What Coffee Varieties Are Produced in Indonesia and What Are the Flavor Characteristics of Indonesia's Three Major Coffee Varieties

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As one of the world's major coffee-producing regions, Indonesia holds a pivotal position in the global coffee landscape. Due to historical and cultivation factors, Indonesia's coffee varieties are incredibly complex, with various coffee species intermixed to the point where discussing Indonesian coffee varieties can leave people completely bewildered. This installment of Barista Development Guide will explore Indonesia's coffee varieties.

Sumatra Typica

This is Indonesia's oldest cultivated variety, introduced to Java from India by the Dutch as early as the late 17th century. Following the successful cultivation and widespread dissemination in Java, it was expanded to the larger northern island of Sumatra. The Typica grown in Indonesia at that time was coffee with excellent flavor characteristics. After long-term adaptation to the local growing environment, it developed the distinctive Indonesian profile of low acidity, high sweetness, with herbal aromatic notes.

When leaf rust swept through Indonesia in 1877, most of the Typica throughout the country withered and died from infection. The Indonesian government had no choice but to introduce disease-resistant varieties as replacements. Today, Sumatra Typica is mainly distributed around Lake Toba and the Lintong region. The Lintong Mandheling regional beans offered by FrontStreet Coffee contain this excellent Typica variety.

You generally won't hear the term "Sumatra Typica" in Indonesia; instead, they use names like Bergendal, Sidikalang, and Rambung to refer to Sumatra Typica. It is also considered the finest coffee bean variety of Indonesian Mandheling.

Robusta

Indonesia is a coffee-producing country that yields both Arabica and Robusta varieties. Currently, Robusta production accounts for 85% of Indonesia's total coffee output, while Arabica remains at just 15%. On Sumatra island, high-quality Mandheling Arabica coffee is grown in the northern parts of Sumatra around Lake Toba and Lake Tawar, while Robusta, which has less demanding altitude requirements, is extensively cultivated in the southern regions.

The reason Robusta dominates Indonesia's coffee production stems from the major leaf rust crisis of 1877, when large areas of Typica originally planted in Indonesia withered and died. To combat the epidemic and restore coffee production, Robusta with strong disease resistance had to be introduced from Africa. Robusta also gained popularity among local coffee farmers due to its excellent high yield and reproductive capabilities.

Timor Hybrid

Timor Hybrid was originally a natural hybrid variety of Typica and Robusta found on Timor Island. It inherited Robusta's high yield and disease resistance. When introduced to Indonesia, coffee farmers called it Tim Tim. After cultivation in Indonesia, it also produced its direct descendant Bor Bor, meaning "abundant fruit," which shows improved yields compared to Tim Tim.

Catimor

In 1959, the Portuguese moved Brazil's Bourbon mutation variety Caturra to East Timor to hybridize with the Timor variety (which has Robusta heritage). Catimor possesses extremely high disease resistance and yields three times more production than Typica. During the leaf rust crisis, the Indonesian government didn't just introduce Robusta (whose flavor differs significantly from Arabica) but also brought Timor from East Timor with the intention of replacing Typica. According to later expert investigations, a batch of Timor seeds introduced by the Indonesian government in 1980 was mixed with some Catimor seeds. These seeds were planted in Aceh, northern Sumatra. Catimor was first detected in the central Aceh region, so locals also call Catimor "Ateng," derived from Aceh Tengah (Central Aceh).

Because Ateng's disease resistance and yield capacity surpass Typica, and after years of local adaptation, the wild flavor characteristics of Catimor in Ateng have been tamed, making it popular among coffee farmers. It spread from Aceh to Lake Toba. The Ateng from Aceh also caught the attention of Pawani, Indonesia's largest green bean supplier. Currently, the Golden Mandheling coffee variety from the 2020 harvest season offered by FrontStreet Coffee comes from Ateng in Gayo Highlands, Aceh.

Jember

Jember is the localized Indonesian version of S795, currently mainly cultivated on Java Island. It was introduced to local farmers by the Jember Coffee Research Center in East Java after being imported from India, hence Javanese farmers directly call S795 "Jember."

S795 beans have a blue-green coloration, and their natural variation originates from S288. S288 was originally an outstanding hybrid variety developed in India in 1946. The predecessor of S288 came from the hybridization of S288 (first generation) and Typica, named S26. Because the first generation of S288 beans was a hybrid of Arabica and Liberica, it always retained Liberica's earthy flavor. Indian botanists then hybridized the first generation of S288 with the Kent variety (itself a hybrid of first-generation S288 and Typica) and the second generation of S288 to create today's S795.

Currently, the West Java Ameni Estate coffee beans offered by FrontStreet Coffee use this variety, processed with honey method to showcase flavors of mango, red wine, peach, and jackfruit.

Indonesia originally only cultivated Typica. Everything stems from that devastating coffee leaf rust epidemic that swept across the entire country, which created today's chaotic mix of Indonesian coffee varieties. Additionally, because Indonesia practices smallholder farming, coffee farmers generally have lower education levels and poor ability to identify varieties, often resulting in multiple varieties being mixed within a single area. However, thanks to Indonesia's cultivation culture and unique growing environment, coffee varieties have been able to blend harmoniously, forming distinctive regional profiles like Mandheling coffee from North Sumatra, Java coffee from Java Island, and Toraja coffee from Sulawesi Island.

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