Is Sumatran coffee the best coffee in Indonesia? is Sumatran coffee Arabica?

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Harvest and handling methods:

Whether small sharecroppers or on medium-sized estates, all Arabica coffee is picked by hand in Indonesia. Because coffee cherries are all immature at the same time, farmers harvest every 10 days for five to six months.

They only pick red, ripe cherries to show the best quality, aroma and taste. When mechanically harvested coffee, underripe cherries will reduce the aroma of the coffee and have a rougher taste.

After harvest, these special coffees are processed in a variety of ways, and the final coffee product will have its own unique taste and aroma.

Generally speaking, these features can improve the quality of coffee. However, poor or uneven treatment can lead to the loss of flavor and turbidity of coffee.

The main three processing methods are 1. Dry 2. Peel in wet (semi-washed) 3. Water washing

Most small farmers in Sulawesi, Sumatra, Flores and papua have a unique process of handling coffee, which is called giling basah in Indonesian and translated as Wet Grinding.

In this technique, the farmer uses a machine to remove the cherry shell. There is still a lot of slime on the coffee beans and then stored for about a day.

During this period, the mucus will be washed away. By this time Sumatran coffee is partially dry and can be sold (about 30% to 35% humidity).

In this semi-wet state, the shell of the coffee is removed, giving the beans a unique dark blue, which reduces acidity and increases the body alcohol thickness of the coffee, creating this classic Indonesian coffee.

In Indonesia, Sumatran coffee is called Mantenin, which is neither a coffee variety nor a producing area, but it is actually the name of a local race. Lindong is a small town near Lake Toba, which is the largest volcanic lake in the world and its hinterland is very large, so the coffee quality of Sumatran coffee varies greatly from the north to the east. And this is Mantenin, the highest grade coffee in the Lindong producing area.

This area is flat at an altitude of about 1300-1600 meters, and the soil fertility is moderately rich in organic matter. Most coffee trees are shaded and planted. Traditionally, shade trees can maintain moisture and increase soil fertility. Most coffee women carry out weeding and fertilization with their bare hands, and coffee cherries are harvested and removed artificially when they turn red and mature. Wet pods are placed in a plastic bag for 10-12 hours to ferment, and then pectin, floats and shells are removed manually, rarely using a machine. Unlike Central and South America, Indonesian coffee beans have a unique semi-aqueous method, called Giling Basah treatment (the same as Wet Hulled Process).

Coffee beans treated with Giling Basah have low acidity and thick Body.