Indonesia West Java Coffee Pour Over Data & Brewing Guide

West Java Hand Brew Recipe

15g of coffee grounds, medium grind (Fuji ghost-tooth blade #4), V60 dripper, water temperature 88-89°C. First pour 30g of water and bloom for 27 seconds. Then pour to 105g and wait for the water level to drop by half before continuing. Pour slowly until the total reaches 225g. Discard the tail end. Water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

West Java Honey Processing Aromanis

Country: Indonesia

Estate: Aromanis

Region: Mount Tangkuban Perahu

Roast Level: Light roast

Processing Method: Honey process

West Java Province is a first-level administrative division of Indonesia, located in the western part of Java Island. It borders the Java Sea to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south and includes offshore islands. The province covers 46,300 square kilometers. Java has a tropical rainforest climate, remaining hot and humid year-round. The plains along the northern coast see the highest temperatures, while the mountains are far cooler. High humidity often makes for a demanding climate.

From November to March the northwest monsoon brings more rain and cloud; from April to October the southeast monsoon brings more sunny days and less rainfall. Jakarta's average annual rainfall is about 1,760 millimeters (69 inches). Its average daily high is 30°C (86°F), with a low of 23°C (74°F). In the inland highlands of Tosari (elevation 1,735 meters [5,692 feet]), the average temperature ranges from 22-8°C (72-47°F). Java's soil is very fertile because volcanic ash periodically enriches the land.

"Aromanis" is a traditional Indonesian sweet treat made from basic ingredients such as flour and sugar. Naming this coffee Aromanis suggests that the beans have a cotton-candy-like quality. The beans themselves come from Ciwidey and Garut in West Java. In fact no special coffee seed is used; it is coffee processed with the natural method that develops these distinctive flavors, which, of course, are not widely recognized in West Java itself.

Coffee Origin Information

Region: Mount Tangkuban Perahu, Indonesia

Altitude: 1,400-1,600 meters

Roast Level: Light

Processing Method: Honey process

Taste Description: Intense fruit aroma, with plum and jackfruit flavors, clean and sweet aftertaste.

Flavor Profile: Complex floral notes on entry, tropical fruit flavors reminiscent of mango and jackfruit, a smooth and rich mouthfeel, and a long-lasting aftertaste.

West Java Honey Processing

Indonesia's West Java Aromanis honey process scores as high as 92 points in cupping. The bean's English name, Aromanis, means "sweet mango" in Indonesian.

At the estate, we tasted Indonesian coffees that were distinctly different from one another.

The farmers brewed their coffee for us using the simplest hot-water infusion method.

Careful cultivation and processing

Let the coffee's flavor break free from the established framework of Indonesian coffee.

Fruit sweetness, lemon aroma, even floral notes

Are all strongly present across the different varieties.

It truly overturned our perception of Indonesian coffee as merely bitter and rich.

Honey Processing

The honey processing method, also called Honey Process or Miel Process, produces what is known as Honey Coffee. Plantations in Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala have adopted this method. Honey processing means drying green beans with the mucilage left intact. After the outer pulp is removed from the coffee bean, a layer of viscous, gelatinous substance remains. Traditional washed processing uses water to wash it away, but because water resources are limited in some high-altitude areas, this direct-drying method was born.

Honey processing is a relatively complex, time-consuming, and difficult method. The first step is to select high-quality fruit, then remove the pulp while keeping the parchment, which is the heart of honey processing. The parchment contains rich sugars and acids, and during drying these sweet and acidic flavors slowly penetrate the coffee bean. The second step is drying, also the most important condition for producing high-quality beans.

Honey processing allows coffee to retain the cleanliness of washed processing. Although brightness decreases somewhat, sweetness and caramel notes increase. Depending on the degree of honey processing, honey-processed coffee is divided into yellow honey, red honey, and black honey. The advantage of honey processing is that it best preserves the original sweet flavors of ripe coffee fruit, giving the coffee elegant brown-sugar notes and nutty sweetness, with berry flavors supporting a red-wine-like aroma base, making it a very elegant product.

Additional Information

Varieties: Jember, S-795

Altitude: 1,400-1,600 meters

Flavor: Fruity aroma, plum, jackfruit flavors, sweet aftertaste

Origin: West Java, Indonesia

Coffee beans are picked from the branches and separated from the fruit, then washed and immediately dried. The beans are "diserok" (turned) every hour to ensure even drying, including at midnight. "It's during the night that this is very important, because of the high humidity," says Ariev of the coffee (August 5, 2014), translated from the original Indonesian text.

The coffee processing takes 25-26 days, which is why Aromanis beans are a little more expensive than ordinary coffee. The Coffee Farmers' Cooperative sells Aromanis green beans for 130,000-150,000 rupiah per kilogram, while the coffee shop offers them at a retail price of 80,000 rupiah per 200-gram package.

Product Information

Shelf Life: 90 days

Net Weight: 227g

Packaging: Bulk coffee beans

Roast Level: Roasted coffee beans

Sugar Content: Sugar-free

Origin: Indonesia

Roast Degree: Light roast

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Indonesia's islands each bring a different character to the cup, and the single best-known expression of the archipelago is Mandheling. FrontStreet's Indonesia wet-hulled Mandheling comes from the Lake Toba area of the Lindong region in Sumatra and is processed with the wet-hulled method, in which the parchment is stripped away while the bean is still half-dry and half-wet, leaving the green bean exposed to the air. That is what gives Mandheling its signature herbal and spice notes. To bring out the classic profile it is roasted medium-dark, yielding a low-acid, full-bodied cup with caramel, dark chocolate, and toasted bread aromas and a long, sweet finish, ideal for anyone who likes a strong, low-acid coffee.

For the top of the Indonesian range, FrontStreet's PWN Golden Mandheling is the choice. PWN is a trading house focused on buying premium Mandheling lots from local producers, and Golden Mandheling is its flagship. Its screening standards are strict, covering bean density, screen size, shape, and color, and each lot passes one machine selection and several rounds of hand selection to remove defects, so the beans come out plump, uniform, large, and translucent with the muddy, grassy side of Mandheling reduced. Freshly roasted, it delivers sandalwood, herbs, spice, roasted hazelnut, caramel, and dark chocolate in a clean, sweet, rich, and highly layered cup, suited both to daily drinking and to gifting.

Indonesia also plays a leading role in espresso. FrontStreet's Classic Blend adds a small amount of Robusta to a base built on Mandheling and Brazilian coffee, then roasts it dark so that dark chocolate, nuts, and caramel reach their peak, giving the blend the golden, abundant crema that a full-bodied espresso or moka pot coffee needs, easy enough that even a beginner can produce an authentic Mandheling-style cup.