Beautiful Coffee from Java

Java is an Indonesian island about the same size as England Today,

it’s home to 145 million people, making it the most populous island in the world

Java has fertile Volcanic Soil Terms including Moka Java and Old Brown Java given to Coffee

Coffee was introduced throughout the islands of Indonesia by the Dutch in the 1600s, and was first exported by the Dutch East India Company in the early 1700s:

Java was the first of the islands to cultivate coffee, and that long history with the plant on the land is part of the reason that coffee is generically known as "java." Large Dutch-owned plantations were the norm, and the laborers and locals suffered financially and politically under the colonial regime. The Dutch governor in Malabar (India) sent arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) seedlings from Yemen to the Dutch governor of Batavia (now Jakarta) in 1696. The first seedlings failed due to flooding in Batavia.

The second shipment of seedlings was sent in 1699 with Hendrik Zwaardecroon. The plants grew, and in 1711 the first exports were sent from Java to Europe by the Dutch East India Company, reaching 2000 pounds shipped in 1717. Indonesia was the first place, outside of Arabia and Ethiopia, where coffee was widely cultivated.

West Java was the region where the earliest coffee plantations were established by the VOC. The Dutch began cultivation and exportation of coffee trees on Java (part of the Dutch East Indies) in the 17th century. Agricultural systems in Java have changed considerably over time. A rust plague in the late 1880s killed off much of the plantation stocks in the Sukabumi area before spreading to Central Java and parts of East Java. The Dutch responded by replacing the Arabica firstly with Liberica (a tough, but somewhat unpalatable[citation needed] coffee) and later with Robusta.

Dutch-owned plantations on Java were nationalized in the 1950s, soon after independence. and are now managed as state-owned plantations under PTPN - Perusahaan Terbatas Perkebunan Nusantara, and revitalized with new varieties of Coffea arabica in the 1950s.[11] These varieties were also adopted by smallholders through the government and various development programs.

The Indonesian coffee sector is large, internally diverse and scattered. Production is dominated by an estimated 2 million smallholders living in often remote villages located right across the archipelago—with different coffee regions showing variations in terms of production systems, environmental conditions, product quality, post-harvest processing, and value chain structures. This distinctive geography poses challenges for logistics, for supporting improved technologies, and for developing cohesive industry organizations. Common to most of the coffee-producing regions are circumstances of low yields, weak farmer organization, and limited government support—as coffee has hitherto not been regarded as a crop of strategic importance.

Arabica beans are hand picked and harder to grow than Robusta beans, which are used for low-grade blends. Each ripe cherry (the fruit that becomes the bean) picked boasts complex flavors. They then undergo the pulping process, where they are pulped, allowed to ferment in a clean water bath for 7-24 hours, and then dried. The green coffee beans are meticulously graded by hand, sorting for size, color, weight and defects.

Coffees from each major island system are many and each possesses unique flavors and characteristics all their own. While there are more than 20 existing Indonesian coffee varietals, the most well known are Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Bali. achillescoffeeroasters.com The old Dutch traders in the 18th century combined their coveted Indonesian coffees with New World Central and South Americans to produce a distinctively rich, satisfying blend. espressocoffeeguide.com Indonesia was the fourth-largest producer of coffee in the world in 2014.

Coffee cultivation in Indonesia began in the late 1600s and early 1700s, in the early Dutch colonial period, and has played an important part in the growth of the country. Indonesia is geographically and climatologically well-suited for coffee plantations, near the equator and with numerous interior mountainous regions on its main islands, creating well-suited microclimates for the growth and production of coffee.

Today, Java coffee is popular within Indonesia in a host of local cafes, which use the beans to enhance the flavor of their regular offerings. At the same time, arabica beans from Java are also being used in specific international locations. That popularity has only grown once again with time.

Today, more than 90% of Indonesia's coffee is grown by smallholders on farms averaging around one hectare. Some of this production is organic and many farmers’ cooperatives and exporters are internationally certified to market organic coffee.

Sources

www.cafeimports.com, www.cafeimports.com, en.wikipedia.org, achillescoffeeroasters.com, espressocoffeeguide.com