LINCOLN & YORK FIELD TRIP TO INDONESIA - SEPTEMBER 2009

Oct 2009

Lincoln & York director James Sweeting reports on his recent field visit to Aceh Province, on the Northwest tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

After a 12 hour flight from London to Singapore, followed by nightclub high jinks, me and my erstwhile cockney travelling partner, caught the early flight to Medan, Indonesia’s 3rd largest city. Expecting to catch a plane onto Banda Aceh, we were disappointed but at the same time relieved, to hear the flight has been cancelled and we were to look forward to an 11 hour car journey to our destination, Takengon. Luckily we were joined by a new companion John “Winthorpe” Mason from Houston and so baiting him merrily would make the trip much more fun.

Rainforest Alliance Farm Shade Grown with Mountain in Background

Thus we made our way along the coast road heading North, passing rice paddies and numerous towns and villages before heading into the hills. Having overcome the delicacies of local roadside restaurants we arrived in Takengon late in the evening, tired and short on sense of humour. Takengon is situated on Lake Tawar, 1200 metres above sea level and the morning proved it to be a very scenic location – a quiet city by the lake; women in strict Muslim dress and numerous mosques accompanied by daily prayers over loud speakers.

This part of Indonesia has a long history and whilst mostly Muslim, is a mix of every religion and culture including Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and others. Aceh however is strictly Muslim and was badly hit by the devastating tsunami in 2004. The economy continues to rely upon depleting oil and gas production and agriculture is increasingly important. Part of this of course is coffee, seemingly very much a central part of the community in Aceh and Takengon.

We were delighted to discover that the Aceh region of Takengon is coffee country second to none! Rich soil and healthy, but mostly well maintained coffee trees and farms scattered throughout endless valleys and mountain sides. Although not as well known as Lintong and Mandheling some excellent arabicas are grown in Aceh.

Aceh coffees are grown in the lovely mountain basin surrounding Lake Tawar and the town of Takengon. One of the surprising aspects of the farms, is that all virtually all the coffee is shade grown and almost all without the use of chemicals.

A Woman Pulping Her Own Coffee Cherries

This year the crop was running a little late but the trees were full of vibrant green berries and promise for a good harvest. The diversity and abundance of shade and other trees and plants throughout the coffee growing areas is impressive.

Like Colombia, Ethiopia and other places we have visited, coffee is mostly a cash crop for individual and family farmers. From these small subsistence farmers, coffee is picked at will, cherry removed almost straightaway (by hand pulper), “rinsed” rather than washed, and laid and dried out wherever an opportunity arises. This might be a dirt road, paved road or other available surface, before being sold and delivered at will.

On the other hand, the coops are bigger and as expected, are better organised and funded, though somewhat dependant on the smaller suppliers. No doubt most of our coffees come from these smaller producers to be combined, processed, painstakingly hand-picked and sorted (seemingly only by women) until it finally achieves the export quality level product that we buy.

Drying Green Coffee

Typical Scene Drying Parchment on the Roadside

Processing methods vary widely with Aceh coffees, as do flavour profiles. Some are processed by small farmers using the traditional Sumatran backyard washed method. These coffees are similar to Lintong and Mandheling coffees, and probably often sold as such by the Medan exporters.

We made visits and cuppings at many well managed and maintained farms, mills and coffee facilities including PT. Menacom, PT Genap, Permata Gayo Coop, NCBA and KBQ Baburrayan. All of these were ready, willing and eager for business. It was good to see that all were offering accredited and sustainable coffees.

James Sweeting and Neil Barwick with Coffee Smallholder

After a fascinating few days at Takengon we faced the 11 hour return drive to Medan and more roadside eating! The trip wasn’t over however as we had arranged another full day visiting warehouses and cupping facilities at Medan.

This included PT. Menacom, who for over 30 years, have been one of the leading Arabica coffee producers in the region specialising on “Mandheling” coffee. Later we visited the impressive operations and cupping at PT SariMakmur – also known as Opal Coffee, an integrated coffee distributor throughout much of Indonesia.

Parting company with Winthorpe, Lion and me flew to Singapore where I met up with an office coffee client. The following day we flew to Blighty.

Thanks to Lion and Winthorpe for the company. Also to Pak Ferry of Roboco, Agam Sulaiman of PT Menacom and the guys at Bero Singapore.