Java was a place I had flown through before, but never stopped. It's hard to go anywhere in Indonesia without spending some time in the Jakarta airport. But this time we had a reason. There was a coffee project from the other end of the island than where most Java coffee comes from. All the big farms, most that are or were run by the government, are in East Java: Kayumas, Djampit, Blawan, etc. West Java traditionally had coffee, but the farms were not government owned or supported so the farmers failed at coffee, and went on to other things. But now we are joining on, as the buyer of this West Java coffee, to support a new quality initiative in this area. The idea is that of Dariusz Lewandowski and Eko Purno, who is from the Java Sunda area. They have built a fantastic "coffee outpost" in the mountains, and are working on a small scale level to find what the quality potential is here. Because there are still old types of Typica, and a longberry tree they call Kopi Sunda, there is potential for a good coffee from these parts. -Tom, August 2010.