Sulawesi Toraja

September's coffee comes from the Toraja highlands of South Sulawesi, a landscape of flooded rice terraces walled in by thousand-foot limestone cliffs and held under permanent mist. The Torajan people farm it on plots that average under three acres, and in recent years they have been organizing into community micro-mills so the processing, and the money it earns, stays with them.

What makes this cup taste the way it does is a method you will not find in many origins. After pulping and an overnight ferment, the parchment is stripped off while the bean is still wet, then the coffee dries on open patios. Indonesians call it Giling Basah, wet hulling. It leaves the bean with a bluish cast and gives Indonesian coffee its signature heavy body and low acidity.

Roasted medium dark, it drinks full bodied and unusually smooth. Vanilla and dark chocolate carry the cup, and a clean twist of citrus lifts the finish. It suits a French press or a pour-over at a medium-coarse grind. The body is the point, so do not grind too fine or push the water too hot.

Coffee of the Month is one origin, for one month, and then it is gone. That is not a marketing deadline. When the month ends we move on to a different farm, and this coffee sails.