Sumatran Arinagata semi-washed Gayo Organic and Fairly Traded coffee

This Sumatran Arinagata we sourced from Trabocca as part of a shipment with Rosetta.

Sumatran Coffee

The Dutch planted Arabica coffee in Indonesia in the 1600s. They brought coffee seed from India through their trade routes. After the coffee rust in the late 1700s, most of the Arabica plant were replaced with Robusta. Today, Robusta coffee dominates Indonesia’s plantations. It covers over 70% of the coffee land. Arabica based coffees are rare.

Most farms in Sumatra are small. They range from one to five hectares. Different varietals grow together across the country. Sumatran coffees have a unique semi-washed process. It is called “wet-hulled” or Giling Basah. This process meets the market expectations. It leaves little room for alternative processing.

You can read more about the history of Indonesian coffees here…

Arinagata

Arinagata Cooperative produces and exports the Gayo variety of Arabica Coffee. It specialises in Organic Coffee and Fair Trade coffee. Furthermore, the Cooperative works with 1.820 selected coffee farmers. They have 1.831,5 hectares of coffee plantations in 32 villages. The villages are in Aceh Tengah district of Aceh Province, Indonesia. The Cooperative started in 2006 and can produce 62 containers per year on average.

Arinagata has Organic certification from Control Union since 2007 (CU 807170). It also has Fairtrade International certification since 2008 (FLO ID 18296).

Arinagata’s support the farmers

The Cooperative offers various forms of support to its farmers. For instance:

• Farmers can benefit from Organic and Fairtrade certification, which enables them to access better markets and prices for their coffee.
• The Cooperative trains them on how to produce quality coffee using different processes.
• The Cooperative also organises workshops on women’s leadership and gender-responsive cooperative governance, in collaboration with other co-ops and organisations. This can empower women farmers and increase their participation in decision-making.
• Combining lots and using a single mill ensures coffee reaches coffee roasters world-wide.

Sumatran Arinagata Gayo

Asian coffee has been a challenge for us. While the traditional commodity grade coffees are a dime a dozen, good Asian coffee has been harder for us to source. We love the variety that this Sumatran coffee offers us as coffee lovers.

Starting Brews

Transparency Information

Video

A video of the Arinagata co-operative:

Sources:

• Trabocca website info – here…
• James Hoffman’s book, The world atlas of coffee.
• Arinagata co-operative website here…
• Wikimedia – map.