Coedo Sumatera is a 6% lager beer from Coedo, based in Kawagoe, in Saitama, Japan. It’s part of their collaborative range, with this being brewed with Horiguchi Coffee providing the coffee beans. The coffee beans used in Coedo Sumatera are Mandheling sourced from the island of Sumatra and the beers name roughly translates into “clear tiger”, perhaps hinting at the clearness of a lager beer, but with the bite of a coffee from an island that is famous for tigers as well as coffee. The beer was first released in July 2019 but it’s unknown whether Coedo Sumatera is a one-off or not.
Coedo Sumatera Aroma and Taste
I have to admit that I forgot about this bottle of Coedo Sumatera – for some reason I just hadn’t gotten around to drinking it, mainly because it only comes in 660ml bottles. A shame because you don’t always want a bottle of beer that size – shock horror!
But after pouring Coedo Sumatera out, it was clear that age hadn’t weakened the aroma. A huge rush of roasted coffee notes came out of the glass. The body was a dark amber colour though there was barely any head on the beer. Besides the coffee aroma, there was also some hints of caramel from the malts and a faint hint of noble hop aroma to it as well. I’d suggest pouring out Coedo Sumatera three times, letting it get progressively warmer throughout drinking as the third and final serving had a sticky marmalade aroma to it as well as having the coffee aroma slightly fad into the back a bit.
The initial coffee bitterness was more present when Coedo Sumatera was chilled compared to it being warmed up. The lager-like quality came through with something approaching an earthy noble hop-like quality to it but the coffee really did linger more so in the taste.
Coedo Sumatera The Bottom Line
The blurb on the bottle talks about a variety of flavours the coffee beans can provide, but sadly lacking in the final product. A lager with coffee is basically what you get here.
Where to Buy Coedo Sumatera
Coedo Sumatera can be bought online at the following places:
