The Current State of Indonesian Coffee: What Processing Methods Is Indonesia Famous For

Indonesia is an archipelago in Southeast Asia, consisting of a series of islands in the Oceania region. As the world's largest archipelago with thousands of islands, this incredible country has a fascinating history.

Their coffee industry has been developing for about 400 years, and like the country's history itself, it's just as fascinating. FrontStreet Coffee will walk you through a brief history of Indonesia's coffee industry, the current coffee culture surrounding it, Indonesian coffee production, its common flavor profiles, and specific coffees to try.

Brief History and Current Status

Indonesia's coffee journey began in the late 17th century when the Dutch colonized Indonesia. They brought Arabica coffee plants and started building coffee plantations on the island of Java.

As the Dutch East Indies (what is now known as Indonesia) continued to develop its infrastructure, the coffee industry also evolved. The development of infrastructure connected the islands more than ever before, and coffee production spread across the islands.

After about a century of exciting progress, in the late 1800s, a disease called coffee leaf rust wiped out Arabica coffee plants in most coffee plantations. To rebuild Indonesia's coffee industry, the Dutch brought Robusta coffee seeds to Indonesia because it could resist the disease.

Today, Indonesia continues to have a thriving coffee industry led by family farms and plantations. Most of the coffee beans they use still come from Robusta coffee beans, although Arabica coffee beans have recently made a comeback and are now popular in the specialty coffee world.

Indonesia's Java coffee and Sumatra Mandheling coffee are world-renowned, and many other wonderful coffees from this country circulate in today's world.

Indonesian Coffee Production

Most of the world's coffee is processed using natural, washed, or wet processing methods. However, Indonesian coffee production relies on a method called Giling Basah. This term means "wet hulling" or "wet grinding," which is what we commonly refer to as the wet-hulling method.

Giling Basah promotes specific characteristics in the coffee it produces. Because the cherries are dried for too long with the pulp still intact, juicy, fruity, earthy, and spicy flavors are enhanced in the remaining coffee beans.

Growing Conditions and Challenges

Indonesia is a very humid country. This humidity affects the coffee production process as it helps retain moisture in the coffee beans.

Indonesian Coffee Flavor Profile

Indonesian coffees tend to be full-bodied with a syrupy, thick mouthfeel and low acidity.

Several coffee-growing regions in Indonesia show differences between products from these areas. So, along with those overall characteristics of Indonesian coffee, each region has its own unique flavors.

You might have heard that Indonesian coffees tend to be good as dark roast coffees. As mentioned earlier, the beans are usually very dense.

This makes them ideal candidates for long roasting times (the longer the roasting time, the darker the beans become) because essentially, they have a lot of density to lose, so they can be roasted for longer. A dark-roasted Indonesian coffee brings out its bold characteristics, emphasizing dark chocolate, warm spices, and earthy notes.

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