SULAWESI ORGANIC TORAJA BOLOKAN WET HULLED GRAINPRO

Coffee Background

When the Dutch first brought coffee to Indonesia it was cultivated on large estates that would later become government owned after independence. The Rantekarua Estate, located in the Bittuang district of Tana Toraja Regency, South Sulawesi province on the island of Sulawesi, remained mostly abandoned until the government gave cultivation rights to PT Sulotco Jaya Abadi in 1987. Since that time the 3000-acre estate has undergone substantial renovation and become a beacon of innovation particularly in matters of land conservation. More than 500 acres have been converted into natural forest and coffee cultivation is managed with organic inputs. Manure from more than 2000 sheep grazing on the estate is used as a major source of organic fertilizer. During the harvest, cherries are picked and transported to the Sulotco processing facility in the Bolokan valley. At the processing facility, cherries are depulled and fermented for 24 hours and then washed and fermented again for another 12 hours. After the fermentation process, the coffee is moved to raised beds and dried to 20 percent moisture over a period of days. At this stage, the coffee takes a detour from the conventional path of processing in other origins, wherein, the coffee’s parchment is removed while the seed still has a high moisture content. This wet-hulling process, called Giling Basah in the Indonesian language, leaves the seed exposed while drying to 11 percent, a moisture percentage acceptable for export. This Indonesian processing method gives the bean its unique bluish color and the hallmark Indonesian profile. With Indonesian coffees, half the battle is overcoming logistical challenges like rugged roads and unpredictable torrents of rain. The integrated process, from the estate to export, provides a tremendous advantage in managing quality and traceability.