The Coffees of Indonesia; Java

Green Coffee Offerings : Indonesia : Java

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We are hoping that the project we worked with in Java Sunda delivers again this year - we ought to see that coffee in the fall.

About Java's Coffee

Map of Indonesia

The smoking vent of Kawah-Ijen

Acid lake in the crater of Kawah-Ijen

Java is a clean cup for an Indonesian, a fully wet-processed coffee that has the Indonesian body and thickness in the cup without earthy or dirty flavors. Our experience is that early lots of Timor and Java can be the finest while in Central Americans you usually need to hold out for the mid-crop to late-crop samples. In the case of Sumatra and Sulawesi, it seems that the second to third wave of arrivals can be the best. Of course, these truisms are made to be broken... that's why samples and cupping are always the key.

The problem is that a low acid coffee can taste quite flat, or incomplete. It's no wonder that an average quality Java is considered a "good blender" and not a true, stand-alone single origin coffee. We don't look for average quality though - we look for stand out coffees. The Government Estate coffees are quite mild, but I usually find a lot that has a bit more going on, usually a Djampit or Blawan lot. In the past we liked the Kayumas best since it exemplifies both the thick oily body of a Java with some other nice flavors.

"Government Estate" Java comes from 4 old farms (Kayumas, Blawan, Djampit, Pancoer) that date back to Dutch colonialism, and "Private Estate" Java. Government Estate is invariably preferred as higher quality coffee. I usually have a strong preference when I get all the Gov't. Estate samples in and blind cup them.

All main estates are located in East Java in the vicinity of the Ijen volcanic complex. The arabica coffee plant was brought to Indonesia around 1696 and has been commercially cultivated until today. The Government body (called the PTP XXVI Plantation) grows about 85% of the coffee in East Java, close to Bali on the Ijen area. The range of altitudes suitable for coffee production is 3,000 to 6,000 feet with most growing in the plateau region at 4,500. Djampit and Blawan are the largest estates, while Pancoer is 1110 Hectares and Kayumas is 725 Hectares. Blawan is huge: 2268 Hectares. The main cultivars are a Typica that has grown in isolation long enough to display its own character, called Java Typica. But there is a lot of catimor-derived cultivars. One is ironically called USDA, named after those who developed and endorsed it, as well as Kartika cultivar.


View of Kawah Ijen from the greater Ijen caldera.

Our Unroasted Javanese Coffee Offerings:

(You will need to read the reference page to interpret terms and numbers used below). Check out the Sweet Maria's Coffee Home Roasting Forum for more conversation about home roasting this and other coffees.

We are currently out of stock. The review below is provided for your reference.

Java Sunda Garut

This coffee is the result of a small-yet-ambitious project, to build a small outpost in the oldest coffee growing region in Java, work with the local farmers, and wet-process the coffee in tiny batches to high standards. It's the work of several people, Eko Purnomowidi who supervised the project, with oversight from Dariusz Lewandowski and support from Edo Gurdian and Uden Banu. Two Indonesians, a Costa Rican and a Pole; all crazy enough to pursue build this small coffee camp. Java Sunda (West Java) was the original coffee area, but you would find very, very few trees here of late. All the coffee is grown in East Java, where all the big estates are. All Java sold in the US is basically East Java coffee. But farmers in Java Sunda always kept small coffee plots, and there was one commodity quality mill near Bandung that would buy coffee (but not for much). Yet here among the Ateng and Jember were some old Typica trees, the original Typica! (Java was the first destination for coffee from Yemen, with a stopover in India). This is just the first year of the project, and there was so little coffee we could create only 2 lots. This is the smaller lot, and is from the Kelompok farmers group in the Garut area. It is on the slopes of the Papandayan volcano, with coffee planted from 1400-1550 meters. All these coffees were meticulously hand sorted, hiring local youths in the area. It drove up the cost of the coffee, but resulted in a better cup, and is in the spirit of this project to improve coffee and community in the area!

This coffee is distinct from other Indonesias, and from the usual West Java coffees. The aromatics are almondy in the light roasts, with a more chocolate dry fragrance at Full City roast level. The wet aroma has plum and raisin fruit accents in the lighter roasts, and more of that bittersweet chocolate as the roast approaches second crack. The coffee has a very nice floral hibiscus note on the break. Light roasts have this nice floral and fruit brightness, hibiscus-honeysuckle and a general "fruit punch" suggestion. But at these light roasts the body can seem a bit thin. Darker roasts are a bit flatter in the flavor profile, but develop the aforementioned chocolate roast taste, and have lingering raisin sweetness.

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