Coffee farming in Indonesia
Team Pegasing is the washing station and farm owned by Hendra and his family in Panta Musara, Pegasing, Aceh Tengah. . They produce experimental processed coffee at specialty level, standing out from the more traditional wet hulled coffee that the area is typically known for. Hendra's father, Hamdan moved to the area in 2006 from Banda Aceh: he bought some land in the sub district of Pegasing to start growing coffee. The move inspired his son Hendra who then started to work with his father in 2010 and has never looked back. It is very much a family affair!
Hendra began experimenting with washed coffees after researching old literature and seeking help from others in Indonesia who were moving away from the wet hulled method of production. This change in processing highlights many of the outstanding characteristics such coffees can have and saw Hendra and the family invest heavily in the farm, especially the post harvesting facilities, to capitalise on this.. With the help of some funding, they have built a small wet mill with two pulpers, gravitational washing channels and several raised beds in large poly tunnels for drying the cherry.
Hendra has continued to experiment and now has around 8-10 different processes that he uses to produce coffee. The small washing station will produce up to 40 tons of green coffee every year. The coffee is purchased from 70 farmers around the area who want to work with Hendra and pick ripe cherry after he has encouraged them to raise standards by rewarding good picking. If any farmers have travelled further to get to Hendra's farm then they are paid extra for this as well.
Hendra has also started a nursery where he is helping to grow the Abyssinia varietal that was planted when coffee first came to Indonesia. He is working with local farmers to plant small plots on their land where he pays more for this varietal due to the reduced yield but higher cup quality. Hendra will decide the process depending on the weather and the demand from clients - he sells a lot of his coffee to specialty roasters based in Indonesia, predominantly Jakarta.
Hendra selects coffee from the best farmers around him: they all pick excellent ripe cherry and are based at the highest altitude so he then pays them a premium for their coffee. Once purchased, the cherries are floated for immature beans and then cleaned and sorted before being placed on raised beds and dried for 20-25 days, with regular turning in a drying tent where the temperature is monitored. Before being placed in bags, the coffee is put through a density table twice to remove immature beans and then goes through two rounds of hand picking to make sure it is clean and specialty standard.
This natural processed coffee we are offering is outstanding and demonstrates the care and attention to detail Hendra shows with every bean he produces. It really is a beautiful coffee and shows the skill of the farmer not to mention the passion for his crop and the desire to excel. We hope you like it as much as we do!
Coffee processing in Indonesia