Page 21 - Thirst Magazine Issue No. 3 Coffee & Tea

IT ISN’T EASY TO PRODUCE

GOOD LIBERICA COFFEE DUE TO
THE CHALLENGE OF LOW FARM

YIELD AND LABOUR INTENSIVE
PROCESSING BECAUSE OF

NATURALLY DIVERSE COFFEE CHERRY
SIZES AND SUPER HARD SKIN

fruity and sweet with long aftertaste,” Jason
explains. “Post-harvest processing and drying
methods can also have a big influence on the
final cup quality. Washed process tends to
produce cleaner coffee with subtler flavour
notes and shorter finishing.”
“It isn’t easy to produce good Liberica
coffee due to the challenge of low farm yield
and labour intensive processing because of
naturally diverse coffee cherry sizes and
super hard skin,” Jason says. More and more
Malaysian Liberica farmers and processing
mills are closing or switching to other cash
crops such as palm oil.

ACIDITY
“Coffee acidity is related to the photosynthesis
activity of the plant. The higher coffees are
grown, the slower the coffee cherries grow, and
thus have more time to produce more complex
compounds such as organic acids,” Caden
carefully explains. He believes that this is also
common in Robusta. “High grown Robusta
have higher acidity than lower grown Robusta.
Generally higher elevation coffee tends to be
denser than lower grown coffee. That is because
more compounds are produced while the bean
grows slower.” Given that the highest growing
altitude for Liberica is 600 metres above sea
level (masl), Robusta is 1300 masl and Arabica DCODES LAB
is 2800 masl respectively; Liberica generally (Hanoi, Vietnam)
has the lowest acidity, Robusta has lower to Caden Lee
medium acidity and Arabica with the highest Caden3943@gmail.com
acidity potential. Tel: +84 9 13 931491
MY LIBERICA PLANTATION
FUTURE UNLIMITED
The variables that influence coffee’s quality & PROCESSING MILL
are extremely broad and diverse. Based on one
estimate, there may be over one thousand coffee (Johor, Malaysia)
species, with the majority still undiscovered or Jason Liew
undocumented. Some wild coffees are naturally Tel: +6010 760 7792
without caffeine. Under each species, there
may be many more varietals that are unique CONSTANT GARDENER COFFEE
flavour-wise. Experiencing each coffee species’ 9 Lebuh Light, Ground Floor,
and varietals’ uniqueness is part of the pursuit Chinese Chambers of Commerce Building,
of speciality coffee. We are at the precipice of 10200 Penang
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