Tasting notes: root beer barrel, sweet almond, black licorice

Origin: Java

Region: Ijen Pleateau, East Java Island

Farm: Jampit Estate

Elevation: 3600 to 4500 feet

Variety: Typica

Process: Washed, sun dried

The story of coffee production in Java presents several twists and turns—from leaf rust in the mid-1800s prompting a near wholesale conversion to robusta plants, through the dissolution of the large colonial plantations following independence, to the re-introduction of arabica plants and the modern focus on quality.

Arabica was first brought to the Dutch colony of Indonesia in the late 1600s to break the Arabian monopoly in coffee trading. Initially planted in Western Java, plantations were later established throughout Java and on the neighboring islands of Sumatra and Sulawesi. The Dutch closely managed coffee production on Java and divided its most favorable growing areas into four plantations: Kayumas, Jampit, Blawan, and Pancoer. Of these, Blawan and Jampit are particularly renowned for being ideally situated at higher altitudes on plateaus of mineral rich volcanic soil.

Following independence in 1949 the estates were managed by the fledgling Indonesian government and continue to this day as the “government estates.” The Jampit estate preserves a tradition of producing carefully monitored fully washed coffees (36 hours of fermentation and washed to within 8 to 10% of the fruit left on the seed) that produce a sweet, clean cup in stark contrast to the earthiness of the wet-hulled coffees from Sumatra and the often-fruitier cups of the semi-washed coffees from Java’s private estates.

Coffees from Jampit often cup somewhat spicier than those from Blawan, and this lot is no exception. A big almond note is livened by sweet herbal and aromatic bark flavors evoking root beer barrel hard candy. This liveliness does not come at the expense of a creamy body that has long been the calling card of Estate Java, thickening the herbaceous flavors and coalescing in a sensation of black licorice in the finish.