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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. But there are always exceptions...

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. In the past we liked the Kayumas best since it exemplifies both the thick oily body of a Java with some other nice flavors ---sometimes Java is pure body and nothing else which makes it very unbalanced as a straight roast, while still an effective blender.

Sometimes one of the others, like Blawan or Djampit (also spelled Jampit) might be better, but that's why we evaluate them all against eachother in an unbiased blind cupping. There is "Government Estate" Java from the 4 old farms (Kayumas, Blawan, Djampit, Pancoer) that date back to Dutch colonialism, and "Private Estate" Java. Government Estate is invariably preferred as they higher quality coffee although there are occasional exceptions. I usually have a strong preference when I get all the Gov't. Estate samples in and blind cup them. But all in all, the cup quality at its best is nearly identical between them when they are at their best: it is not as if Blawan at its best has a remarkably different cup character than Kayumas at its best.

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.