Indonesia 2021 First Cup of Excellence Competition Results Announced

Traditional Indonesian Coffee Characteristics

Previously, the most representative Indonesian coffees were Mandheling, Kopi Luwak, and Java coffee. These coffees were all characterized by their strong bitter notes.

Indonesia's First Cup of Excellence (COE) Competition

In 2021, Indonesia also held its first COE (Cup of Excellence)... The Cup of Excellence is the most prestigious coffee auction, designed to select high-quality coffee beans from member-producing countries each year. These beans are endorsed by professional coffee cuppers from around the world, selecting coffees with cupping scores above 87 points (30 slots) for global auction. This competition promotes the development of coffee quality in producing countries.

If you don't understand, it's okay - you can simply understand that hosting a COE competition fully demonstrates that this producing country can produce internationally recognized "specialty coffee beans." (Don't interpret this in reverse - some producing countries that don't host COE can still produce internationally recognized specialty coffee beans, such as Panama, which has its own green bean competition BOP).

Indonesia's first COE competition in 2021 also means it officially became the 14th COE hosting country. COE is closely related to specialty coffee. In the past, when talking about specialty coffee, Indonesia always remained silent because neither coffee varieties, growing altitude, nor cultivation levels were considered advantages. When Indonesia's Mandheling and Kopi Luwak were world-famous, the concept of specialty coffee had not yet been widely spread. You can understand that Indonesian coffee was good coffee from the old era, but it doesn't count as today's specialty coffee.

Distinctive Flavor Profile of Indonesian Coffee

Indonesian coffee is often described with herbaceous, spicy, wild, rich, earthy, and unique aromatic flavors. It is truly a single-origin coffee bean with distinct regional characteristics. At least among the coffees we drink in coffee shops, Indonesian coffee is the easiest to recognize because that unique spice and herbaceous aroma cannot be imitated by other coffee beans.

The Impact of COE on Indonesian Coffee Flavor

Why is it said that Indonesia hosting COE might mean there will be no more bitter single-origin coffee in the future? Let's first look at the flavor descriptions of these award-winning coffee beans.

A total of 26 beans were selected, but because there are too many, only some representative images are shown here. These are the 1st, 2nd, 10th, and 26th place winners. The first and second places show the level of Indonesia's best coffee in 2021. The credibility of COE is quite high - the first place scored 89.82 points, and the second place scored 89.04 points, neither exceeding 90 points, which also reflects the true situation of Indonesian coffee.

Analysis of Award-Winning Coffee Flavor Profiles

Secondly, observe the flavor descriptions of these selected beans. The descriptions include Indonesian coffee's characteristic flavors of "spice, clove, chocolate, wild," but also include some fruit flavors like "cranberry, orange, cherry..." This is somewhat different from the Indonesian coffee we typically encounter.

Thirdly, observe the flavor descriptions of different rankings. Higher-ranked coffees tend to have descriptions leaning toward acidic fruit notes, while lower-ranked coffees lean toward fruity sweetness and sugar notes. FrontStreet Coffee speculates this should be related to the acidity category in COE scoring. It also shows that in the current mainstream scoring system, coffees lacking acidity are at a disadvantage.

Future Outlook for Indonesian Coffee

Indonesia is the fourth-largest coffee-producing country and the most representative producer of bitter coffee. Hosting a COE shows Indonesia's intention to move toward specialty coffee, and it can also promote local cultivation enthusiasm and guide specialty coffee cultivation concepts. However, it also shows the trend of flavor transition in Indonesian coffee, a process that will take at least 10 years.

Perhaps we're worrying unnecessarily - "doesn't a certain internationally famous coffee chain insist on dark roast coffee?" But looking back 40 years ago, the entire world was drinking dark roast coffee, and those of us born today are just in the middle of this subtle transformation process.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473