Indonesia Old Brown Java

The Indonesian archipelago is synonymous with coffee, especially the deep, dark and spicy Java coffee. If you talk to anyone about coffee, whether they be "experts" or "novices", each one will almost certainly have heard of Java coffee. In historic terms, it was only recently in the mid seventeenth century that coffee was introduced to this magical chain of islands. The Dutch originally introduced coffee trees to Indonesia, with the first shipment of green beans being sold in Amsterdam in 1712. One hundred and fifty years or so later in 1877, the entire crop of coffee was wiped out by a disease known as "coffee rust". This disease can still be found in other areas of the world today and has a devastating effect on coffee plantations if not controlled. The lasting effect that this particular outbreak had on Indonesian coffee production, was the direction it took post event. Instead of re-instating arabica coffee, the robusta variety was introduced. As we know, robusta is an important varietal of coffee and especially useful for blending purposes. Indonesia now forms a power house of robusta production on a par with Vietnam. However, robusta is not a variety that invokes excitement in the speciality markets of today's world. Nowadays less that 10% of Indonesia's crop is made up of arabica beans, but those that are present, are truly exceptional!

The best growing areas within the archipelago are that of Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Flores. Java produces our "old brown java", which is a wonderfully aromatic coffee that has good acidity, smooth, syrupy and well balanced. Java coffee is however, more acidic that those found in Sumatra or Sulawesi and certainly possesses more "spice". An indication of the quality of Indonesian arabica coffee is that the two largest importers of it are Japan and Germany. These are two countries that are recognised for good food and a desire for perfection.

The birth of our "old Brown Java" coffee started in the same way that Indian Monsooned Malabar did. Slow boats used to set sail from Indonesia, transporting amongst other goods, coffee to the European trade markets predominantly based in the Netherlands. Over the many months at sea, the colour and chemical make up of the green beans changed to become a yellow like colour and with it, changes to the flavour. The exposure to high humidity levels whilst at sea gave the Indonesian coffee it's very own unique, musky flavour. However, as seafaring methods changed, so went this unique process until the European coffee aficionados demanded that they did not like the "fresher" flavour. In an attempt to replicate the ageing process whilst at sea, the Indonesian government kept the Indonesian coffee beans in storage huts known as "go-downs" for more than a year. The process of ageing "passage" or "go-down" coffee is still used in Indonesian Java today and can be seen on the speciality coffee markets as Old Government, Old Brown or Old Brown Java.