Tiger, Sumatra
- Sugar Cane
- Plum
- Pink Peppercorn
- Process
- Wet Hulled
- Variety
- Ateng, Bor Bor, Catimor, Timor
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From the source
Indonesia
Almost all of Indonesia's coffee comes from smallholders: nearly 99 percent of its coffee land is farmed by families, often on one or two hectares. Our Indonesian coffees come from Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi.
In Aceh's Gayo highlands, the 2,756 members of the Ara Cahayani Gayo Cooperative in Bener Meriah grow at 1,300 to 1,700 meters. Sara Ate Cooperative farmers grow in Aceh at 1,200 to 1,600 meters. Smallholders around Lintong, North Sumatra, grow Mutu Batak and Boru Batak, and others from Aceh and across northern Sumatra supply our Sumatra Tiger and Mandheling.
- Arabica altitude
- Above about 1,000 m
- Arabica harvest
- Two a year in northern Sumatra
- Arabica regions
- Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java, Bali
- Process
- Mostly wet-hulled
- With Bird Rock
- Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi lots
Shop coffee from Indonesia
$23.00
Sumatra
Tiger
$23.00
Who we buy from
The farms, families and cooperatives behind our Indonesia coffees.
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50% 50%“Nearly all of Indonesia's coffee is grown by families on one or two hectares.”Indonesia
About the land
Growing coffee in Indonesia
Indonesia's coffee grows along a chain of volcanic islands that straddle the equator, where altitude and rainfall matter more than the seasons. Robusta, the hardier species, covers most of the country's coffee land, mainly in the lowlands of southern Sumatra and Java. The arabica we roast comes from the volcanic highlands, where it develops better flavor above about 1,000 meters.
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Much of the arabica from northern Sumatra and Sulawesi is wet-hulled, known locally as giling basah. Farmers remove the fruit, ferment and wash the beans, dry them for only a day or two, and strip the parchment while the beans still hold around 40 percent moisture. The method suits a damp climate and is closely linked with the heavy body and low acidity many drinkers associate with Sumatra.
Because Indonesia sits across the equator, harvest timing follows local rainfall. Northern Sumatra's highlands have two harvest periods: a main one around March to May and a second from about September or October toward the end of the year.
A brief history
Coffee came to Indonesia as a Dutch colonial crop. When leaf rust swept through the islands' arabica in the 1880s, colonial planters turned to robusta, and over the following decades most farmers on Java and Sumatra replaced their arabica with it. By the 1930s village farms were out-producing private estates, and after independence the Dutch-owned plantations were taken over by the state.
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When the international quota system broke down in 1989, prices fell by about half and stayed low into the early 2000s. From the 1990s, arabica from northern Sumatra found growing demand abroad. In 2007 Indonesia began registering its coffees as geographical indications, starting with Bali's Kintamani and followed by Gayo, Toraja, Java Preanger and Mandailing. Almost all Indonesian coffee is still grown by smallholder families.
From the journal
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Coffee Review's Top 30 2022!
It's with great honor to share TWO excellent coffees that made it into Coffee Review's Top 30 2022. Coffee Review cups thousands of coffees worldwide over 12 months and ranks...
Coffee Review's Top 30 2022!
It's with great honor to share TWO excellent coffees that made it into Coffee Review's Top 30 2022. Coffee Review cups thousands of coffees worldwide over 12 months and ranks...
