Crown Jewel Bali Batukaang Karana Inoculated Anaerobic Natural

Taste

Taste Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano  

There are a lot of theories about what fourth wave coffee will look like. Are we in? Are we not in it? Is it in the U.S? Some speculate that the fourth wave is actually coffee-growing regions elevating their coffee offerings to the producers and those native to the land. Traditionally, the most expensive coffee gets shipped out of the country so that farmers can make the most money from it.  

More and more, coffee-growing regions are keeping some of the high-end microlots in the region and selling them at local cafes; talk about fresh coffee. Indonesia and Colombia, in particular, are known for this sort of renaissance.  

I imagine that this is the type of high-end microlot circulating among cafes in Bali – something that represents the inherent greatness of Balinese flavors while toying with experimental processing style.  

From bubble gum to blood orange and lemongrass, the range of this inoculated anaerobic natural has us absolutely intrigued. This is a showstopper for sure, with a perfect balance of tart and creamy flavors. In the initial analysis, we got flavors like black tea, cocoa, cranberry, and lots and lots of lemongrass.  

In the brew analysis, Katie got notes like red wine, dark chocolate, Boston cream pie, key lime pie, and morning bun. MJ, on the espresso analysis, picked up flavors like sweet cream, orange rind, strawberry pop tart, and cherry cola. Cherry is a common denominator in a lot of the analyses by the team, with many sweet pastry notes contrasted by the sharp acidity of lime or red wine.  

This coffee is headed to espresso, and I am so excited to see how consumers react to it. Once MJ was able to get it dialed in, we were giddy with how good it tasted- or was it just the espresso kicking in? Either way, we think you will love showing off this coffee on your menu. From cultivar to region to processing, you have the three attributes that make up the holy trinity. Don’t miss out on this one!  

Source

Source Analysis by Evan Gilman

Bali is seen from the outside as a tourist haven, a wellspring of culture, a cultural exception to the rule in a country that itself is considered an exception to many rules. Bali’s exceptionalism applies not only to the coffee industry, but also to social and cultural conventions within Indonesia. Even the mention of this small island is an invitation to flights of fancy ranging from pristine rice terraces to ritzy Kuta beach clubs, and from Russian-financed real estate schemes to the denomination as the Island of the Gods. With a majority Hindu population, Bali has preserved culture dating from the Srivijayan Empire while also adapting to modern times gracefully enough to become a focal point for popular conceptions of what Indonesia is, or might be. It’s a microcosm, a matryoshka, and a multi-faceted mesh best exemplified in its music, calendar system, and language.  

While Indonesia was one of the first places to produce coffee on a commercial scale, it’s considered to be an outlier in many regards even while being the world’s fourth-largest producer. The supply chain here is long and twisted with many additional links absent in Central American or African coffee production. The typical wet-hulled processing style prevalent especially in Sumatra is a relatively recent invention, and an anathema to the traditional fully washed coffee found initially in Java’s colonialist-founded Estate coffees. It does, however, lead to ease of finance for producers as the coffee changes hands at each step, with payments made daily. Smallholder farmers appreciate the quickness and ease of getting cash for cherry or freshly pulped coffee, while collectors and mills appreciate the ability to turn over their stock quickly by seed-drying the coffees on the limited space of their patios.  

But this Balinese coffee isn’t privy to the vagaries of giling basah. In the early 2000s, Royal Coffee worked closely with Indokom Citra Persada and local producers to trial dry processed / natural coffee. This was in an effort not only to provide a new flavor profile and regional designation, but also to stem water usage in the highlands. Water usage has always been an issue for Bali, and the Subak Abian system was established as early as 900AD in order to manage water rights. Unfortunately for those nearest the source, at the top of the mountain, the water rights are very limited to account for all other subak associations downstream. In this new system, coffee cherry grown in Kintamani’s highlands was picked, taken down to a lower, warmer elevation and dried near Singaraja, on Bali’s more arid northern side.  

This Bali Natural coffee quickly gained a cult following, and its no-holds-barred watermelon candy fruitiness has made a name for itself over the past quarter century. So much so that new producers have branched off and created variations, creations, and special processes, and demand for cherry has skyrocketed. This inoculated anaerobic natural is just such a coffee, grown by smallholder producers in Batukaang, Kintamani, in the saddle ridge between Gunung Bratan and Gunung Batur. This area’s rich volcanic soil is host to all sorts of agricultural endeavors, the most famous of which are oranges and – of course – coffee. Coffee from these small farms is brought to Mas, just south of the arts capital of Ubud, for processing by Karana Global to produce this special lot.  

Karana has a well-appointed processing facility that includes optical color sorting for cherry with in-line flotation, plenty of raised bed drying space, and a crew of experienced coffee professionals who have handled everything from the soil to the final beverage. Starting from coffee harvested at 20-22 brix, the coffee is floated and washed, then placed in a fermentation tank after being inoculated with Pichia kudriavzeii, a yeast known to contribute complexity in flavor through its fermentation byproducts. The coffee is macerated with this yeast for 48 hours in the tank, until pH reaches 4.2, and then dried on the patio for 15-20 days, at which time the moisture content should reach 12%. The coffee is then hulled and rested in parchment for approximately 1 month before final hulling and export.  

Karana is well known for its boutique fermentation experiments, and due to the smaller size of their lots it has been difficult to get their coffee until this point. Helping with that endeavor is CATUR Coffee Company, fronted by CEO Mikael Jasin, the current World Barista Champion. Jasin and CATUR work to source and agglomerate lots from across the Indonesian Archipelago for export, no small logistical feat. For example, the container this coffee traveled in also held lots from Sumatra, as well as others from Bali. Without this logistical prowess and the ability to consolidate that CATUR offers, higher quality lots of coffee from Indonesia are generally sold on the local market. You just know those local cafes have some amazing coffees that we don’t see here… 

For me, this coffee represents nearly a decade of communication with friends in Indonesia who have gradually become business partners. I first met Kadek Edi and Rodney Glick of Karana Global in 2014, whilst on a trip to familiarize myself with the Indonesian coffee supply chain. At that time, I spent a fair amount of time hanging out at Seniman Coffee Studio in Ubud just talking coffee between music lessons. On a later trip, I met their head of operations, Diah Artha Yanti, who manages the mill and ensures quality. This coffee is also a culmination of their efforts to showcase the inherent deliciousness of Balinese coffee while using new techniques to improve quality and the conception of what Indonesian coffee can achieve. The team at Karana has certainly opened minds (and palates!) with this lot.  

Read on for our suggestions on how to handle this special coffee. 

Green

Green Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano and Chris Kornman 

The screen size is condensed in the 17-20 range; these are large beans! The moisture content is well below average, and the water activity is in the below average range as well. Be sure to check out the roaster’s notes on how to handle these metrics.  

In the green you’ll find the usual anaerobic/natural discoloration, along with some broken, chipped beans, insect damage, and sours here and there. We found this does not impact the cup quality in any way, and this consistency is as expected for this lot.  

The cultivar grown is a localized type of Catuai, first introduced to Indonesia in the late 1980’s by the Portuguese breeders also responsible for its early trials in Brazil. The name, Kartika, is an acronym: Kopi Arabica Typi Katuai (Arabica coffee, Catuai type) and its initial warm reception in Bali and elsewhere in the Pacific due to high cup quality has since flagged as the tree requires a heavier-than-usual regimen of inputs to remain productive and is susceptible to leaf rust, endemic throughout Indonesia. Due to its highly coveted profile and high water requirements, this cultivar typically comes with a high price point.  

Loring

Loring S15 Falcon Analysis by Doris Garrido and Chris Kornman 

This highly anticipated Balinese anaerobic natural, even while still afloat en route to Oakland, caught the attention of the team here at The Crown, and its arrival timing positioned it perfectly to slot into a need at our espresso bar. 

Doris, without much more than a sample roast to guide her, needed to immediately produce coffee both for this analysis and for our cafe. Presented here are her two first roasts, at her favored batch size – 18lbs — in our 15kg Loring. Pulling up a profile from the way back machine, Doris used a fermented natural Brazilian espresso roast from last year at this time as her guide. While there are undeniable differences in the coffees, the similarities – like lower green coffee density, lower growing elevations, and high intervention whole cherry processing style – provided a baseline to help her achieve a couple of goals with her roasts. 

Two slight deviations on the profile produced interesting and delicious results with some nuanced flavors accompanying each style. 

Her first roast, in blue, is a fraction slower and has a higher rate of rise towards the end of the roast, resulting in a darker exterior but lighter ground coffee ColorTrack score. The red roast is a little more typical of our house espresso style, with a ROR in decline at first crack from about 15F per minute down to the single digits by the roast’s end, with about 90 seconds of total development time. 

Overall the roasts share more similarities than they showcase differences, achieving color change very early at under 300F, and reaching first crack late, at upwards of 395F. The result is a disproportionately large percentage of time spent in color change’s Maillard reactions, already a common goal for coffees like this. At total roasting times around 9-and-a-half minutes, these would qualify as “longer” light roasts for a our lead-footed speed racer of a roaster. 

In the cup, the first roast with the higher end ROR was bright and zesty with complex berry-like acidity and bubble-gummy sweetness. The second roast was less complex, but just as sweet, with mellow acidity and notably lower intensity but no less fruit-forward cup character. 

Overall, watch for long color-change durations and rapid ROR at end of the roast; keep a steady hand on your controls as you approach first crack, there’s like to be a blip as heat builds just before the beans pop. This is your cue to hit the brakes a little to avoid a flicked, runaway roast. 

Aillio

Aillio Bullet R1 IBTS Analysis by Evan Gilman 

Unless otherwise noted, we use both the roast.world site and Artisan software to document our roasts on the Bullet. You can find our roast documentation below, by searching on roast.world, or by clicking on the Artisan links below.  

Take a look at our roast profiles below, as they are constantly changing! 

Approaching an anaerobic process coffee is always an adventure. Alliterative antics aside, this coffee has a lot in store for the roaster in terms of flavor and adjusting to different roasting styles. Going into the experience, I took a word of advice from Doris, who had roasted it before me with great results.  

I approached these 500 grams of coffee with a charge a little closer to my old style, at 428F. I still hit it with plenty heat at the outset, with P9 power and F2 fan until turning point. Keeping along this path of gradually reducing heat and increasing airflow, I hit P7 at 3:55 / 312F, keeping the fan at F3 until 6:05 / 354F. My rate of change did flatten out at this point, but no matter as I was trying to work my way slowly to crack and go for a longer time in the roaster, as Doris had suggested. I hit P6 just before first crack, and F5 immediately afterward. This coffee wanted to keep on cooking, and I decided to drop at 9:12 / 399F and unfortunately (in looks only) a mere 11% post-crack development time. The coffee still looked rather light coming out of the roaster, but I’ll chalk that up to processing style. 

In the cup, this coffee was an absolute fruit beast. Zippy dehydrated raspberry, Meyer lemon, and the red (cherry? watermelon? Red flavor!) hard candy flavor that natural Bali coffees are known for. I’m not sure if this is still a thing, but the red dipped cones from Dairy Queen come to mind. There’s a lot going on here, but it still reminded me of hot afternoons at Seniman Coffee Studio, with its colorful array of tropical fruits on the counter.  

This coffee will be delectable no matter how it’s brewed. I am really looking forward to seeing it as an espresso at the Crown, but I’ll be satisfied (or, pleased as punch, perhaps) to have it as a drip coffee for now.  

IKAwa

Ikawa Pro V3 Analysis by Isabella Vitaliano 

Our current Ikawa practice compares two sample roast profiles, originally designed for different densities of green coffee. The two roasts differ slightly in total length, charge temperature, and time spent between color change in first crack. You can learn more about the profiles here. 

This coffee is sweet, clean, and a little bit bombastic in some ways. This highly coveted cultivar comes in at a lower density, lower moisture content, and water activity, with a pretty large screen size.   

On the low-density roast, these metrics paired well with the slightly longer roast and resulted in a bright, juicy cup, with lots of caramel and rosemary aromatics. The sweetness paired well with the bright mango and lemongrass. This roast would taste great on espresso, enhancing the aromatics and acidity while maintaining that sweetness. 

The HD roast was super bright and fun, but it was paired with a slight pithy flavor that diminished the experience for me. I think this style of roast would do better on a cold brew or batch brew, with the goal of giving the coffee a bit more body to support the punchy acidic notes.  

I recommend using the low-density version of this coffee as it really showcases this coffee the best.  

You can roast your own by linking to our profiles in the Ikawa Pro app here: 

• Roast 1: Low Density Sample Roast 
• Roast 2: High Density Sample Roast   

Brew

Brew Analysis by Katie Briggs 

One of my favorite coffees we have had the pleasure of serving was an anaerobic washed coffee, so I was understandably excited to see this anaerobic natural from Bali. I feel like it has been a minute since we have seen coffees from Indonesia here in the tasting room, and I was itching to get into some brews! 

I started my brews off with a V60 brewer, a dose of 19g at a grind of 10. I did our standard 50g of water for the initial dose, for 40 seconds for the bloom. Then took the next pulse of water up to 200g, then 300g for the final pulse. We liked this initial brew! It was tart and fruity but sweet. We got notes of dark chocolate, raspberries, orange zest and melon. It did feel a touch heavy, and the TDS reflected that at 1.45. I wanted to see if I could get it a bit lighter and sweeter for the next brew. 

I took the last brew and just adjusted the grind to an 11. This usually gets a bit more sweetness out of the brew, but with this coffee it brought out more tartness. It was still a good brew, but it had more notes of tart strawberry, cranberry, custard, and herbal root. I like a sweeter brew, but if you like a bit more tartness this brew might be for you.  

I wanted to see how this brew would perform on a flatbed Kalita waver brewer, so that’s what I went with for my next brew. I kept the same dose at 19 and the grind at 11. I did the same pulses of water for this brew. This brew turned out a bit heavier and a little bitter. The TDS was back up and we got notes of orange peel, tart raspberry, cocoa, and rosemary. I didn’t love this brew, so I went back to the V60 for my final brew. 

For this last brew on the V60 brewer I did a dose of 18g instead of 19g and I went back to a 10 grind. Similar to the first brew, just dosed down to try and balance it out a bit. I did the same water pulses and bloom time, and this brew turned out great! It was sweet and fruity but still had a lot of chocolate notes to it. The team tasted chocolate cherries, Nutella, orange zest, cinnamon, and thyme. This was my favorite brew out of all of them. It was the most balanced and sweet and didn’t feel heavy at all.  

I would recommend a cone brewer and a slightly lower dose for this coffee to really bring out the soft sweetness and fruity flavors of this fun anaerobic natural.  Swing by the tasting room in the near future to taste it on our espresso bar! 

Espresso

Espresso Analysis by MJ Smith

Wow, what a wild coffee this is!! As soon as I opened the bag, I was bopped in the nose with a fruity intensity that could only belong to an anaerobic natural coffee. Call me old school, but when it comes to espresso, I typically prefer washed process coffees. This one, however, really opened my eyes… No literally, I had so many shots of it that I’m pretty sure my eyelids are permanently stuck open! I dialed this coffee up, down, and side-to-side trying to find the absolute best recipes, and I think I got some good ones for y’all! A lot of cacao and tart berries, with some delightful creaminess and a bit of tangy, candy-like citrus. I’ve got a low-dose recipe and a high-dose recipe for you today, so let’s get into them! 

For the first recipe, we’ll start off with a low dose of 17.5g, a yield of 39g, and a pull time of 27 seconds. Sometimes, you just have to really stretch a coffee out to see what it’s all about, and I was all about this shot! We found a good mix of sweet and fruity notes in this dial, with the sweets resembling Twinkies and cacao nibs and mole sauce, and fruitiness in the form of pineapple, green jolly rancher, raspberry, and orange zest. It also had a bit of red wine and balsamic notes hiding in there as well.  

Next up, we bumped the dose up to 20g, the yield to 39.8g, and coarsened up the grind a bit which landed us at a of 23 second pull time. This was my favorite shot of the day! The first one was a bit zesty, and this one felt a bit more balanced. Personally, I got notes of cherry cola, NYC street nuts, Italian sweet cream, and hibiscus. Some of the rest of the team also tasted sweet cream and hibiscus, as well as some more red wine and orange zest, with some additional notes of blackberry reduction, strawberry pop tart, purple jolly rancher, red gummy bears, “the beginning of a stick of fruit stripe gum,” cacao, molasses, and basically every kind of citrus. 

If you’re into wild anaerobic naturals, this is the coffee for you! While I tried this coffee about a million different ways, I preferred the lower and high doses to the ones in the middle. I also suggest a slightly higher yield and shorter pull time. Excitingly enough, I believe we will be featuring this coffee on our espresso bar here at The Crown in a few weeks, so if you’re still not convinced, just come on down to Oakland and give it a try for yourself! Enjoy!