Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/491359
STiR tea & coffee industry international 51 Indonesia Aceh Gayo Medan Jakarta Lampung Ijen Plateau Kintamani Flores Tana Toraja (Kalosi) Baliem Valley Kamu Valley Mangkuraja, Bengkulu Province SUMATA KALIMANTAN BALI Sukibumi, Sumedang (PRIANGAN) Mandheling Lingtong Sidikilan The Republic of Indonesia today is the fourth largest coffee producer in the world, after Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam, with a total production of 420,000 metric tons (7 million 60 kg. bags) of green coffee. Eighty-five percent of production is exported to Western Europe, the U.S., South Africa and Japan. Cup profile Individuality is one of the strong suits of Indonesian arabica. While it is increas- ingly wet-processed around the world, yielding a smooth, clean cup profile to which Western consumers are accustomed, typical Indonesian arabica is semi- washed or wet-hulled (Indo., besah giling). A small amount is still dry processed. In a world of branded, franchised uniformity, Indonesian wet-hulled is a sip apart. These are medium-to-heavy-bodied brews, a bit sweet/syrupy on the palate. They leave a long aftertaste and a lasting impression. They are generally low in acidity, have a complex, assertive aroma and flavor, with notes of chocolate, sandalwood, humid earth, ripe or semi-fermented fruit. Some call wet-hulled Indonesian arabica the "sin- gle-malt scotch" of coffee. This distinctiveness presents opportunities and challenges: not every consumer perceives and appreciates the special characteristics of the origin. This is why the in- dustry must make every effort to preserve uniqueness while eliminating defects that can emerge during the wet-hulling process. The land Indonesia is an archipelago with 18,000 islands in an area as big as the continental U.S., with 62,000 miles (100,000 km) of coastline. And it has volcanoes, 150 of them, arrayed along its length. These unstable mam- moths spew lava, which the action of rain and wind turns into andosols, a "super soil" that supports intensive agriculture. The cool, forested volcanic highlands of Indonesia are eminently suitable for coffee cultivation. In 1876 a plague leaf fungus destroyed Dutch coffee trees in West Java. The dev- astation forced plantations to relocate to the high Ijen plateau, a volcanic region at the eastern tip of Java. Disease-resistant C.robusta and C.liberica replaced arabica. At independence in 1945, the Indonesian government repossessed these large, for- merly Dutch, plantations; local farmers took over the smaller farms. The smallholder coffee sector expanded under the "transmigration program," which relocated millions of poor Indonesian families from populated areas, like Java, to low population, land- rich areas, such as Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Papua. Today, 90% of coffee farmers are small-holders working estates of about 1 to 12 acres (5 hectares) or less. Types of Arabica coffee Caturra - mutation of Bourbon from Brazil. Catimor - cross between arabica and robusta. Aceh "Ateng-Jaluk." Hibrido de Ethiopian - Rambung and Abyssinia brought to Java, 1928, Aceh. Also USDA Sumatra, after U.S.-funded 1950s coffee project. Linie S - group from India, Bourbon cultivar, S-288, S-795 (Lintong, Aceh and Flores) Timor - Tim-Tim, a cross between arabica and robusta. (Aceh, 1979) Typica - cultivar introduced by Dutch at Bergandal and Sidikalang, Sumatra.