Indonesia Asman Arianto Washed Coffee

Indonesia Asman Arianto Washed coffee is a single origin specialty grade coffee beans from Northern Sumatra region in Indonesia. This coffee is fully wash processed and roasted in medium level. Low acidity with spicy, smoky aroma and tobacco, cedar, spicy, walnut, cane sugar flavour.

Indonesia, a country made up of many small islands, features a great diversity of landscapes and crops. This diversity of terroir allows the production of very different coffees with special characteristics. Over the past years, because of the growing demand for large quantities of high-quality coffee, many processing centers have specialized in the production of specialty coffee. Sumatra represents one of the most interesting Indonesian regions in terms of coffee.

Asman Arianto created the Ribang Gayo Musara cooperative in 2018. Like many Indonesians, Asman was not originally from Aceh Tangah, but he moved to the region many years ago. Here he worked for 21 years in the selection and process of commercial coffee with the washed method. When founding the Ribang Gayo Musara cooperative, he decided to focus on exceptional coffees, working only with high-quality fruits grown by small producers. The washed coffees were joined by others processed with other methods such as Natural and Honey. Asman pays the producers for each delivery of the cherries, but at the end of each harvest and after selling the processed coffee to a coffee buyer, Asman manages to evaluate the true price of the coffee and distributes the profits to the farmers. Due to the profits of the 2019 harvest, he was able to pay the members of the cooperative a second time. For the year 2020, major works are planned in the processing station and the washing systems will all be replaced with new equipment.

Cultivation

Almost all farms on Sumatra are small. On average, farms are between 0.5 to 2.5 hectares. Coffee is usually the primary cash crop for farmers, but most also intercrop their trees alongside vegetables, maize and fruit. In addition to growing coffee as a cash crop, many smallholder farmers also work as hired laborers at the nearby tea plantations. Tea is also a huge crop in the area.

This microlot of specialty coffee was cultivated on the lands of Delen Ali Gogo in the town of Pantan Musara in the northern part of Sumatra, Indonesia. Sumatra represents one of the most interesting Indonesian regions in terms of coffee. After the harvest, the farmers hand the coffee cherries to Asman Arianto who processes them with the washed method in his Ribang Gayo Musara cooperative.

Ribang Gayo Musara is profiting and expanding. Members doubled production yields in just 5 seasons (2016 to 2020). A newly completed cooperative wet-mill will be available for use in the 2020 harvest. Indonesia is perhaps best known for its unique ‘Wet Hulled’ Process (Giling Basah). Though its exact origins are unclear, wet hulling most likely originated in Aceh during the late 1970s. Asman and his team are expanding Indonesia’s coffee possibilities by diversifying the cooperative's processing methods.

Wet hulling’s popularity can be attributed to producers’ need for prompt payments. It was also adopted specifically by many producers who lacked the drying infrastructure that was needed to shelter drying parchment from the high humidity and inconsistent rainfall typical in Sumatra. At higher elevations with constant humidity and unpredictable rainfall, drying can prove to be slow, risky and difficult.

This microlot of Arabica was processed with a washed method. The cherries are harvested by hand when they are perfectly ripe and are brought to the cooperative for processing. Once delivered, they undergo a very strict selection to ensure quality. The cherries are then stripped with the help of a machine (disc pulper) removing the red or yellow outer skin of the cherry. The beans are fermented in water for 12 hours and then left to soak for another 24 hours. Finally, they are dried on raised beds on covered terraces during the next 14 days.

Indonesia

Arabica coffee culture was introduced to Indonesia by the Dutch in the 17th century. At that time it became the largest coffee-producing country where the plant grew in large plantations. After an epidemic in the coffee plant (the coffee leaf rust), these plantations had to be converted by the state to the cultivation of Robusta (Coffea Canephora) and reached 90% of the total Indonesian coffee production. Today the Arabica variety is coming back with numerous cultivars, the coffee is grown in small plantations with a surface area of ​​about 1 hectare.