What Makes Sumatra Coffee Special? The Connection Between Indonesian Java Coffee Beans and Arabica

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FrontStreet Coffee - Introduction to Sumatra and Java Coffee

Sumatra coffee is world-renowned for its unique herbal and woody aromatic characteristics. This is partly due to the mixed varieties cultivated and the local climate conditions. On the other hand, it's also due to a special processing method called Wet Hulling, locally known as Giling Basah, which imparts many unique qualities to these coffees.

Before the 1970s, Sumatra's coffee was processed using two of the world's most common methods: washed and natural processing. In the 1970s, Japanese interest in Sumatra coffee led to the introduction of the Wet Hulling process. This unique processing and drying method is largely responsible for Sumatra coffee's distinctive flavor profile and is also what gives the coffee its characteristic blue-green appearance.

Java may have one of the most complex histories among all coffee varieties, with the exception of Geisha.

Despite its name, this is by no means an Indonesian variety. Java originated in Ethiopia. As early as the 19th century, the Dutch introduced this variety from Ethiopia to Java, Indonesia, hence its name. In the mid-20th century, the French seed company Vilmorin collected seeds from the renowned Indonesian breeding cultivator Prutes and sent them to Cameroon in Africa.

In Cameroon, another breeder, Pierre Bouharmont, discovered that Java had partial resistance to coffee berry disease, which was quite troubling for African coffee cultivation, and that it produced good yields without requiring much fertilizer. After 20 years of selection and optimization, Cameroon released this variety to farmers between 1980-1990.

Through genetic fingerprinting of molecular markers, research institutions have confirmed that Java is a local variety derived from the Ethiopian landrace Abysinia. When cultivated at high altitudes, Java exhibits excellent quality that can even compete with Geisha!

In 1991, breeder Benoît Bertrand sent Java seeds to Costa Rica through the International Center for Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), making them available to small coffee farmers. The goal was to provide small farmers with a new variety that required less fertilization and was resistant to coffee berry disease, even though serious coffee berry disease outbreaks had not yet occurred in Central America at that time.

Based on this consideration, seeds were sent to all countries in the PROMECAFE (Regional Program for Technological Development and Modernization of Coffee Cultivation) cooperation alliance, but they were never truly promoted for cultivation in those countries, and none of them officially released this variety. Subsequently, Java's quality potential at high altitudes gained recognition. In 2016, Panama in Central America became the first country to recognize Java coffee.

Panama considers the Java variety an attractive alternative to Geisha, as it possesses high flavor quality, good tolerance to leaf rust and coffee berry disease, and is very suitable for low-input small farmers.

Knowledge point: In the 1860s and 1870s, coffee leaf rust epidemics destroyed Indonesia's coffee market and caused the Dutch to abandon many plantations. With the collapse of plantations, workers occupied small plots of land and eventually replanted coffee with Robusta and various disease-resistant Arabica hybrid varieties.

In Summary

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