Liberica - Liberica Project 96B
Impressions: strawberry, rhubarb, pistachio, sage, white sugar, violet
Roast degree: light-medium (3/5)
Country: Vietnam
Province: Quang Tri (Huong Phung commune, Huong Hoa district)
Farmer: 96B's Liberica Project Group, 5 families in total (Quang Tri Coop)
Altitude: 600masl
Variety: liberica (local mixed cultivars). Liberica is a different species than Arabica
Process: Natural, slow dried for 25 days
Import partner: 96B
We can't begin to explain how lucky and excited we are to share coffee from 96B on the menu, especially this rare Liberica lot. Since they are have their own roasting project and one of the few specialty coffee in Saigon, they do not export much coffee nor do they work with many people outside of Vietnam. When Thai, of one the co-founder, texted David to see if he was interested in bringing some for RH, he jumped at the opportunity. Our shared values made this a match made in heaven, both in terms of ethos and taste.
You can find 3 other lots from 96B on our menu: Robusta, Java, Catimor (hybrid).
96B is a Saigon-based roaster, cafe, coffee education centre, green bean producer & exporter. They focus on Liberica, Robusta & Arabica coffee grown and processed in Vietnam. Their country is mostly know worldwide for being the biggest commodity robusta producer, and they want to redefine the outdated narrative of Vietnamese coffee. To do so, they work closely with innovative farmers.
''Direct trade allows us to optimize our quality control, while compensating farmers fairly for their work, improving their livelihoods in a radical and immediate way.
Since 2016, almost all the coffees we have bought are priced by the farmers.''
Each lot of the exclusive coffee adhere to high social and quality standards:
- Mutually beneficial relationships with producers
- Respect for health and environment
- Red cherries: we only pick and sort ripe cherries
- Controlled drying: most of our coffees are slow-dried in greenhouses to improve taste - Defect picking: we optimize machine- and hand-picking to remove defect beans
This might be the wildest, most surprising coffee we ever had on our menu. If you have been following us and tasting our coffees for a while, you know that this make this claim WILD.
Liberica is a separate species of coffee, distinct from arabica and robusta: it's his own thing, and you will feel it in the cup.
Since the beans are not always uniform, every roast and brew is also kind of it's own thing, which is interesting and which mentioning. We also prefer it well aged.(2+ weeks)
The coffee screamed of strawberry and rhubard. Spinkly a little pistachios and you just have yourself a perfect pie.
The varietal is new to us, but we had so much herbal and flowery notes as well, think sage and violet.
It also taste, in all this complexity and wildness, like pure white sugars. It can almost feel like and oversweet sensation when the coffee is lukewarm, and this sensation was not that present when the coffee was hot or cold. Truly wild.
It taste like arabica, and robusta, and also not at all. But it brews similarly to robusta (go figure).
| Method | Dose | Ratio | Time |
| Espresso | 16-20 g | 2.1:1 | 28-32 sec |
| Espresso with milk | 16-20 g | 1.8:1 | 26-30 sec |
| Americano | 16-20 g | 2:1 | 26-30 sec |
|
V60/Origami |
18-32 g | 14:1 | 2:45-3:30 min |
|
Chemex & Batch Brew |
40-60 g | 14:1 | 4:45-5:30 min |
|
French Press |
18-25 g | 13:1 | 3:15 min steep time |
Exporter: 96B
Price paid by us for the landed coffee at our roastery: 18.28CAD/kg
(Airfreight from Vietnam via UPS: +15CAD/kg)
Farmgate: 250 000 VND /kg
Export fees, financing, quality control, vacuum seal, transportation, defect picking:
63 000 VND
Important to note that the farmers working with 96B are price setters and not price takers. Very few farmers have control over their own pricing worldwide, notably because of buyer's greed and the broken C-Price system to name only these two causes.
It takes a willing buyer like Thai to let farmers dictate price, and something we wish to see normalize in specialty coffee across the board.