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Indonesian Coffee Terms and Groups

Indonesia, being far separated from many other growing regions and sharing no common language, can be a tangled thicket of idiosyncratic terms and customs in coffee as well as in much else.  Here’s a starter guide to get you oriented.

Most Indonesian coffee comes from Sumatra with the Lampung area in south Sumatra providing the majority of the robusta crop which itself comprises 75% of the coffee produced in Indonesia.  The majority of the Arabica crop is grown in the Gayo region but Sulawesi and Kalimantan, the Lesser Sunda Islands of Bali, Sumbawa and Flores as well as the country’s easternmost region of Papua all contribute to national output. The numerous coffee-growing regions in the country produce beans of distinct flavor profiles, and a number of highland Arabica coffees from Indonesia are recognized by aficionados the world over.  Read more on the regions here.

 

Indonesian Organizations

There are several relevant trade organizations:

scai

SCAI is the main trade association for anyone involved in specialty coffee in Indonesia.

iccri

ICCRI (pronounced ick-ree) is the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute.  We also call it “Puslitkoka”. They have a lot of helpful training and research going on.

AEKI - AICE

AICE is the association specificially for importers/exporters of coffee.

remarkable-indonesian-coffee

“Remarkable Indonesian Coffee” is the Indonesian government’s web site intended to advertise Indonesian coffee more  globally.  

scopi

SCOPI is focused on improving the sustainability of the Indonesian coffee industry.

Terminology

  • Asalan– unsorted green coffee beans. Sometimes the coffee is traded as Asalan, then the exporter does the final processing.
  • HS (pronounced Ha-Es) – dry or washed processed coffee still in parchment (stands for Hard Shell).
  • Giling Basah– the wet hulled process, also known as semi-washed locally. Not to be confused with a semi-wash dry hulled process which is essentially honey processed.
  • Gabah wet coffee parchment, not yet hulled. 
  • Grade 1– used locally as term for basic lower grade.
  • Kopi Tubruk- traditional method of coffee preparation where very finely ground coffee is placed in a cup and hot water is poured over it. The coffee is consumed once the grounds start to settle.
  • Kopi Luwak- a form of animal cruelty where luwak or civets, a nocturnal catlike omnivore, are captured and force-fed coffee cherries. The resulting coffee parchment that passes through the digestive tract of this animal is prized by some and captures exorbitant prices thus increasing the desire for people to exploit more of these animals.    
  • Labu just wet-hulled coffee, like 35% – 40% moisture. Labu means pumpkin / squash.
  • Linie-S – S795 cultivar, a coffee varietal popularized by the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI)
  • PTPN- Perseroan Terbatas Perkebunan Nusantara which is translated as Limited Company Archipelago Plantation.  State owned agro enterprises of all commodities.  PTPN 8, 9, and 12 specialize in coffee. These companies were to the go-to producers for large buyers for years.
  • Sorton a gravity sorting table.

Introduction to Indonesian Coffee

About Indonesian Coffee

Arabica coffee grows best in mountainous regions near the equator, at between 3000 and 6000 feet of elevation, and thrives in volcanic soil – all making Indonesia one of the world’s most ideal places for growing coffee. We are based on Java, the most populous island in Indonesia – whose name has become synonymous with coffee.

At 3,200 miles across, comprising over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is the largest archipelago nation in the world.  With 120 active volcanoes, ample rainfall, fertile soil, and ideal temperatures, the most populous Southeast Asian nation presents the perfect environment to grow coffee.

Indonesia is the world’s 4th biggest coffee producing country in 2018, according to the International Coffee Organization.

“Bright Java fills the gap for those smaller producers, helping them bring their great coffees to an international market.”

Challenges of Bringing Indonesian Coffee to the World Market

Productivity:  Due to mainly smallholders, farm conditions and manual practices productivity averages about 765kg green beans per hectare.  Compare that to Brazil which in 2019 has a productivity level of approx. 1632 kg per hectare.

Cost: More expensive to produce, more expensive than competing origins.  Robusta is the same.  It’s harder to compete with Brazils, Guatemalas, Vietnams, and Columbians on price only.

Processing methods: When global customers usually think of Indonesian Arabica they think of wet hulled (or giling basah in the national language of Bahasa Indonesia).  This method varies from the standard method of full wash processing when the outer parchment covering the green bean is removed at 11-12% moisture content.  In wet hulling, the parchment is removed when the bean is at 30% moisture then dried on concrete patios or tarps.  This imparts a particular flavor quality to Indonesian coffees:  muddy, earthy and heavy bodied.

Because of the fame of those wet hulled Sumatra coffees, some people think all Indonesian coffee is imbued with that same flavor profile.  For those that prefer the wet hulled coffee, it is difficult to convince buyers of Indonesian origins to branch out from coffees processing in this method.

On the other hand, for those that are turned off by wet hulled cup profiles they tend to approach all Indonesian coffees with a preconceived notion that the coffee will be muddy, herbal and earthy.  Producers that make naturals rivaling Ethiopian naturals or honey processed coffees rivaling the best of Central America get overlooked because of the preconceptions of some buyers and roasters.

Honesty and Consistency:  Let’s be upfront here. There are too many people in the coffee business in Indonesia trying to make a quick profit with no care for long term relationships with customers or suppliers or honesty in business dealings. Almost everyone has a story of being burned in business here. From rocks in sacks, to just not delivering product – the difficulties are immense.  Likewise a producer may make a great coffee one year and the next totally bomb and expect the same or higher prices for their beans.  Because of this, most buyers concentrate on working with the few giant corporations in Indonesia who deliver on time and on spec to the detriment of those smaller producers who can provide consistent quality but don’t have the exposure to international markets.   Bright Java fills the gap for those smaller producers, helping them bring their great coffees to an international market, and stabilizing the quality and reliability of the process for the international buyer.

History of Coffee In Indonesia

In the early 17th century, Dutch traders brought coffee trees back to their own country (the Netherlands or Holland, in case that’s confusing) and cultivated it in their greenhouses.  They already had colonized Indonesia at that point in order to gain a monopoly over the spice trade, and it was known as the “Dutch East Indies”, so they brought coffee trees to Indonesia to cultivate for export.

Around the turn of the 19th century, the fate of coffee in Indonesia took a downturn when many of the Arabica trees from the Dutch were eradicated by coffee leaf rust.  Most replantings were with Robusta, which still forms 75% of the coffee crop in Indonesia today.

Most coffee farming here is done by smallholder farmers, about 92%.  Many farmers and cooperatives still use completely manual methods to process the coffee they produce.

We live here on the ground in Indonesia so we can connect with the farmers personally and help them create truly great coffees. We don’t want to find only the great coffees that already exist – we want to mentor more farmers to be able to create them.  We also want to sell this world-class coffee directly to the coffee lovers, bringing the farmer connection all the way back to the person who enjoys their coffee every day.

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The Wet Hulled Process

Wet hulling, or Giling Basah, is a type of coffee processing that is unique to Indonesia and most often used in Sulawesi and Sumatra. Despite sounding similar to wet processing, the most common type of coffee processing, wet hulling is actually very different. Wet hulling as a processing method has two driving causes: moisture and money.

The wet climate of Indonesia makes it difficult for coffee to dry for long periods of time. A combination of rain and humidity prevent easy drying, and the farmers had to come up with another way to process their coffee. Another factor is the desire to get their coffee to the market as fast as possible. Spending extensive time on drying out coffee means they have to wait longer to sell it, so they prefer using a faster method.

Wet hulling begins with small holder farmers picking their coffee. They often only have a few half acres of land, and not very many trees. Their only piece of processing equipment is a hand-cranked pulper that is shared among the farmers of their village. They run the coffee cherries through the pulper, removing the skins but leaving most of the fruit, or mucilage, still on the coffee bean.

They then ferment the beans overnight, using sacks, tubs, tanks, or whatever method they have access to. The fermentation makes it much easier to wash off the mucilage in the morning. Once the mucilage has been removed, the parchment still remains. The parchment is a thin shell that covers the outside of the coffee bean and can be easily removed if the coffee is dry.

The farmers, however, opt not to wait until the beans dry out completely. They leave the parchment coffee out until it has dried to 50% moisture capacity and sell it to their local market. The buyers will buy a heaped can full of coffee and sell a level can full, paying and charging the exact same price. They make their money off the small excess amount.

Once the buyers have it, they will keep the parchment coffee in bags for a while, which lets the beans ferment further. Some farmers may have better quality coffee than others, but the buyers often mix all the coffee together, defects and all. The buyer also finally removes the parchment, using a machine called a wet-huller. The machine uses a lot of friction to remove parchment from the swollen, still moist bean. This force often mangles or crushes the bean, causing wet hulled coffee to have more defects. Indonesian processors commonly use a Kemajuan huller, a Dutch-designed and Javanese manufactured huller that is modified to process wet hulled coffee. It can hull beans between 35 and 45 percent moisture content and output 800 kilograms of green beans an hour.

The now parchment-less coffee then dries further and waits in a warehouse to be sold. The speedy process of wet-hulling makes it possible to sell coffee within a month of its first being picked.

Wet-hulled coffee has a distinctive tendency towards earthy, solid flavors. It has low acidity and brightness due to the fermentation it undergoes during processing. It has been described with flavors of humus, herbs, and moss. Low-quality wet hulled coffee sometimes has more bitter vegetable flavors that make for a slightly more unpleasant cup of coffee. It is also known for a distinct spicy flavor, which gives it a place in the Starbucks Christmas blend.

The quality of wet-hulled coffee varies. When done well, an actually good cup of coffee can be achieved. However, wet hulling is frequently done as a method of saving time and getting profit as fast as possible. Wet hulling in itself does not guarantee poor coffee quality, and when done properly creates a flavor that many coffee connoisseurs enjoy. Competitive coffee tasters often score wet-hulled coffee as among Indonesia’s best flavors. Despite the sometimes sloppy method, wet hulled coffee can be an amazing drink.

 

Aged Coffee Beans

Want to know more about the trend of barrel-aged coffee?  Why is “aged Sumatra” even a thing? Throughout history, aging anything seems to make it better—wine, cheese, and pickles, for example. Even coffee isn’t exempt from this trend. There are many different methods and origins of aged coffee, and a new interest in it has resurfaced in the coffee market.

Aged coffee has its origins in European trading. Merchants would often export coffees out of places like Africa, and later India and Indonesia. Back in the 1500s the only way to transport the coffee was by lengthy sea journey. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope could take over a month, and the sea air and time spent in transit changed the flavor of the coffee. Europeans grew accustomed to drinking coffee that had been aged for months at least. Even after the Suez Canal made the journey much shorter, most Europeans still preferred aged coffee over fresh.

To meet their customers’ preferences, merchants would replicate the sea journey’s effects on coffee by storing their beans in warehouses on the coast for months before shipping. These methods were the beginning of purposefully aged coffee. Eventually European tastes transitioned into preferring fresh coffee, but that by no means indicates that aged coffee is not good.

Aged coffee has an extremely wide range of flavors due to the fact that any coffee can be aged. Not all coffees, however, are suited for this method. The best coffees for aging are low-acid beans from India and Indonesia. Aged Sumatra and Sulawesi coffees have a distinctive spicy flavor that has made them a part of Starbucks’ Christmas blend. These coffees often have a rich, earthy body and very little acidity.

India has its own specific variety of aged coffee, Monsooned Malabar, which is known for its chocolaty flavors. Monsooned Malabar originates from aged coffee that was exported to Europe by the British occupants of India. The sea journey from India often took months, and once the coffee arrived people began to realize that coffee shipped during the monsoon season had different flavor and appearance than when shipped at other times of the year.

The humidity and sea winds combined caused the beans to swell slightly and turn yellow. They also lost all acidity, making for a heavy-bodied, earthy cup. After more effective sea travel was implemented, the beans were no longer exposed to the elements that caused them to develop in their unique way. To compensate for this, the beans were aged in a warehouse and exposed to the monsoon winds for three to four months. Monsooned Malabar is now protected by the Geographical Indication of Goods Act, meaning it can only be produced in India—the Malabar Coast specifically.

Not all aged coffee has such exacting standards as Monsooned Malabar, but there is a difference between coffee that is aged and coffee that is simply old. Aged coffee must be stored in a warehouse with good air flow. Every few months the bags are inspected and rotated to air them out. To age properly, coffee needs a climate where the beans can absorb moisture during the rainy season and release it during the dry season. This is part of the reason why most good aged coffees originate from Indonesia, India, and South America. Coffee tends to mellow as it ages, so varieties that start out with low acidity often age well.

Barrel aged coffee is a variation often practiced by people who do not have the space to lay their coffee out flat. There is a new market for whiskey-aged coffee: coffee that has been aged inside barrels that formerly held whiskey or bourbon. This coffee apparently gains a whole slew of new flavors.

Aged coffee is usually left for a few months to a few years, depending on what variety it is or what the roaster has in mind. Aged Sumatran coffee is usually cured for three to five years, while some barrel aged coffees are only left for a month and a half. Coffee beans can go stale and lose their taste if they are not stored properly, but authentically aged coffee has had precautions taken against that happening.

Here at Bright Java we offer West Java wet hulled coffee that has been aging in our warehouse for three years. We hope to do justice to the historical roots and great tradition of coffee aging.

 

 
 
 

Natural-Processed Coffee

While Indonesia is famous for the Wet Hulled processing method, we also process some wonderful naturals which provide a greater range of flavor notes.

Natural processing, also known as dry processing, is the method of leaving the fruit on the bean while it dries. A coffee cherry consists of skin, fruit, and then the inner bean. While wet-hulling removes the skin and fruit off the bean before drying, natural processing leaves the fruit on the bean during the entire drying process. This allows the fruit to ferment and impart a wide range of flavors to the bean.

Our farmers pick the coffee on their plots and then sun-dry it on raised beds. This can take three to four weeks in Indonesia’s humid climate. As the coffee dries, farmers rotate and sort it out to prevent molding and remove defects. Once the coffee reaches the ideal moisture level (11 or 12 percent), it is taken off the beds and left to rest for about one to six month. The longer the coffee rests after drying, the more the bean’s flavor improves due to contact with the fruit. After hulling, roasting, and brewing, buyers describe the resulting flavor as sweet, fruit, juicy, and ripe. However, off flavors such as ferment, stink, or funky also have a chance of developing during this process.

This processing method takes much longer than wet-hulling, and coffee being natural-processed can run the risk of molding or too much fermentation. However, here at Bright Java we find it is a simple method to teach to farmers, as well as more ecologically friendly: natural processing does not require nearly as much water as other processing methods. The final taste can be inconsistent, so quality control is especially important with this method. When processed well, many favor its full-bodied fruity flavor.

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