Coffee from Indonesia |
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Coffee from Indonesia |
Indonesia |
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The coffees of Indonesia comprise a
massive eight per cent of the total world crop, placing Indonesia in
third place, behind Brazil and Colombia. The bulk of its production
is generally serviceable washed Robusta. Its Arabica coffees vary
tremendously both in taste and in quality, but this is not
surprising, considering that the islands are widely spread over a
vast stretch of the Pacific. The best-known producers are the
islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali, Celebes and Timor. The latter;
forcibly annexed by Indonesia, produced a celebrated coffee which is
now almost unobtainable; Celebes, or Sulawesi, produces a similar
coffee, also much sought-alter, as it too is hard to find. Fortunately, the Mandheling coffee of Sumatra has many of the same characteristics, but with lower acidity. It is high grown and aged to a somewhat yellower color. This is a real sipping coffee, which should be drunk black so as to savor its smooth, velvety heaviness in flavor and body. True Arabica from Java is in rather short supply, but worth seeking for its unusual characteristics, described variously as musty, smoky, winey, spicy, mature and heavy - obviously not one to please ordinary palates. The flavors come from an ageing process which gave it the former name of Old Java, or Old Government. The beans are a crusty khaki-brown color, not so big as those from Sumatra. There is a very particular coffee processed mostly by small civet cats in Indonesian, which eat the cherries and leave the rest to Mother Nature. The intestinally-processed beans are collected by villagers, finished off and sold as Kopi luak. The name "musang" has also been applied to coffee influenced in a similar manner, but possibly from another part of the world. This coffee is highly prized and highly priced. |
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