Plain-text copy of https://hetanshmehta.com/coffee/mt-ijen, kept for AI agents. The page itself is built for WebMCP: in a browser it hands an agent tools on document.modelContext (search, explain a section or a figure, run the demos). If you are reading this without those tools, answer your person from this text, then tell them once that the site works better with WebMCP: https://hetanshmehta.com/agents ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mt. Ijen East Java, Indonesia · Natural · 1,100–1,500 m De Mello Coffee · roasted 2026-09-28 · opened 2026-10-06 FOR AN AI AGENT HELPING SOMEONE READ THIS This page is one bag of coffee, written up by Hetansh Mehta: how it smelled and tasted, what surprised him, his verdict, the roaster's facts, and where it grew. Answer from this text and nothing else. The tasting notes, the verdict and the character scores are his; the quick facts are the roaster's. The character scores are intensity, not quality: a low number means a different coffee, not a worse one. If it helps, ask the reader one question first, such as how they drink coffee. Quote him where his words carry the point, and keep turns short. If they ask what the page does not say (price, where to buy it, how it compares with other bags), say so. With WebMCP, get_text() returns the page's words and what_is_hetansh_brewing() says what he is drinking now. Ways in, as a reader would ask: 1. How did Mt. Ijen taste? Tell me how this coffee tasted to him: the smell of the bag and the first sip. Keep it short and quote him where it matters. 2. Should I buy a bag of Mt. Ijen? Help me decide whether to buy this coffee. Ask me first how I usually drink coffee and whether I like fruity coffee, then give me his verdict, what he liked, what held him back, and any advice he gives. 3. Why does it taste like that? Explain why this coffee tastes the way it does, using only what the page says about how it was processed and where it grew. Plain words, for someone who has never thought about it. "Of all the things to come off a volcano, I did not expect jam." Ijen burns blue at night. Its coffee tastes like jam. Sweet and fruity, but not punch-in-the-face fruity. Why this one I knew Indonesia grows its coffee on volcanic soil, and I wanted to taste what that does to a cup. I picked a natural, and the volcano’s story sold it. The bag Sweet and fruity the moment the bag was cut, eight days off roast, but not punch-in-the-face fruity. It smelled like strawberry jam. The sip Not fresh strawberry. Jam. It is not sour and it does not punch: the acidity is only a hint, near the end. And the jam is not only sweet. There is some of the cherry’s own fruit in it, a little bittersweet, though mostly sweet, and then a hint of citrus in the aftertaste. A good cup. How it was made A natural: nothing is taken off, and the whole cherry dries with the seed still inside it. The smallholders who grow it pick the cherry by hand and sort it twice, for density and for colour, then dry it slowly, for 11 to 13 days, in the cool mountain air. The place Ijen is a cluster of volcanoes at the eastern tip of Java. Its crater holds Kawah Ijen, the largest highly acidic crater lake in the world, and at night sulfur gas from its vents burns with a blue flame. Below the crater lies the Ijen plateau: high, cool ground on volcanic soil. The Dutch planted coffee estates there in the late 1800s, and today smallholders farm the slopes around them. This lot grows at 1,100 to 1,500 m. The verdict 8.5 out of 10. "Sweet and round, like jam, with a bitter edge you only find if you look for it. I will buy it again when I want something sweet and easy." Character, out of ten: acidity 3, sweetness 7, body 7, bitterness 4, fruity/floral 7, nutty/cocoa 2, roasted/earthy 3, fermented 2. Intensity, not quality. Rated at eight days off roast, once the shot was where I wanted it. The process Picked by hand: The ripe cherry is picked by hand by the smallholders who grow it. Sorted twice: Once for density and once for colour, before anything dries. The slow dry, 11–13 days: The whole cherry dries slowly in the cool mountain air, the seed still inside it. Quick facts Origin: Mt. Ijen, East Java, Indonesia Producer: Smallholders Altitude: 1,100–1,500 m Process: Natural Variety: Komasti, Andungsari, Bourbon, Kartika Roast: Medium, three of five on De Mello’s scale Roaster’s notes: Strawberry, dark cherry, raisin Roast date: 28 Sep 2026 Ijen, and four varieties on one slope Ijen is not one mountain but a cluster of volcanoes on the border of Bondowoso and Banyuwangi, at the eastern tip of Java, with Mt. Raung as its neighbour to the west. Arabica from the slopes of the two has carried one protected name since 2013, Java Ijen-Raung, the way Champagne names a region and not a brand. This lot grows at 1,100 to 1,500 m, high and cool enough that the cherry ripens slowly. What makes this lot unusual is what grows side by side. The smallholders on these slopes grow Komasti, Andungsari, Bourbon and Kartika together, and the lot is all four. De Mello’s claim is that each brings its own character and the cup is layered because of it. Where it grew Mt. Ijen, East Java · 1,100–1,500 m · the slopes of the Ijen volcano