Green Coffee Offerings : Indonesia : Java |
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View Our Current Javanese Coffees |
Upcoming Crop CommentsNew crop coffee from the Java Sunda coffee project (West Java) is cupping really well. We hope to have stock of it for a good, long time. We have not been looking at the coffees from the big, old farms of East Java at all. |
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About Java's Coffee
 
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Java is a clean cup for an Indonesian, a fully wet-processed coffee that has the Indonesian body and thickness in the cup without earthy or dirty flavors. Our experience is that early lots of Timor and Java can be the finest while in Central Americans you usually need to hold out for the mid-crop to late-crop samples. In the case of Sumatra and Sulawesi, it seems that the second to third wave of arrivals can be the best. Of course, these truisms are made to be broken... that's why samples and cupping are always the key. The problem is that a low acid coffee can taste quite flat, or incomplete. It's no wonder that an average quality Java is considered a "good blender" and not a true, stand-alone single origin coffee. We don't look for average quality though - we look for stand out coffees. The Government Estate coffees are quite mild, but I usually find a lot that has a bit more going on, usually a Djampit or Blawan lot. In the past we liked the Kayumas best since it exemplifies both the thick oily body of a Java with some other nice flavors. But now we are getting coffee from a project I visited in West Java, called Java Sunda, not that far from Bandung. The cup has been very promising. "Government Estate" Java comes from 4 old farms (Kayumas, Blawan, Djampit, Pancoer) that date back to Dutch colonialism, and "Private Estate" Java. Government Estate is invariably preferred as higher quality coffee. I usually have a strong preference when I get all the Gov't. Estate samples in and blind cup them. All main estates are located in East Java in the vicinity of the Ijen volcanic complex. The arabica coffee plant was brought to Indonesia around 1696 and has been commercially cultivated until today. The Government body (called the PTP XXVI Plantation) grows about 85% of the coffee in East Java, close to Bali on the Ijen area. The range of altitudes suitable for coffee production is 3,000 to 6,000 feet with most growing in the plateau region at 4,500. Djampit and Blawan are the largest estates, while Pancoer is 1110 Hectares and Kayumas is 725 Hectares. Blawan is huge: 2268 Hectares. There is an old cultivar that can be found, called Java Typica. But there is a lot of catimor-derived cultivars. One is ironically called USDA, named after those who developed and endorsed it, as well as Kartika cultivar. |
Our Unroasted Javanese Coffee Offerings:
(You will need to read the reference page to interpret terms and numbers used below). Check out the Sweet Maria's Coffee Home Roasting Forum for more conversation about home roasting this and other coffees.
| $7.10 | $13.49 | $30.89 | $58.93 | $109.34 |
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This coffee is the result of a small-yet-ambitious project, to build an outpost in the oldest coffee growing region in Java, work with the local farmers, and wet-process the coffee in tiny batches to high standards. It's the work of several people, Eko Purnomowidi who supervised the project and support from Edo Gurdian and Uden Banu. Two Indonesians, a Costa Rican and a Pole: all crazy enough to pursue building this small coffee camp. Java Sunda (West Java) was the original coffee area, but you would find very, very few trees here of late. All the coffee is grown in East Java, where all the big estates are. All Java sold in the US is basically East Java coffee. But farmers in Java Sunda always kept small coffee plots, and there was one commodity quality mill near Bandung that would buy coffee (but not for much). Yet here amongst the Ateng and Jember were some old Typica trees, the original Typica! (Java was the first destination for coffee from Yemen, with a stopover in India). This is the second year of the project, and the first box is one singular lot. I look forward to the future development of the Java Sunda project as we isolate the cultivars that are blended here (especially the Typica and longberry Kopi Sunda itself) to find more nuances in the cup. The 2nd lot, which will arrive this spring, has some interesting lot separation which we'll expound upon more soon. This current lot was rigorously hand sorted with local labor from the community. It drove up the cost of the coffee, but resulted in a better cup, and is in the spirit of this project to improve coffee and community in the area!
This coffee is distinct from other Indonesias, and from the usual Java coffees from the East. The aromatics are sweet and mild, honey, cinnamon in the dry fragrance, and some malted milk balls and dried apricots. The wet aroma has a strong chocolate character as well, a semi-sweet variety, with dark raisin hints. As a wet-processed coffee, this is quite different than most Indonesia coffees that are wet-hull processed, like Sumatras. The cup has crisp red apple notes, lightly spiced with cinnamon, and hints of tamarind. Light roasts have spiced cider characteristics. Darker roasts have a wonderful brown sugar sweetness. It's a very clean cup, without the earthy rustic notes of other Indonesian coffees. Those looking for funky Indo character might be disappointed, but those who take issue with Sumatra might find an Indo coffee to fall in love with here. We think this lot is amazing.
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Archived Reviews
To view reviews for out of stock coffees, visit our Java Coffee Archives.
2005-2006 | 2004 -2003 | 2001-2002 | Pre-2000 Tom's Sample Cupping Log | Moisture Content Readings This page is authored
by Thompson Owen and Sweet Maria's Coffee, Inc. and is not to be
copied or reproduced without permission
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