Sumatra Kerinci Premium Robusta Cherry

Sourcing Details:

With Indonesian coffees, half the battle is overcoming logistical challenges like rugged roads and unpredictable torrents of rain. Working with exporters that collaborate with farmers is a critical step to overcome these challenges and ensures that coffee safely makes it to the international market.  This particular lot is sourced from family-owned farms organized around an export company and mill called PT. AgroTropic Nusantara (AGTN), which has been working with coffee producers since 2013 in the Kayu Aro highlands of the Kerinci regency within the Jambi province on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.  AGTN has established an association of 680 producers who cultivate coffee on parcels of 1 hectare or less around the Kerinci valley’s edge near Mount Kerinci, the highest volcano in Indonesia. Coffee farm management practices create a protective buffer for the Kerinci Seblat national park, which encircles the entire Kerinci valley with unparalleled natural beauty and habitat for the Sumatran tiger.

Processing Details:

There is a growing trend in the specialty coffee world to seek out the Robusta species, which is considered more tolerant to the impacts of climate changes than the Arabica species.  Robusta’s flavor profiles, which have a negative reputation, might improve significantly with some of the processing innovations previously reserved for Arabica coffee.  AGTN supports a robusta harvest from small farms where production is small enough for each individual farmer to focus on meticulous cherry sorting. AGTN has invested in water tanks provided to farmers so they can float the cherries to eliminate underripe and damaged coffee before being laid out to dry.

Exporter Details:

AGTN  operates its own dry mill facility, ensuring an attention to detail throughout the entire post harvest process.  AGTN has focused on supporting increased employment opportunities for women, which includes a woman, Emma Fatma, as the director of operations. Women are also running the coffee nursery program and handsorting at the dry mill.