Bondowoso, East Java Natural Process

The Producer

Ivan Hartanto, Kenny Soewando and Kevin Soewondo from the pioneering team at Belift Green Beans are on a mission to "revive Indonesian coffee in the international market"—and we couldn't be more thrilled to partner with them to source these exceptional coffees from Java. 

Though Indonesian coffees are a staple offering and flavor profile in the coffee industry, it has been historically difficult to implement traceability systems in many regions. Because we place utmost importance on transparent, traceable sourcing, bringing in coffees from Indonesia have always been a steep challenge. Our first time successfully sourcing from Indonesia was in Sumatra in 2017; ever since then, we've been looking for the right opportunity to once again offer high-quality, traceable Indonesian coffees.

Pak Echwan, our partner farmer in Bondowoso, East Java, started off very small but has a big vision for his village and coffee farmer community. He leads the community of coffee farmers in his home of Dawuhan Village in Bondowoso, Situbondo, East Java. The village is positioned near the majestic Ijen Volcanic Crater.

Being one of the head coffee farmers in this coffee-growing region, he took the initiative in his village to implement an ever-improving quality mindset and educate the local community. Previously, the villagers in his area who grew coffee never really thought about process improvements, didn’t have access to education around coffee, and just wanted to sell it quickly and cheaply. Still, Pak Echwan is determined to lift his region’s coffee quality year after year as he implements more and more proper processing, equipment, and storage.

The Process

This lot is a natural processed coffee. To process coffee this way at Bondowoso, they pick the cherries in their best riping point; they are cleaned and sorted by flotation, then dried on raised beds. Once they are properly dried, they are hulled and sorted, using a density sorter; then, they are packed and exported. 

Coffees from Bondowoso are processed using fresh spring water, a rarity in Java.

Most coffee farmers in Indonesia grow a very small amount of coffee alongside crops like tomatoes, chili peppers, and ginger. The combined remoteness of their farms and fragmented production system have made it very difficult to trace Indonesian coffee. The team at Belift, however, are working directly with the farming communities in Bondowoso and are hands-on with every step of production, from seed to processing to export.