Thanh Toan Robusta Sẻ Robusta Anaerobic Natural | Vietnam

250g bag of whole bean coffee

Cosmic Curations Release No. 8 for Jul 2025

• Origin: Vietnam
• Species: Robusta
• Process: Natural Anaerobic
• Roast: Medium

So this is something brand new. I'd previously never roasted a coffee from Vietnam or a robusta. I didn't know what to expect. So I did a lot of sample roasting, a lot of cupping, brewing, tasting, asking for outside opinions. And at first I was kind of disappointed. It was different. But nothing special. But I kept letting the coffee rest. And I kept checking in with it each week. I wasn't sure it would ever see an official release. Then, during a blind cupping between 3 and 4 weeks post-roast, this coffee blew my mind. I was asking myself "what coffee do I have that tastes like this?" I couldn't believe it was this Vietnam Robusta. And I knew it had to be the next Cosmic Curations release.

This coffee comes to me via Showroom/Crop to Cup and their partnership with Great Cherry, champions of Vietnam Robusta.

Here's some additional information:

Sẻ, the original robusta species in Vietnam, produces relatively small and dense beans (Sc 14-16), with a relatively low yield of 3 – 4 tons of cherry per hectare. The reason it’s maintained is because of its quality; richer, denser flavors with more mucilage that allows better fermentation in anaerobic and honey processes.

Duong Thanh Toan is an advocate for and expert in Sẻ Robusta and the special processing that brings out its best attributes. He was born into coffee and now manages a washing station in his home town in Cư M’Gar, referred to as the Napa Valley of Vietnam for a climate that allows the production of both fine coffees and the nation’s finest wines. Thanh Toan has partnered with the team at The Great Cherry to bring his unique processing style to scale, providing his community with access to specialty roasters, and incentive to continue investing in Robusta Sẻ, which because of its critics and its fans, has fast became a local heirloom.

Cherries are run through a color sorter to select the right level of overripe desired for anaerobic or honey processing. From here cherries are washed and floated to separate by density before being sealed in air-tight bags and tanks. They are removed after 2-3 days for a day of drying before returning to a longer fermentation. All in all, including 2 weeks for drying, the process takes 45 days. 

Cat Nap Coffee Roasting is a small-batch limited-release specialty coffee roaster located in Staunton, Virginia specializing in innovative, experimental, and all around special coffees.