Indonesia Java

Flavor Profile: Blackberry, Brown Sugar, Pipe Tobacco, Plum, Vanilla

Producers: Budi Raharjo, Ali Wavi,Mian
Process: Wet-Hulled
Roast: Medium-Dark
Region: Java
Variety: Osda, Cobra, Typica
Species: Arabica

Growing Altitude: 1,200-1,500 MASL

Indonesian Green Coffee From Java

Bondowoso is a regency in East Java surrounded by mountains, fertile soil and an active volcano that is famous for emitting sulfuric gases that resemble electric blue fire at night.

Java green coffee famously commanded a rich premium as an essential component of the "Mocha Java" blend, one of the oldest coffee blends in the world. It traditionally combined Mocha coffee from Yemen and Java Arabica coffee from Indonesia.

Coffee has old roots in Java, stemming from the early 1700s when Yemeni coffee seedlings arrived in Indonesia via trade with India. The Dutch East India Company propelled both coffee production and trade between Java and Europe, cementing Java's legendary status as the first origin to widely cultivate coffee outside of Ethiopia and Arabia.

Wet-Hulled Process (Giling Basah)

The wet-hulled coffee process, locally known as Giling Basah, is the method of choice in Indonesia due to the country's humid climate. This distinctive processing technique has become synonymous with Indonesian coffees, imparting a unique cup profile that sets them apart on the cupping table.

In the wet-hulled process, coffee cherries are typically depulped at the farm level using hand-cranked machines.

The cherries are then fermented overnight for 12-24 hours to help break down the mucilage, which is subsequently washed off. After fermentation, the coffee is quickly dried for three to four days until their moisture content reaches 11-12%. After the parchment coffee is hulled and sorted for quality, it rests until it is time for export.

Indonesian Coffee Bean Grading System

Green coffee from Java is meticulously classified into different grades based on the number of defects found in a 300-gram sample of unroasted coffee. The highest quality, Grade 1 TP (triple-picked), indicates that the beans have been hand-sorted three times, resulting in fewer than five defects per sample. Grade 1 DP (double-picked) denotes coffee that has been sorted twice, with fewer than nine defects per sample. Grade 1 without a TP or DP mark means that the coffee contains fewer than 11 defects per sample. This grading system ensures a consistent range of quality, spanning from grades one to six.

Indonesian Coffee Beans

The key Indonesian green coffee regions include Aceh, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, West Java, Bali, and Flores. Java, in particular, is renowned for its pivotal role in spreading coffee production across the Indonesian archipelago. While regions like Sulawesi and Sumatra boast a long history of coffee cultivation, Bali represents a relatively newer coffee-growing area, primarily known for its small-batch, limited-scale coffee production.