Sumatra Gayo FTO - Utamagro Co (2019 Crop)

This is a fairtrade and organic certified, wet-hulled, G1 Sumatra lot from Utamagro Tani Mandiri Co-op in the central Aceh region.

THE PRODUCERS

Koperasi Utamagro Tani Mandiri was established in 2017 by a young man named Rafi. It is made up of 1,175 members - smallholder farmers in central Aceh. With Rafi's experience as a coffee sustainability consultant, the farmers entrusted him to launch and lead this new co-operative. The co-op aims to support farmers with intensive training on productivity and quality, full price transparency, and sustainable premiums.

The farmers cultivate the Catimor varietal - a hybrid known for its disease resistance - at altitudes of 1,200 - 1,500masl

THE PROCESS

This coffee is wet-hulled, a process almost unique to Indonesian coffees. Known locally as Giling Basah, wet hulling involves removing the coffee's husk (parchment) while the moisture content is still relatively high, and then drying the green beans until optimum moisture content is reached.

First ripe cherries are carefully sorted and floated to select the highest quality for processing. The coffee is then pulped and fermented in water for around 12 hours to break down the remaining sugary mucilage. The coffee parchment is then dried in the sun for 3-6 hours. At this point, while moisture is still high, the coffee is hulled (husk is removed) and the beans are dried further in the sun for 3-4 days - depending on the ambient conditions at the time - until the optimum moisture content of 12.5% is reached.

THE REGION

Central Aceh is a well known coffee-growing region and its coffee is often known locally as Gayo, named after the eponymous ethnic group from Central Aceh. Rather than "central Aceh" the locals prefer to refer to their region as Gayo Highland. The coffee history in Gayo is very long and deep-rooted in the communities. It started in 1908 with only 100 Ha by Dutch colonists. The Gayo highland now contributes to 40% of the total coffee production in Indonesia. Gayo Coffee seeds originally came from Java Preanger, a Dutch coffee plantation in West Java.

A popular saying about coffee comes from Teuku Umar. A rebel leader in the fight for independence against the Dutch colonials, and a local hero in Gayo - he famously said to his army the night before he died in battle: "Tomorrow morning, we will drink coffee at Meulaboh (a port city) or I will die as noble."