A few weeks ago, I managed to get my hands on some beans from Liberica Coffee, a chain of specialty coffee shops with branches around Jakarta’s malls. The one I visited is located in Pacific Place mall. This time, the beans that I acquired came from the region of Sapan, in the fertile and mountainous land of Tana Toraja.

To be honest, even though this bean won the 1st place in an annual coffee bean competition, I wasn’t looking forward to this coffee bean at first. This was not the bean that I wanted to buy. However, since the one that I’m interested is sold out and I’m out of coffee beans, I decided to buy this bean anyway.

Toraja itself is very famous for its coffee, especially among the Japanese people. It is relatively easy to find coffee beans coming from Toraja in Jakarta. Many of the coffee shops that I’ve visited used Toraja beans either as a single origin coffee or in their house blends. A very versatile bean indeed.

Typically, coffee from Tana Toraja, like many coffees originating from the Eastern part of Indonesia that I’ve encountered so far has a medium body with a very chocolaty aroma and flavor as well as some caramel and citric acidity. However, when I first tried the Sapan in espresso form, I did not spot the familiar flavors. In fact, the first sip tasted like a well-balanced, medium bodied espresso with no dominating flavors. Thinking back, I think that I might have missed the almond flavor since this is the first time I’ve tasted almond flavor in coffee. I didn’t taste any bitterness or acidity. It’s a really subtle flavor.

After the second sip, I started spotting the familiar acidic flavor from the espresso. The acidity in the coffee itself is quite subtle, as if it’s masked by the almond flavor. It tasted more like lemon and citrus in my opinion. A very unique experience indeed.

I tried adding some steamed milk to the espresso. It turns out that after the addition of milk, the first flavor that I tasted is that of almonds. The acidity started kicking in pretty fast, when I’m halfway through my 5 oz cappuccino. The acidity lingers until the end, creating a rather acidic finish.

In conclusion, the coffee beans from the region of Toraja Sapan is worth a try. It is unique because it possesses an almond flavor. This flavor is not commonly found in Indonesian coffees, especially coffee beans from the Eastern part of Indonesia, in my opinion. It is quite a subtle cup with a smooth body and a pleasant citric acidity. The Toraja Sapan gave me a new insight on the flavor profiles of coffee beans originating from the mountainous land of Tana Toraja. It showed me the other face of Torajan coffee beans. Salud! ^^