An Introduction to Asian Premium Coffee Growing Regions — Three Major Indonesian Coffee Origins and Their Characteristics

Do you enjoy coffee with a rich body, intense flavors, and long-lasting sweet aftertaste? FrontStreet Coffee believes you don't necessarily need to pursue famous coffee brands. Blue Mountain coffee is truly excellent, but those who dislike it will always dislike it, while those who love rich body find Blue Mountain coffee too expensive. Don't worry—there's always Mandheling!

Coffee lovers must have tried Indonesian coffee. The best growing regions throughout the Indonesian archipelago are Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi. These three islands have established three major coffee brands: Mandheling coffee, produced in Sumatra, Indonesia, with moderate acidity and an extremely strong, rich aroma; Java coffee, produced on Java Island, Indonesia, belonging to the Arabica coffee species; and Sulawesi coffee, with full-bodied beans and rich aroma. Robusta varieties account for 90% of total production and are reputed to be the world's highest quality.

Indonesia: The Archipelago of Coffee

Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 islands scattered across the equatorial volcanic belt. Indonesia straddles both sides of the equator, with a humid tropical rainforest climate and abundant rainfall, while fertile volcanic soil provides rich nutrients. The best growing regions throughout the archipelago are Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi.

Overall, Indonesian coffee has a very rich flavor, mellow taste, and slightly syrupy quality with excellent acidity. Its two main export markets are Germany and Japan, which indirectly reflects the excellent quality of this coffee. What attracts consumers is the superior quality characteristic of its Arabica coffee beans. Indonesian coffee has a rich flavor and mellow taste with slightly syrupy qualities, but its drawbacks may include uncomfortable astringency or slight musty flavors, while others exhibit earthy characteristics.

In the mid-17th century, coffee trees were introduced to Indonesia by the Dutch (some official sources suggest it was even earlier). In 1712, the first coffee from Java was sold to Amsterdam. However, in 1877, all coffee trees in plantations were destroyed by coffee rust disease, and Robusta coffee trees had to be imported from Africa to replace the original varieties. Today, only 6%-10% of coffee beans are Arabica. Indonesia is the world's major producer of Robusta coffee, producing 6.8 million bags annually, with most coffee coming from small plantations, accounting for about 90% of total production.

Java Coffee

Java produces refined, aromatic coffee with relatively low acidity, delicate body, and good balance. Java coffee's aroma and acidity surpass those from Sumatra and Sulawesi. Java's best plantations include Blawan, Jambit, Kayumas, and Pankur. Java Mocha coffee is a blend of Java coffee and Yemen Mocha coffee.

Overall, Indonesian coffee has a rich flavor, mellow taste, and slightly syrupy quality with excellent acidity. Its two main export markets are Germany and Japan, which indirectly reflects the excellent quality of this coffee. What attracts consumers is the superior quality characteristic of its Arabica coffee beans. You can add milk or cream to high-quality Indonesian coffee without worrying about affecting its flavor. Indonesian coffee is divided into six grades, with AP being the best. But no one knows exactly what these two capital letters represent.

Sulawesi Coffee

Sulawesi's former name was Celebes. Sulawesi is one of the oldest islands in the archipelago, with exposed rocks dating back more than a million years. Yellow-red podzolic soils are found in coffee-producing areas. These soils often have several layers of clay beneath the surface, rich in iron. The most famous producing region is Toraja, located in the highlands of South Sulawesi.

Kalosi, south of Toraja, is the main metropolitan area of this region, with two lesser-known areas: Mamasa to the west and Gowa south of Kalosi. Some particularly interesting coffee beans are processed using the washed method, worth exploring and highly recommended for trying when opportunities arise. The semi-washed processing method is commonly used throughout Sulawesi, and the region also produces considerable Robusta beans. The area name is most commonly used to represent Sulawesi coffee, known for its full viscosity, rich flavors, and low yet vibrant acidity.

Most Arabica beans are grown at high elevations around Tana Toraja, while Kalosi in the south has become a brand name.

Kalosi: A market name for coffee from the southwestern part of Sulawesi Island, referring to the small town of Kalosi in the island's central region, which serves as the main trading hub for Toraja coffee beans.

Toraja: A growing region in the highlands of southeastern Sulawesi, also the name for the island's specialty beans. Toraja is not a place name, city name, or variety name, but rather refers to the "Toraja" people who are skilled in coffee cultivation in the central mountainous region of Sulawesi. Toraja is also one of the world's rare specialty beans, with an annual production of about 1,000 metric tons, distributed across rugged slopes at about 1,200 meters elevation in central and southwestern Sulawesi. Cultivation and harvesting are difficult, with average annual yields of only 300 kg per hectare, far below the average of over 1,000 kg in Central and South America.

Toraja's three major plantations include: "PT Kapal Api" with 2,000 hectares of coffee gardens; "CSR" ranking second with 1,100 hectares of coffee gardens; and Japan's "Key Coffee" "Toarco Jaya" as the third largest plantation with 700 hectares of coffee gardens. In other words, Toraja is more precious and rare than Mandheling or Golden Mandheling.

Toraja is washed or semi-washed, with brighter, more acidic aromas than Sumatran Mandheling or Golden Mandheling, with more distinct layers. It has rich caramel sweetness but less earthy, woody flavors and body than Mandheling, with slight floral notes.

Sumatra Coffee

The best coffee from Sumatra comes from two places: in northern Sumatra's Central Aceh near Lake Tawar and in the more southern mountains around Lake Toba. Due to many small tenant farmers and their unique semi-washed processing methods combined with iron-deficient soil, coffee beans from this region have a distinctive blue color in their fresh green bean stage.

Mandheling:

This refers to the semi-dried or sun-dried beans from the Lintong mountainous area at elevations of 900-1,200 meters on the southwestern shore of Lake Toba in north-central Sumatra. The Batak people form the backbone of coffee farmers in this region, once renowned as the world's most full-bodied coffee beans. Mandheling is a trademark used for Arabica coffee from North Sumatra, produced in the Tapanuli region of northwestern Sumatra, named after the Mandailing people who produce Mandheling coffee, featuring unique herbal and woody aromatic flavors.

Lintong Region:

Lintong Mandheling, at elevations of 1,200 to 1,500 meters, comes from the most famous coffee in the Lake Toba region of North Sumatra Island. To correctly understand Golden Mandheling coffee, not all golden-colored Mandheling is Golden Mandheling.

Golden Mandheling is produced in the Lintong region of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Harvesting is limited to fully manual single-berry picking of ripe fruit to ensure initial bean quality. Coffee cherries are processed using the SEMI-WASHED method, naturally sun-dried, then undergo another drying refinement process after hulling, along with two green bean cleaning operations and four Hand-Pick manual selection processes. Therefore, it can be said to be a strictly selected premium Mandheling coffee. Golden Mandheling marked with "PWN" is the abbreviation of Indonesia's Pawani company, whose produced Golden Mandheling coffee has been registered in Indonesia.

Lake Toba: Located in central North Sumatra Province, Dutch colonists moved "Java Mandheling" north to the Lake Toba region in 1888. Lintong in South Sumatra and the Lake Toba area can be called Mandheling, with Lintong being the actual Mandheling producing region. Mandheling is produced from the mountainous area around Lake Toba. This lake is geographically located north of Medan, the capital of Sumatra Island, belonging to a highland freshwater lake. Average elevation is about 900 meters. Generally speaking, Mandheling refers to Typica or its varieties grown in the mountainous area around Lake Toba. The lake is diamond-shaped, 100 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide, covering 1,130 square kilometers, with an average elevation of about 900 meters; it's also the world's largest volcanic lake.

Lake Tawar: Located in central Aceh Special Autonomous Region. Situated at the northern tip of Sumatra Island, most coffee produced in North Sumatra is Gayo, mainly of the Ateng variety. Lake Tawar at the northern tip can be called Aceh coffee or Lake Tawar coffee. Its area is less than one-tenth of Lake Toba. However, in recent years, coffee quality and production have surpassed Lake Toba.

Gayo Mountains Aceh

Aceh, at elevations of 1,110 to 1,300 meters, is at the northernmost tip of Sumatra Island. In Aceh Province on the north side of Sumatra Island, Gayo coffee is grown on mountain slopes around the town of Takegon and Lake Tawar. Elevations in production areas average between 1,110 and 1,300 meters. Coffee is grown by small tenant farmers under shade trees. Wet-processed coffee is cleaner but often lacks Sumatran coffee's flavor characteristics. Traditionally processed coffee resembles that from Sumatra's Mandheling region, with advantages showing unique flavors and low yet vibrant viscosity.

Aceh has long-term political instability, making it not a region that ordinary people would visit. Gayo people are determined individuals, hardworking, with nearly 20% of coffee processors being women.

FLORES

Flores is a small island about 320 kilometers (200 miles) east of Bali, one of the Indonesian archipelago islands, at elevations of 1,200 to 1,700 meters. As a relatively late entrant to the coffee industry, it has developed a good reputation for coffee cultivation.

In the past, much of Flores' coffee production was for domestic consumption or mixed with other coffee for export, rarely sold directly under the name "Flores coffee." The island has active and dormant volcanoes, with Bajawa volcanic mixtures having significant positive impacts in main growing areas. In coffee processing, semi-washed processing is the most common method in the region, though some coffee beans are still produced using fully washed processing. Harvest period is May to September.

Timor Island

Divided into East Timor and West Timor, originating in the early 20th century. East Timor has not used chemical agents and fertilizers for the past 25 years, and should be the world's largest organic coffee producer, but due to East Timor's political instability, exports are difficult. Currently, most available beans are from West Timor.

Bali

Although belonging to Indonesian coffee, Bali's coffee farmers feel that Indonesian coffee quality is inconsistent and doesn't match Bali's premium coffee quality, so they established themselves independently, calling themselves "Bali coffee" to distinguish it from Indonesian coffee. Bali not only has Arabica coffee beans but also produces abundant Robusta coffee. According to sources, Bali Golden Coffee is grafted from the roots of Arabica coffee trees and branches/leaves of Robusta coffee, commonly known as the [Catimor] variety.

Coffee arrived in Bali relatively late, initially growing in the Kintamani highlands at elevations of 1,000 to 1,500 meters. Coffee production was severely affected by the 1963 eruption of Gunung Agung volcano, which caused more than 20,000 deaths and widespread destruction in eastern Bali. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the government distributed Arabica seedlings to promote coffee production, though some believe this had limited effects as about 80% of island production today is Robusta beans. Although tourism provides the largest income, agriculture employs the most people on the island, with Japan being the largest buyer in the past. Harvest period is May to October.

Luwak Coffee

Luwak coffee, from Bali, is famous not for its origin but for a unique new processing method. A mammal called the Asian palm civet eats ripe coffee cherries, digesting only the fruit's outer pulp, while the extremely hard coffee beans are excreted. After manual selection, cleaning, drying, deodorization, screening, processing, and roasting, it becomes "civet coffee." Due to its limited production and rare, distinctive flavor, this coffee has become one of the world's rarest and most expensive coffees.

Now some companies have created a product also called "Kopi Luwak" by artificially raising and feeding coffee cherries to civets. Wild civets are captured and kept in iron cages for three years, constantly being fed and excreting coffee beans, many suffering from malnutrition, psychological trauma (zoochosis), and other problems, unable to adapt to nature and dying.

Coffee Varieties and Processing

More than 20 varieties of Arabica coffee circulate in Indonesia's commercial market, with common ones being Caturra, Catimor, Timor hybrid, Typica, Robusta, Liberica, Excelsa, and Sidikalong. The most famous is Typica, the original cultivated variety introduced by the Dutch. When Indonesian coffee suffered from leaf rust attacks, many Typica varieties disappeared in the late 1880s. However, in Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Flores, especially at high elevations and remote areas, Typica varieties can still be found in Bergandal and Sidikalang.

Another variety is Longberry Mandheling, also called TimTim, a bean from Indonesia. Due to its elongated shape, many call it "horse face bean," while others call it Longberry Mandheling. Actually, Tim Tim is not a pure variety but a natural hybrid of Arabica and Robusta coffee trees. This variety was discovered on Timor Island in the 1940s and was cultivated due to its natural disease resistance. In the Americas, this variety is called Hybrido de Timor, abbreviated as Tim Tim, while in Indonesia this variety is also called Bor Bor.

After coffee beans are sorted by size, some producers store the coffee for one to three years before sale. This process gives the coffee a very mild and warm character with woody and cinnamon notes. Fresh beans gradually change color from deep yellow to brown.

The best coffee from Sumatra comes from two places: in northern Sumatra's Central Aceh near Lake Tawar and in the more southern mountains around Lake Toba. Due to many small tenant farmers and their unique semi-washed processing methods combined with iron-deficient soil, coffee beans from this region have a distinctive blue color in their fresh green bean stage.

Processing Methods

The three main processing methods are: natural sun-drying, semi-washed, and fully washed. Due to the humid climate and frequent rainfall, to pursue more efficient drying, the commonly used method is [Wet-Hulling]:

Most coffee farmers also only harvest fully red coffee cherries. After collecting coffee cherries in the morning, they remove the fruit skin and pulp in the afternoon. Sumatra's natural environment is superior, with most water used being mountain spring water.

1. Coffee cherry depulping: Place parchment beans in water-filled containers or tanks, removing defective parchment beans floating on the surface.

2. The dense parchment beans that sink to the bottom are briefly cleaned, then placed in barrels or plastic bags for brief dry fermentation, allowing the pectin sugars on the seed surface to ferment and develop flavor. Basically, the longer the fermentation time, the stronger the acidity. Fermentation time varies by individual, generally only a few hours, but some plantations omit the dry fermentation stage, directly sun-drying parchment beans to reduce acidity and increase viscosity, allowing pectin sugars to fully ferment and enhance flavor. Typical fermentation time is between 12-36 hours, depending on specific conditions.

3. Parchment beans are sun-dried for one to two days until bean moisture content reaches 30%-50%, when beans are still semi-hard and semi-soft. Hulling machines remove the parchment shell, then drying continues for about two days until moisture content reaches 12%-13%. Coffee beans are then collected in woven bags, typically 40kg and 80kg bags, and sent to coffee processing plants for hulling. The process is completed in about four days total.

Risks of Wet-Hulling Method

Beans are easily damaged and crack like hoof shapes, with significantly increased chances of mold, fungi, and yeast contamination.

Green Bean Grading

Defective beans are a major factor that destroys final coffee flavor. Therefore, the final step in green bean processing is also to remove defective beans. Grading is based on the proportion of defective beans, supplemented by screen size. Due to the rise of specialty coffee trends, coffee-producing countries are increasingly focusing on coffee quality, and controlling defective beans is the most important approach. Therefore, using defective bean proportions as a grading method or auxiliary basis is becoming increasingly common. Indonesian coffee beans use this defective bean proportion grading method, with Indonesian beans mainly divided into 6 levels, namely G1-G6.

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