SUMATRA ​BIES AWAN

General Information

Origin: Sumatra, Indonesia
Region: Gayo, Aceh
Village: Bies
Cooperative: PT. Ihitiyeri Keti Ara
Washing Station: Various
Farmers: 350 active members (140 female, 210 male)
Cultivars: Tim Tim & Ateng
Altitude: 1.300 - 1.500 masl
Process: Giling Basah (Wet Hulled)
Harvest: Sep - Nov 2023
Cherry Price | FOB Price: 5.46 USD/kg |  7.64 USD/Kg
Screen | Moisture | Density: 17+ | 12.3 % | 0.689 g/ml
Packaging: 60 Kg w/ GrainPro
Score: 86,1
Notes: Melon, chocolate, nutmeg, cedar

TRACEABILITY

Sumatra's geography is majestic and abundant. The Barisan mountain range crosses the island from north to south, covering approximately 1,700km. Its highest point is Mount Kerenci at 3,800m. This mountain range consists mainly of volcanoes surrounded by what was until recently dense jungle. Although today, approximately 50% of the jungle territory that existed 40 years ago has been lost due to palm oil monoculture, it is still a favourable location for high-end arabica cultivation, with fertile and mineral-rich soils.

We have selected for the second time this lot called "Bies Awan". Bies is the locality where this coffee is grown, very close to the city of Takengon and Lake Tawar; Awan in the local Bahasa Indonesian language means "Clouds", due to the altitude (close to the clouds) where the village Bies is located, hence the name of the lot. The lot was produced by approximately 350 coffee farmers, who work with two of the best known collectors in the area: Mr. Gimin and Mr. Sugeng. The farmers are constantly trained by the collectors to standardise harvest selection, pulping, fermentation, washing and drying practices, which unlike Atu Lintang each farmer does on his own farm, using traditional wooden or metal pulpers called Luwak, and concrete tanks for fermentation and washing.

Once the coffee is delivered to the collectors who take it to the cooperative, the coffee with a moisture content of 45-50% is dried in parchment for a day or two until it reaches a moisture content of 35-40%. It is then wet hulled and dried in green for the last time until the optimum moisture content of 12% is reached. Finally, the coffee is transported to Medan where gravity separation, double sorting by hand and packing for export are carried out.

HISTORY OF INDONESIAN COFFEE

The history of coffee in Indonesia, as in many others producing countries around the world, begins with tales of colonialism, slavery, monopoly and multinational corporations (Yes! The first ones of modern history were set in the early 17th century). In the year 1602 the Dutch government established the “Dutch East India Company” (VOC; Verenigde Oost-indische Compagnie) as a chartered company and granted it a 21-year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade. This was the first model of what we consider today a multinational corporation.
 
The Dutch East India Company began with coffee trading in Mocha (Yemen), and during the first half of the 17th century, they only traded coffee in the Arab world and Asia, because there was no demand for coffee in Europe at that time. But during the late 17th century, coffeehouses spread all over Europe and the Dutch, English and French started to trade coffee from different Arab ports. The Arabs had forbidden the trade coffee in fertile seeds or plants, of course, they wanted to keep their monopoly, but when coffee became very popular in Europe around the 1690, and political problems in the Arab countries threatened coffee imports, different European countries tried to get coffee plants or seedlings for trading purposes.
 
The race to make off with some live coffee trees or seeds was eventually won by the Dutch. They obtained the coffee plants most likely in Malabar (India), where the Dutch East India Company ruled at the time. The coffee plants were introduced in Batavia (today Jakarta) Indonesia in 1696. In 1711 the first coffee exports were shipped from Java to Europe. The first coffee shipment was around 450 kg. Ten years later the export had already grown to 60.000 kg.
 
Originally coffee was cultivated only in Java, but in 1870, the Dutch expanded growing areas of Arabica to Sumatra, Bali, Sulawesi and Timor. In northern Sumatra, coffee was first cultivated near Lake Toba in 1888; and then in the Mountains of Gayo, near lake Tawar, by 1924.​

VARIETIES OF INDONESIA

​Coffea arabica, which is indigenous to Ethiopia, was first transported from its origin to neighboring Yemen, and from Yemen was transported all over the world. The coffees that we call Typicas today come from plants that came from Yemen and were brought to Java and the outlying islands by the Dutch, and possibly through the mythical Indian Sufi Baba Budan.

At the beginning of the 20th century, all Arabica coffee plants were devastated by Leaf Rust Disease (CLR). Coffea Canephora (Robusta) plants were then used to replace Arabica because they had greater resistance to CLR. However, this was not without problems, as cupping results were somewhat unpleasant compared to Arabica results. Most of the Typica varieties of Indonesia were lost to CLR disease, although, some Typica plants that had been grown in the northern highlands of Sumatra survived, and can still be found today growing there.

In the 1920s, Timor Hybrid (HdT), a natural cross between Coffea Arabica and Coffea Canephora (Arabica and Robusta) was found on the island of Timor. HdT has genes that are resistant to CLR, nematodes and coffee berry disease (CBD). The discovery of HdT played an important role in the development of modern varieties and coffee research. Based on the historical origin of the Coffea Arabica cultivars, the Typica and Bourbon varieties showed important differences. The young leaves of the plant bud are bronze for the cultivars of Typica or dominant origin, and light green for cultivars of Bourbon origin or with that dominant gene.

The varieties of Coffea Arabica that we can find today in the Gayo highlands are: Bergendal, Sidikalang, Rambung, Lines - S, USDA, Catimor Jaluk, Ateng Super, BP 542, C - 50, among others. But recommended by the local government for its high productivity and cup quality are: Gayo-1, Gayo-2 and P-88.

GILING BASAH PROCESS

BIES VILLAGE LOCATION
 CONTACT
[email protected]
​ +34 675 608 692
WHERE  WE ARE
Barcelona, Spain
Santiago, Chile
​Budapest, Hungary