Our Baratas offering comes from our partnership with a co-op in Central Java named Banjarnegara Atas, or Baratas. The co-op is a visionary group of self-starting farmers who proactively decided to introduce Arabica to their area seven years ago and are now beginning to scale up in quality, skill, and quantity.

 

This co-op consolidates the cherries from several smaller farmer groups and then performs the wet processing at a centralized mill for their co-op.   This consolidation is the key to their ability to produce larger quantities than smallholder famers of Indonesia are usually capable of.  The head co-op also assists the farmer groups with training and with planting plans. 

The history of intensive cultivation of Arabica coffee in this area only goes back to 2013. Until then, coffee was only grown for the benefit of land conservation, due to the fact that most of the area is hilly and landslide-prone, making it difficult to grow other crops.

 

The farmers saw that since the elevation and the favorable climate of their area was conducive to growing Arabica, they could potentially reap the higher market value of Arabica compared to Robusta.  A core group of ten farmers planted about 6,000 Arabica coffee seedlings, purchased directly from a village in North Sumatra.   One of them, Subroto, is now chairman of the farmer’s group.  He explained to us, “At that time, there was no coffee boom.”

Since then, however, Indonesia’s own boom in coffee consumption has increased demand for the product and drawn more farmers in the area to begin cultivating coffee.  The total coffee trees in that village has now reached 97,000, including plants that have not yet fruited.

In 2015 the first coffee trees began to produce a harvest.  However the farmers faced the headwinds of pioneering a new origin not known for Arabica production.   “At that time, we had no idea how to sell it, because there were not many people who knew Arabica coffee,” Subroto recalled.  Despite these obstacles, these farmers succeeded in selling their coffee and in continuing to work on quality and production.
 

When we joined with them beginning in 2019, we were happy to become another avenue to export their coffee to an international market.  With our dry mill, we are also able to help them increase their production quantity.  

 

We’ve found that this group has already made remarkable quality progress.  They are concerned with the quality, from the harvest to processing.  This year they produced excellent results with multiple processing methods:  washed, natural, and honey. “Coffee plants are now a blessing for these farmers who previously relied on seasonal crops,” Subroto said.

The Baratas farmers have been key participants with us in the experimental anaerobic fermentation methods that we have been pioneering lately in our partnership with IIT coffee.  It takes a village…. or many villages, and that’s the network we are striving to provide.

 

Recent Instagram Posts On Baratas Coffee

Young meets old. Arif is the co-op head of Aksa Lestari, a cooperative of 23 farmers in Banjarnegara, Central Java At the ripe Institute old age of 35 he is the oldest member of the Aksa Lestari management team. Here he discusses the 2021 harvest with one of the Cooperative's farmer members, a man twice his age. 😳

#youngincoffee #youngaproducers #banjarnegaracoffee #banjarnegara #kopijawatengah iindonesia #indonesiaspecialtycoffee
...

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Our green bean stocks have been low for a few months now. But we are tooling up and beginning to process the 2021 harvest. Expect to see some great offerings coming in the next few weeks.

#anaerobicfermentation #Kombucha #sindorosumbing #banjarnegara #pangelangan #floresbajawa #torajapango2 #cikole #baratas
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53 2

Happy New year dan Selamat Tahun Baru. We are starting the year off right by getting back to processing. We have a little fully washed Baratas Wanayasa parchment left over from the 2020 harvest to get us through until the 2021 main harvest.

Our goal on 2021 is to expand our farmer base and triple production in our mill. Help us to reach our goal this year by trusting Bright Java to be your source for reliable, traceable, quality Indonesian coffee.

#baratas
#banjarnegara
#kopijateng
#coffeeprocessing
#kopiindonesia
#specialitycoffee
#processcoffee
#gravityseparator
...

54 1

First big order of the season is ready. Next up. Hit up @iit.coffee to get some of this goodness.

#specialitycoffee #kopiindonesia #anaerobicfermentation #kopijateng #banjarnegara #centraljavacoffee
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58 2

#coffeeispeople
#specialitycoffee #banjarnegara #indonesiacoffee
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Next up, washed Banjarnegara atas. Get with @iit.coffee to get you some.

#kopihuller #kopijateng #kopiindonesia #banjarnegara #baratas
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49 1

Greenhouse project to help produce naturals coming along nicely in Central Java #banjarnegara. ...

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Our first microlot shipment of 2020 is on the way to its destination. It is bittersweet because we won't see the great coffee we just sent again until next harvest in the summer.

#kopiindonesia
#Merbabu
#wanayasa
#specialtycoffee
#coffeeexporters
#Java
#kopijateng
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