Our single origin espresso from Gegarang Village is perfect for all of our Italian espresso lovers! Roasted by Mok Micro-Roastery in Leuven, you can now purchase the Sumatra Aceh in our webshop here. If you are looking for a rich and heavy espresso with flavor notes of dark chocolate, then you definitely need to add Gegarang Village to your shopping list. Gegarang Village also has a rather interesting coffee backstory, which makes it that much more enjoyable to drink.
Coffee was originally introduced to Sumatra by Dutch colonialists in the late 17th century under the Dutch East India Trading Company, which most of us are familiar with. Millions were sent to Asia to procure Asian goods for Europe. Coffee, a European commodity at the time, was brought to Asia with the European trade market. Java was an area that proved to be extremely successful in producing coffee, so riding off of its profitability, coffee was brought to Sumatra.
The Gegarang Village was actually part of an Indonesian transmigratory program that moved Javanese people to Aceh to alleviate the overpopulation of Java. It now has 46 members, each with plots of about 1 hectare in size. The members use these plots to grow coffee and vegetables such as potatoes and beans. This region has an altitude of about 1500 to 1600 meters above sea level.
Aceh, specifically, has had a history of civil unrest. This is recently due to guerrilla activity under the Free Aceh movement. Many of the farms in Aceh were abandoned because the farmers were running from the violence and the chaos, but the tragedy of the 2004 Boxing Day earthquake and tsunami brought international attention to the region. The subsequent aid has helped to revitalise Aceh’s farms, allowing it to reanimate its coffee production.
Sumatran coffees are typically produced using a unique semi-washed process that is locally known as Giling Basah. After the coffee is picked, it is machine pulped before being partly sun dried. Then, parchment is removed to reveal whitish, swollen green beans. The drying process is completed on the patio, where the beans turn to a dark green color that characterises Sumatran coffee. This process helps to bring out more body, creating the rich espresso that we can now enjoy today.
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