"Sumatra Mandheling" is a bit of a misnomer: It's not the name of a coffee growing region. When we visited the Lintong region around Lake Toba, coffee trees were even growing freely along the roads. The "farms" are usually plots of land that aren't heavily used, around one hectare (2.5 acres) in size. 90% of it is grown by smallholder farmers on their farms, and then sold in markets. Sumatra coffee is typically grouped and sold as three distinct types: Mandheling, Lintong and Gayo. Our Sumatran coffee is of the Arabica varietal. Today, there are over 20 local varieties arabica coffee grown in Aceh alone, including hybrids brought from India and even Bourbon cultivars. Although Robusta coffee is also widely grown at lower altitudes, they are not part of this guide.Īrabica Typica was the original stock brought to Java and Sumatra, but only a few varietals survived Indonesia's coffee leaf rust (a fungal disease especially prevalent on arabica plants grown at lower altitudes) outbreak in the 1880s. The island is home to several different C. Starbucks uses Sumatra coffee heavily as a base for their coffee drinks.People tasting coffee from Sumatra are often divided on heavy, herbaceous, and earthy flavor.
Coffee beans in this region are largely processed using a traditional wet hulling method unique to Indonesia.90% of Sumatran coffee is mostly grown on smallholdings by local farmers, not on large commercial farms.Indonesia is the fourth largest producer of coffee in the world, but only 25% of the coffee exported is arabica (what we cover in this guide).This was early in the Dutch colonial period, when coffee seedlings were sent by the Dutch East India Company from Yemen to Batavia (modern-day Jakarta).īecause of this, Indonesia became the first place outside of Ethiopia and Arabia to cultivate coffee, with the crop quickly spreading to Sumatra, Bali, Sulawesi, and Timor. You might be wondering: how did coffee even get to this part of the world? Coffee cultivation in Indonesia actually began in the 1700s. While Sumatran is the fan favorite, there are actually quite a few choices of Indonesian coffee. Lake Toba, the largest volcanic lake in the world, is home to some of the best Sumatran coffee.
This means that the soil here is full of minerals and nutrients. Sumatra (and nearly all of Indonesia) sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, where volcanic eruptions and earthquakes frequently occur. This means that even with the constant sunshine, temperatures are never too hot or cold for growing arabica coffee.
This means year-round sunshine and suitably wet conditions for coffee trees to thrive. The Indonesian island of Sumatra provides excellent growing conditions for coffee trees.
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