Meet Herlina from one of Kopi Kultur’s partners, Herlina is from the Kelompok Petani Garut collective based in West Java which have plantations with 150 year old trees. Here she chats about farming techniques & taste aromas.
What is the name of your farm/collective?
Our coffee collective is called Kelompok Petani Garut which is based on the name for the farm owners including the Mang Empul farm.
Where is the coffee farm?
Our farms are located 1330 meters above sea level in the mountains in Kampung Dukuh, Kecamatan Cibatu, Kabupaten Garut.
How many hectares/acres/land do you farm?
We have around 7 hectares of coffee farmers.
How many farmers in the collective?
Most of the villagers are members of our farm collective, around 70 farmers. In each family there are 3 to 4 farmers.
What types of beans do you farm?
Our trees have Dutch heritage, they were planted around 150 years ago. We farm Robusta & Arabica beans that are used by Kopi Kultur for different blends.
How are you beans different to other coffee farmers?
We produce our coffee free from fertilisers so the production is more sustainable & environmentally friendly.
Instead of chemicals for fertiliser we use a natural substance – the dry branches from pine trees to protect the beans from bugs & infections.
What is the taste of the beans?
The basic flavour characteristics of our coffee includes spices that are sweet such as cinnamon. Our beans create a coffee that has medium viscosity & is not too sour.
We suggest our coffee for people who want coffee which is not too sour & bitter but sweet & smooth.
How many people do you partner with?
We have partners all over Indonesia, especially friends in Bandung & Garut.
We supply our coffee to cafés in these places & of course to Kopi Kultur.
Are you coffee beans roasted on the farm, if so what is the technique?
Yes, we roast on site. We roast the beans in small batches using a manual technique & roasting pan. Manual roasting allows us to monitor the aroma & body of the coffee. We also naturally cool the beans after roasting.
How long has the farm been in operation?
The farm was established a long time ago but we have only become a serious operation in the last five years.
What are some of the challenges for your farm?
For us the main challenge is the weather. If the rain comes more often the growth of the fruit is not really good. When it is dry & the rain comes, the flowers easily fall down & the growth of the fruits do not happen at the same time or together in one farm. This makes the coffee harvest & growing beans difficult.
Has production/crop been good?
The longer the farm has been in operation, the more time that has passed the growth of the beans has increased & the farm progressed.
What is the harvesting process you use?
Generally the process we use is manual starting from picking, then drying, then peeling & preparing the beans for sale.
Only red fruit can be picked. Once picked, we put them in the base board to dry so they don’t become too cold & damp. After drying it is important to not put it directly in the storage so that the fragrance can develop.
How does Kopi Kultur help you?
Kopi Kultur is very helpful, they provide many suggestions about coffee & help us increase our sales. Kopi Kultur can promote our coffee.
Why is it important to have partner like Kopi Kultur?
From economic point of view, we can help each other & as a partner Kopi Kultur can introduce coffee from Garut to a bigger market.
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