The Story of Blawan Estate, Indonesia_Java Coffee Bean Varieties and Cultivation Information

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Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 islands scattered along the equatorial volcanic belt. Indonesia straddles both sides of the equator, with a humid tropical rainforest climate that brings abundant rainfall and fertile volcanic soil rich in nutrients. The best coffee growing areas across the entire archipelago are Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi islands. Indonesia's most representative coffee is Sumatran coffee, known for its strong flavor, mellow taste, and slightly syrupy notes. However, Indonesia also produces coffee with explosive fruit flavors and excellent sweetness - this is Java coffee. FrontStreet Coffee will now introduce another flavor profile from Indonesian coffee in this article.

Java Coffee Cultivation History

In the mid-17th century, coffee trees were introduced to the island of Java in Indonesia by the Dutch (some official sources suggest it was earlier). Such authentic production was very scarce, and the Dutch were the first to bring coffee to Central and South America in the 1720s. Coffee spread from Dutch colonies to French Guiana and Brazil. During their colonial expansion, the Dutch cultivated coffee in Malabar, India, and in 1699 brought coffee to Batavia, now Java, Indonesia. At that time, Indonesians called this new crop "KOPI," a name that is still used today.

In 1712, the first batch of coffee from Java was sold to Amsterdam. However, in 1877, due to a major environmental disaster, all coffee trees in the plantations were destroyed by coffee leaf rust disease, forcing the introduction of Robusta coffee trees from Africa to replace the original varieties. Indonesian Robusta coffee accounts for approximately 85% of total production, with Arabica making up 15%. Robusta is mainly concentrated in southern Sumatra, while Arabica is grown in northern Sumatra. Currently, Indonesia's coffee cultivation area exceeds 1 million hectares, with 90% operated by small farmers.

Today, only 6%-10% of coffee beans in Indonesia are Arabica. Indonesia is one of the world's four major coffee exporters, producing 6.8 million bags of coffee annually, with the majority coming from small plantations, accounting for about 90% of total production.

Java holds an extremely important position in coffee history. Unlike most other Indonesian coffees grown on small farms and primarily processed, Java Arabica coffee grows on large farms or plantations, mostly government-operated and using modern methods for washed processing. Currently, the main cultivated variety in Java is S795, locally called Jember, which is artificially cultivated. A few regions still preserve the Typica variety, with Blawan Estate being one of them.

Blawan Estate

The cultivation of Java Arabica coffee is centered around the Ijen volcano in eastern Java, which has an average altitude of over 1,400 meters. Coffee is mainly grown in large estates established by the Dutch government and landowners in the early 19th century. The best coffee plantations in Java include Blawan, Jambit, Kayumas, and Pankur. Blawan Estate is one of these large plantations (one of the four major state-owned coffee estates in Java, Indonesia), located near the Ijen volcano in eastern Java, with excellent coffee growing conditions including high altitude, volcanic soil, appropriate rainfall, and temperature. Blawan is one of the first large traditional coffee estates established by the Dutch and is now operated by the Indonesian government in the mountainous region of East Java.

The "Java Typica" coffee produced by Blawan Estate features round, full beans with low acidity. Additionally, the estate exclusively uses manual selection to harvest coffee cherries. After harvesting, the coffee cherries are sent to the processing plant for depulping and washed processing.

Typica Coffee Variety

Typica is the oldest variety in Java, with the Dutch planting it here as early as the mid-17th century. Typica offers a clean and fresh flavor with subtle floral and fruity notes. However, its yield is relatively low and disease resistance is weak. During the leaf rust epidemic of 1877, Java coffee plants suffered severe damage. The old Typica tree varieties that still remain in Java today possess exceptional flavor.

Processing Method

This Java coffee uses the washed processing method. After picking, the coffee cherries are immediately sent for processing, typically within 6 to 12 hours of harvest. The coffee cherries are first weighed, then soaked in water to select fruits that float due to insufficient quality. Next, the coffee cherries are sent to a depulper to remove the skin and pulp.

The depulped coffee cherries are placed in fermentation tanks or barrels for static fermentation for 18 to 36 hours, during which enzymes break down the mucilage/pectin in the coffee fruit. The demucilaged coffee cherries are washed in the tanks with an appropriate amount of water, and during the washing process, stirring removes the decomposed pectin from the coffee bean surface. After washing, only the coffee parchment, silver skin, and green beans remain.

The washed coffee beans are then sorted to remove defective beans. They are immediately sent to drying areas (waterproof tarps, concrete floors, raised beds, etc.) for drying. The drying time depends on environmental and climatic factors, typically ranging from 5 to 14 days. During this process, the moisture content of the coffee beans decreases from 55% to 11%. The dried coffee beans are called parchment coffee - green beans with parchment layer. The parchment coffee is sent to warehouses for storage and will be hulled again before export.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Java coffee differs from Mandheling coffee, as it predominantly exhibits tropical fruit flavors and a rich body. This brewing uses a V60 dripper, which better highlights the fruity flavors of the coffee.

Dose: 15g

Ratio: 1:16

Temperature: 93°C

Grind: Medium-fine grind (72% pass-through rate on standard #20 sieve)

1. First, pour 30g of water for a 30-second bloom.

2. After the bloom, perform the second pour, adding 130g of water (total now 160g). Pour in circles from the center outward until the entire surface of the coffee bed shows golden foam.

3. When the water level drops to halfway, pour 80g of water (total 240g), using the same pouring technique as the second pour. Remove the dripper once all the coffee has flowed into the server, completing the extraction. Total extraction time is 1 minute and 47 seconds.

Flavor description: This Java coffee is completely different from traditional Indonesian Mandheling flavors, possessing rich tropical fruit notes with mango and passion fruit flavors, and a full, rich body.

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