Celebes Toraja
Happy Friday everyone! I spent this morning helping my son’s class tie-dye shirts. I enjoy helping in the classroom, especially since my kids are still excited to see me in that setting. I’m sure that won’t always be the case, but I love that Jack told me yesterday that he was hoping I would be one of the helpers. It makes my mom heart glad. Then this evening Trace and I are going to Tahoe for a night, to celebrate our ninth anniversary, so it is all around a good day. What do you have planned for Labor Day? Is it a three day weekend for you? We will be open on Monday, from 7 am to 3 pm.
This week’s coffee of the week is a high-grown coffee from the Toraja region of Sulawesi, formerly known as Celebes. The term Toraja is a name given to the indigenous people in the mountains of South Sulawesi, as well as to the mountains there. This coffee is processed by a Japanese-Indonesian collaboration, PT Toarco Jaya, which has been working in this region to create specialty coffee there.
The point of this collaboration was to improve the coffee and the conditions in this part of the world. You can read about how they have established buying stations here, while teaching farmers better practices, and even providing them with high quality seedlings. Since much of Indonesia grows lower grade robusta coffee, it is significant that the Toraja region is committed to arabica varieties.
Much of this coffee is exported to Japan, but we are fortunate to receive these Toraja beans. When we opened the burlap, the processing is beautiful: the beans are extra large with a strong blue tint. It is very clean and of a consistent size. Trace was excited to roast these beans for us to sample, and we can’t wait to drink this all week.
This Celebes is roasted light, and it is very clean in the cup. It is not as earthy as many Indonesians (our Pawani Sumatra, for instance). It is balanced and sweet, with strong roasted caramel flavors. The aroma hints of honey and it has a medium to light body. We’ve brewed it up for you this week, so if your Labor Day plans don’t take you out of town, come on in and try a cup on us. Use the code in bold above (blue tint*) for your free twelve ounce cup. Enjoy!
–Holly Fike
*Code good for one free 12 ounce cup of Celebes Toraja. Code expires on 9.05.13. Limit one free cup per customer please. Valid only at Carolines Coffee Roasters, 128 S. Auburn Street, Grass Valley, CA. Code/Offer has no cash value.