Sumatra Takengon Mandheling Grade 1

Coffee Background

Sumatra Takengon Mandheling Grade 1 is sourced from family-owned farms organized around the Asosiasi Kopi Gayo Organic cooperative (ASKOGO), located in the Takengon highlands of the Aceh Tengah Regency on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. This region of Indonesia is also referred to as the Gayo land because the coffee farmers are from the Gayonese ethnic group. On average, producers cultivate coffee on 2.5 acres of land using their own micro-mills to depulp, ferment, wash and partially dry the coffee in the parchment. The parchment is removed while the moisture is high through the wet-hulling process (called Giling Basah in Indonesian) and then the exposed bean is dried to a moisture percentage acceptable for export. This Indonesian processing method gives the bean its unique color and the hallmark Indonesian profile. ASKOGO collaborates with PT. Sumatera Arabika Gayo (SAG), which operates its own dry-mill in Aceh and provides logistics to transport and export coffee without the long and convoluted supply lines that often compromise the quality of Sumatran coffee.