STiR coffee and tea magazine

30 STiR coffee and tea | 2025 Quarter 4 Winter (Dec/Jan/Feb) Chrysanthemum Coffee Blossom Lily Santol Rambutan Mangosteen Lychee Pink Guava Longan Nona Melon Avocado Guava Coconut Soursop Lime Pomelo Bergamot Lemon Mandarin Orange Grapefruit Blackcurrant Blueberry White Grape Pear Monk Fruit Prune Raisin Red Grape Plum Pomegranate Apple Peach Apricot Dates Sugarcane Palm Sugar Caramel Molasses Toffee/Bu erscotch Chocolate Cacao Pepper Rosemary Coriander Vinegar Overripe Fruits Earth Smoke Tobacco Paper/Cardboard Carpet Mold Phenol Wood Staleness Ash Petroleum Rubber Western Medicine Malt Toast Oat Wheat Barley Carrot Tomato Capsicum Grass Jelly Hay or Straw-like Basil Cedar Cucumber White Rice Sesame Corn Wine Spirits Apple Cider Mint Thyme Lime Leaf Pandan Sage Cardamom Lemongrass Pine Nuts Nutmeg Tamarind Cinnamon Red Chili Ginger Ginseng Clove Star Anise Peanut Hazelnut Walnut Macadamia Pistachio Bu er Candy Honey Vanilla Blackberry Strawberry Goji Berry Raspberry Mulberry Duku/Langsat Durian Pineapple Lavender Osmanthus Chamomile Frangipani Jasmine Hibiscus Rose Black Tea Ripe Banana Passion Fruit Starfruit Nangka/Jackfruit Mango Cempedak Papaya Chico TROPICAL FRUITS CITRUS BERRIES OTHERS NUTS MEDICINE INDUSTRIAL FRUITS SWEETS GRAINS VEGETABLES FLOWERS NUTS & CACAO SPICES & HERBS FERMENT OTHERS ASEAN COFFEE FLAVOUR SPHERE DOMINANT FLAVOURS © ASEAN Coffee Federa on | ASEAN Coffee Ins tute Version 2 Chinese Medicine Salted Caramel Brown Sugar CACAO Pecan Almond Char Animal FARM The ASEAN Coffee Flavour Sphere reflects specific flavors commonly found in coffees across the Asia-Pacific and helps producers, roasters, baristas, and coffee buyers better understand and appreciate the unique flavors of ASEAN nations. Photo credit: ASEAN Coffee Federation STiR: The 2025 Borneo Coffee Symposium in Kuching hosted the world's first Liberica Brewing Championships. Why should the rest of the world start appreciating and celebrating unique varietals like liberica and excelsa? Metcalf: My recent liberica symposium in Kuching, along with the first-ever Liberica Brewing Championships, was a milestone moment for me personally and ASEAN coffee. For the first time, liberica and excelsa weren't treated as curiosities or secondary species — they were given a dedicated platform that recognized their cultural, agricultural, and sensory im- portance. What became clear dur- ing the symposium is that the global coffee industry has only just begun to understand the potential of these species. There are several reasons why the rest of the world should start paying serious attention to liberica and excelsa. Both offer flavor profiles that simply don't exist any- where else in coffee. When approached with the right mindset — and evaluated using tools like ACAP and Scentible — they reveal deep tropical expressions: jackfruit, longan, tamarind, guava, hi- biscus, cacao husk, spice leaf, resin, and more. These aren't "off" flavors; they are legitimate sensory signatures that reflect unique genetics and terroir — in a world where specialty coffee is constantly searching for novelty and diversity, liberica and excelsa bring something genuinely new to the table. They are also a part of cof- fee's climate future. Many of the presentations in Kuching highlighted the species' natu- ral tolerance to heat, humidi- ty, pests, and irregular rainfall. While arabica struggles in a warming climate, liberica and excelsa have shown the abil- ity to thrive in the very condi- tions that are becoming more common across coffee-grow- ing regions. Ignoring these species now would mean overlooking a major opportu- nity to diversify and safeguard global coffee production. In places like Sarawak, Johor, Southern Luzon, and parts of Indonesia and Viet- nam, these coffees are em- bedded in community iden- tity, carrying deep cultural and historical significance. They represent heritage farming systems, local roasting tra- ditions, and regional pride. The symposium in Kuching showed us just how important these species are to rural live-

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