Java Wet Hulled Gunung Tilu

This wet hulled coffee is a small producer blend from farms near the mountain peak of Tilu ( peak is called "Gunung"). Tilu has a very high altitude, and farms in the nearby villages where this coffee was collected tend to stagger between 1600 and 1800 meters above sea level. The intermediary we are doing business with works closely with local farmers in West Java, wet-processing coffee in small batches to high standards. This lot is from a man named Dani, a farmer and collector in Gambung Pangkalan. Dani buys the wet process coffee farmers in Tilu, and then brings it back to his mill in Gambung where he peels the parchment, and dries it the rest of the way. This seemingly unorthodox way of processing coffee is called the wet hulled method, or "giling basah" as it's called in parts of Indonesia. Wet hulled coffee is deep toned and earthy, rustic, and often produces big body and very low acidity. (It's no surprise that wet hulled coffees are often used in espresso blends). It's the traditional processing method in Sumatra, and a big part of what put Sumatran coffee on the map. Java Sunda (West Java) was the original coffee area, but you would find few trees here of late. Most Java coffee is grown in the East, where the big estates are. But farmers in Java Sunda always kept small coffee plots, although they mainly grown rice, onions, cabbage, carrots and other food crops for local markets in Bandung and Jakarta. Here amongst the Ateng and Jember coffees are some old Typica trees, the original Typica, which is quite amazing. (Java was the first destination for coffee from Yemen, with a stopover in India). It's nice to see small lots from the different mountain villages in the region rather than the typically large, full-container blends.