Single Origin: Indonesia, Gayo (Winey)

TASTE NOTES
Blue raspberry, crème brûlée, grenadine
PROCESS
Winey (carbonic maceration)
ELEVATION
1300 - 1650 masl
REGION
Gayo
VARIETALS
TimTim, Abyssinia, Ateng
ROAST LEVEL
3/6

 

ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Aulia Kahfi cultivates coffee on Rakyat Farm, which he inherited from his family. He has been involved in coffee production since his early teens but has always had a unique interest in specialty coffee. Since specialty coffee was not in high demand in his area during his teenage years, Aulia spent several years mining and selling Vesuvianite, a precious stone often found near volcanoes. He has since returned to coffee production.

Now in his early thirties, Aulia is entrepreneurial and enterprising. Using an old van or his friend’s car, he has expanded his business by purchasing a few bags at a time from neighboring farmers. He collects and processes ripe cherry from farmers in the Lukup Sabun, Pantan Sile and Ratawali neighborhoods. He’s also recently started buying cherry from Gegarang (Jagong Jeget). 

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. This intercropped produce will make up a substantial part of the family’s diet for the year.  

In addition to growing coffee as a cash crop, many smallholder farmers also work at hired laborers with the nearby tea plantations. Tea is also a huge crop in the area. The bigger tea plantations are often near coffee farms. When the harvest is finished, coffee farmers will go there and pick leaves under contracted labor.  

There are more and more initiatives by farmers on Sumatra to organize themselves into cooperatives. In the past, farmers did not have much leverage to help themselves get better prices for their cherry or parchment. When they’re in cooperatives, they can share resources, organize training and negotiate better prices. 

HARVEST & POST-HARVEST
Carbonic Maceration is a technique adapted from wine-making in which whole grapes are fermented instead of being crushed. The same is true for coffee. Instead of being de-pulped, the whole cherry is added to the fermentation tank and sealed for the carbonic maceration process. We found a resourceful article that helps break down Carbonic Maceration in technical terms here.