The native Gayo people also adapted to coffee farming very well, resulting in growth in coffee production in the region until today.
Sumatra Gayo coffee is known to have low acidity and a complex flavor profile. Common taste notes include chocolate, spices, herbs, and earthiness. Like many other Indonesian coffees, Gayo beans are processed using the Giling Basah (wet hull) method.
Gayo may be one of the most popular of the single-origin Indonesian coffee varieties, perhaps only behind Bali. Many roasters offer them, large and small. Prices are higher, but not as high as Kopi Luwak.
One good thing about Gayo coffee is that many farms and producers are certified for sustainability and good practices. These certifications include Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade, and USDA Organic.
How Does Sumatra Gayo Coffee Taste?
I picked up some Sumatra Gayo beans during my recent trip to Indonesia. My bag of Sumatra Gayo comes from Sakha Coffee, an independent roastery based in Jakarta, Indonesia.
First Impression
My Sumatra Gayo coffee is in whole bean form and is roasted to medium intensity.
When I opened the coffee bag, the beans were roasted to be very aromatic. I picked up the aroma of chocolate primarily, with a bit of a spicy, peppery-like note. The aroma is fragrant, and the high-quality airtight coffee bag could barely contain the smell.
The beans are slightly larger than many other Indonesian single-origin beans I have. They do look consistent in size, however. The beans also seem to be a little darker, without much shine or sheen.
I thought I’d compare the beans with other single-origin Indonesian beans. I have to confirm this. As you can see, when compared to the Sumatra Lintong (3 p.m.), Papua Wamena (6 p.m.), and Sulawesi Toraja (9 p.m.) beans, the Gayo beans are slightly darker.
Overall, the coffee beans seem to convince me that they will brew excellent cups of coffee. Let’s see if this is true. Let’s get brewing.
I will use three major brewing methods: French press, pour-over, and espresso. Why these three? Here are my reasons:
French Press: I can taste the coffee with all its oils and particles with this brewing. The French press also brews me a ‘dirty,’ murky, full-flavored coffee with floating particles, giving me all the smoke it can pack.
Pour Over With Filter Paper: This brewing method is similar to the regular coffee brewer most of us have at home. Plus, the filter paper helps to filter away coffee particles and some coffee oils, allowing me to enjoy a ‘cleaner’ version of the coffee.
Espresso: Espresso may not work with medium roasts, but the idea is to see if I can concentrate the flavors at the crema and coffee. This should help me to taste the coffee even better.
French Press
I got my Bodum Caffettiera French press out and brewed a batch enough for two cups.
I followed the instructions on the bag and combined 10 grams of coffee with 6 ounces of hot water (about 180ml) at around 185°F (about 85°C). I let the coffee sit for 4 minutes before pouring myself a cup.
What I got here is a textbook Sumatra Gayo coffee. As a start, the coffee is smooth, velvety, and very easy to sip.
There is nothing too edgy about this coffee. It is not acidic, meaning it does not taste sour. There is also little smoke and a woody taste since the beans were not roasted dark. Instead, I get that soft, toasty flavor.
Note-wise, my palate can pick up chocolate on the darker side. There are also some herbal, earthy undertones, which taste a little like mushrooms.
There is not too much sweetness in this coffee, with a bit of it at the finish after I swallowed the coffee. I like to think it’s close to brown sugar, although I would not dismiss it as caramel-like, too.
Pour Over With Filter Paper
I use the following gear to brew my pour-over coffee:
I use the pour-over brewing method from Starbucks. I added 20 grams of ground coffee and slowly poured 360ml of water.
The coffee tastes lighter and with more ‘clarity.’ The intensity is also dialed down slightly, perhaps due to having fewer coffee particles floating around in the drink.
With less earthy notes, I can detect some fruity notes that the coffee packaging mentions. However, this fruity note comes and goes, and I can only taste it at certain sips.
If you like your coffee light and clean, this is your brewing method. As for me, I like the French press version better.
Espresso
It may be odd to take a medium roast and make an espresso. However, I want to see if I can concentrate the flavors in the coffee better this way. I grabbed my Wacaco Minipresso GR and made a shot of espresso out of my Sumatra Gayo.
The resulting espresso is rich, with thick and velvety crema. The color is lighter, much like how a regular latte foam looks like. This is expected since the beans are not roasted dark, so they won’t make a darker-colored crema layer.
As for the flavoring, the espresso is on the light side. There’s little smoke, and the espresso is dominated by a toasty taste. There are also strong notes of chocolate. The crema has notes of mushrooms and some spices.
What Flavorings Work Best With Sumatra Gayo Coffee?
Sugar And Sweetener
Some coffee drinkers like to sweeten their coffee. The common choices are sugar and artificial sweeteners. I prepared both for this review:
- Regular brown granulated sugar
- Equal artificial sweetener (Aspartame)
I made two cups of black, French press Sumatra Gayo coffee. I added two teaspoons of sugar into the first cup and two drops of Equal to the second.
After stirring things in, I noticed the sugar added a bit of shine to the coffee. The coffee also seems to pick up a bit more texture. I kind of enjoy swishing the coffee in my mouth more. There’s a bit more viscosity, it seems.
Flavor-wise, the sugar and Equal made the chocolate note stand out more and muted the earthy notes slightly. I think it helps take some edges off this coffee, making it more drinkable for more people.
If I have to choose, however, I prefer the sugared version. The sweetness from Equal seems to come a bit later than sugar. On top of that, the sweetness has a very long finish, lingering on my palate long after I have swallowed the coffee. Very unnatural.
Milk And Creamer
Another favorite way people flavor their coffee is with fat, making their cups creamy. People usually use cow’s milk and coffee creamer to add creaminess to their coffee, so I’ll use the same ingredient here:
- Fresh whole cow’s milk, UHT
- Coffee Mate non-dairy creamer
Again, I brewed two fresh cups of Sumatra Gayo coffee. I added a shot (about 1 oz or 30 ml) of whole, fresh, UHT cow’s milk for the first cup. I added two teaspoons of Coffee Mate non-dairy creamer to the second cup.
Both cups become richer, smoother, and, yes, creamier. The creaminess complements the coffee nicely, making it soft and extremely enjoyable to sip. I love milky coffee, so this is very nice to me.
If I have to choose, I prefer the milked version over the one with Coffee-Mate. The creamer does well, but the milked cup tastes more natural.
With milk and creamer, please exercise caution when adding them to the coffee. This Sumatra Gayo coffee is quite soft, which means if you add too much milk, you may drown the coffee out.
Ice
Ice has a way of muting certain flavors and boosting others in the coffee, which makes me wonder how Sumatra Gayo coffee will become when chilled. I added half a cup of slightly concentrated coffee into a glass stuffed with ice.
I noticed that the ice helped to bring up the earthy note of the coffee, with some chocolate notes. This means the coffee tasted slightly bitter, with some subtle mushroom flavor.
I like this taste, but I do not think this will stand a chance against the iced Americano your local barista makes. The latter has that rich, dark bitterness the iced Sumatra Gayo does not have.
Sumatra Gayo Coffee vs. Single-Origin Indonesian Coffee
I pulled out my collection of single-origin Indonesian coffee and made a cup of coffee out of them:
- Java Coffee
- Sulawesi Toraja Coffee
- Sumatra Lintong Coffee
- Papua Wamena Coffee
I think the Sumatra Gayo is about the same intensity and body as the other coffee in this range. This means all these single-origins are soft, easy-to-drink coffee, including the Sumatra Gayo.
I think what made Sumatra Gayo stand out is the herbal, earthy tones. I noticed that it has a stronger one compared to the rest. In fact, I keep tasting herbal, almost mushroom-like notes with my Sumatra Gayo, something I don’t get from other roasts.
You will like the Sumatra Gayo over these single-origins if you like herbal notes with deep, earthy tastes.
Sumatra Gayo Coffee vs. Popular Medium Blends
I think comparing the Sumatra Gayo coffee with popular grocery shelves medium blends can help you picture Gayo coffee’s flavors better.
I brewed coffee out of these blends and sampled them together with my Sumatra Gayo:
The Sumatra Gayo has more edge and character in flavor because it is a single-origin coffee. This helps it stand out in flavors compared to the other blends here.
The Sumatra Gayo is more earthy and less acidic than these blends. It also has stronger herbal, mushroom-like notes that none of these blends have. Maybe Folgers House Blend, but not as strong.
Sumatra Gayo Coffee vs. Regular Coffee
Aside from regular grocery blends, I think you can picture the flavors of Sumatra Gayo coffee better if I compare them against regular gas stations and convenience store coffee.
I picked up a regular Americano from a 7-Eleven and drank it alongside the Sumatra Gayo coffee. Let’s just say that there is a very clear winner.
The single-origin Sumatra Gayo does taste so much better. It has more flavor depth, and the flavor is delivered in a nicer and more satisfying package.
Compared to that, the 7-Eleven coffee tastes flat, with a boring, plain bitterness. The coffee is also a little watery, making me suspect it is probably under-brewed or made with too much water.
Where Can You Get Sumatra Gayo Coffee?
If you want to try the Sumatra Gayo coffee from Sakha Roastery, you may have checked out their website. In that case, you may have discovered the bad news, too.
Sakha Coffee does not seem to ship worldwide. Their online store also does not accept credit card payments, unfortunately. However, there is plenty of Sumatra Gayo coffee offered by other roasters. A quick search on Amazon should help you see you high-grade Sumatra Gayo single-origin roasts from Volcanica, Stone Street, or Tentera.