Indonesia Gunung Tikukur by Smallholder Farmers
Tastes: Soft, sweet, chocolate
Varieties: Catimor, Tim-Tim, Typica, Gayo2
Region: Java
Process: Washed
Altitude: Above 1200 m
Importer: Covoya
With our apologies, printed labels for this coffee erroneously state "Gunning Tikukur" as the name for this single origin coffee — "Gunung Tikukur" is the correct spelling.
Tikukur means “Bird.” Mount Tikukur is the one of mountains not affected by the eruption in the Patuha Mountain area in Ciwidey. Tikukur Mountain is home to many birds and animals and is now a protected area for bird watching.
Although coffee was first planted successfully on Java around 1700, cultivation spread slowly throughout what would become the great archipelagic state of Indonesia. In fact, the green coffee of Java served as progenitor to the coffees of far off Central America and had begun its ascent to being considered, alongside Arabian Mocha, as one of the best coffees in the world, long before commercial cultivation spread to nearby islands. At the same time, it should be noted that nearly all coffee from any island in the Dutch East Indies was considered “Java” until the early 20th century, so whose to say what Java was before then.
Some of the large coffee estates created by the Dutch 175 years ago can still be found on the volcanic Ijen Plateau at the eastern tip of Java, but most coffee farmers are smallholders growing coffee on an average of 1.5 hectare, many of them among a cluster of volcanoes in West Java, where coffee cultivation first began on the island. Although disease resistant Robusta became the dominate coffee crop, West Java has seen a steady increase in Arabica production in recent years. Arabica generally grows above 1200 meters and virtually all coffee is fully washed.