Balinese Beans?

[neilmod19]

I''m a relatively novice home roaster. (Got an iRoast 2 for Christmas last year, and have done about 10 batches, mostly espresso roast for use in a Gaggia home espresso machine and French roasts for use in a French press pot.)

A friend of mine just got back from Bali, and brought me back about a kilo of unroasted beans. Appearance-wise, they''re definitely unroasted, although the color is more of a tan or light brown, rather than the green-grey beans I''ve gotten from Sweet Maria''s. (He was at a plantation, and, although they sold roasted coffee there, they did not have unroasted beans on display. When he specifically asked for unroasted beans, these are what they gave him.)

That''s about all the information I have.

So my questions are:

1) What kind of coffee am I likely dealing with here? Someone on one board said Balinese beans are more likely Robusta than Arabica.

2) What kind of roast/grind are these beans best suited for?

3) Is the color anything to be concerned about?

Thanks for any advice anyone here can offer.

 

[crema123]

Not sure, but do you think the fruit may still be attached to the bean? Is what you have a lot larger than a coffee bean? Maybe you can whack it on something and see if you can take the hull off, if that's the case.

 

[Davec]

On the farms the beans are often stored "in pergamino" or in the parchment, this helps preserve them better in a humid environment. The parchment is removed with a Huller....If this is the case, you will need to remove the parchment before roasting, or throw them in the bin.

 

[Alun_evans]

Do you know what part of Bali your friend got the greens (tans) from? Many of the tourist plantations are indeed Robusta, although there is some solid, although not spectacular, Arabica found in the Mountains near Singa Raja and a small place on Gunung Agung in the East of the island. Plantation in Indonesia, if outside Java, normally would lean towards Robusta. Most Arabica is small hold grown.

Generally if its Arabica it would be new crop and processed using semi or fully wet processing. Most Arabica, as it is poduced in such minute quantities, is sold through the traders in North Bali or direct to buyers (such as Sweetmarias). The semi-wet would produce a green- greeny/gray finished bean. Nearly all Arabica grown in Bali is now finished this way- vs the dry method that is still the predominante method of finishing for the Robusta. The crop season is well over in Bali, so what ever you have is 2007 (mid) cropseason. If it is arabica, but tan...than it would probably be at least a couple if seasons old. I am, however, leaning towards it being a robusta. POst a picture, or ask your friend the location of the plantation he brought the coffee from and we can clear i up quickly.

 

[Alun_evans]

DaveC is also correct, sometimes (although far less often than in the past), coffee is semi processed and left as parchment (kopi Parkamen). The problem storing coffee in parchement form is it often can lead to mould and other problems associated with storage in tropical conditions. Generally coffee grown away from a was station in Indonesia will be transfered there in semi processed form- washed and finished. Wet processed coffee i actually dried with parchment still on, but once the drying process is finished, parchment is removed very quickly (as above)Storage in parchent for these days is infact quite rare, and I would thing be unlikely in an Island with such good access infrastructure as Bali

 

[Davec]

I agree the small effort of posting a picture would help greatly.