Indonesian Green Beans

[gwink]

Does anyone know about the geographical origins of the various Indonesians coffee? Cos there are different school of thoughts to which their locations of havesting are concerned. eg. Mandheling is grown on Gayo Mt or Southwest of Lake Toba??

eg. Mandheling, Lintong, Sumatra DP, WIB, EK, AP, Kalosie, Bali bean, Timor beans etc.

In addition, which of these are arabica and which are robusta?

And wat do the abbreviations stand for eg. EK 1m, AP, WIB, Sum DP, ELB etc.

Golden Mandheling refers to which grade of Mandheling?

 

[Alun_evans]

What can I say....PM me I guess :grin: . The definitions are from AEKI (the exporters). WP (wet processed), AWP (Arabica Wet processed), DP (Dry processed), WIB's (Washed Robusta), EK Export quality (Kwalitas Ekspor) AP (Polished Arabica)...etc. The origin characteristics, although within one country, are actually quite distinct (believe it or not). The difference in the cup between an Arabica from Aceh and one from nearby Lintong or Mandehling is very different. However the growing regions in Sumatra can be a little fuzzy- meaning there is not a really distinct line one can draw on a Map for where the Mandehlings end and Lintongs begin. Don't want to bore anyone, as I reckon some of my other postings probably have covered this sometime in the past. Actually as there is no Specialty Coffee association or indeed a strong growers association here sometimes the regional or origin distinctions you see in other producer countries are, lets say, flexible. For instance Lintong used to refer to one quite distinct village based region near Lake Toba...over the lst 15 years Lintong that ends up in countries such as the US is "pooled" from a fairly large growing area.

Robusta- well if you are interested pretty much all of Indonesia from sea-level up to 1000 feet has robusta growing. The big export areas are Lampung in South Sumatra, Semarang in Central Java. Robusta from further east normally gets shipped up to Java before being exported (a throw back to Soeharto area central government controls+the fact that the big Robusta exporters are BIG and all controlling). Unless stated (especially in Specialty Coffee), the classic growing areas of Indonesia- ad the new frontiers- all are concntrating on Arabica. Probably most is DP, although there has been an unfortunate move towards semi and wet processing (which I am not really a fan of)

Golden Mandehling? Just a term I believe, probably originating from the a broker or marketing agent. There are how many different classifcations for Mandehling, many different fancy names- and as nowadays most come from a pick-area the size of a small US state the quality is not what it once was (cupping wise). The double sorting, Special pick etc are actually not always ideal for mandehling anyway (I think Tom from Sweet Marias has touched on this in the past). As we buy direct from farmers (without polishing facilities) I look for different characteristics in teh greens I buy from North Sumatra.

Mandehling certainly is NOT a coffee grown in Aceh- although there is a possibility that if you are buying from a broker they may warehouse or prep the coffee in Takengon, which is in Aceh.

 

[Alun_evans]

Sorry left out one or two...Timor Beans I guess refers to the (ex) Indonesian Province of East Timor, which now as we know is an independent country. The Arabica from there is both well known and of a pretty good quality. I could tell you a very,very long story of how East Timors one export earner was saved from a NGO...but it would take just too long and get me a bit pissed off! Anyway thankfully Tim-Tim is still exporting organic Arabica.

Bali Coffee is generally still Robusta, rather than Arabica. We deal in Arabicas from the island of the Gods, but most growers (due to altitude as well as traditional markets and lack of expertise in production) still grow Robustas.

Kalossi is Arabica from the Tanah Toraja region of Sulewesi. If its a good harvest year (like 2005-06) then the coffee is spectacular. I have been drinking a lot the last few months. If it is a poor harvest year (like...2000-2004) it is IMHO pretty ordinary Arabica. Most of the Kalossi Arabica comes into Java before being exported, not too much for the local market here. The Japanese love the origin and pay excellent prices for good quality, organic beans originating from Toraja (Kalossi) :grin: :grin: