Sumatra Aceh Ketiara - Organic

Full bodied with notes of intense dark chocolate, orange zest, tobacco and spice

This coffee comes from a group of smallholder farmers from Bies Penantan community who came together in 2009 to form Ketiara Cooperative.  The cooperative led by Ibu Rahman, its Chairwoman, prides itself upon remaining one of the few cooperatives led by women.  Many of the growers are Javanese women who became widowed and displaced after the civil war.  They plant their coffee under Lamtoro trees integrated with their other crops.  The entire membership of Ketiara splits evenly between Gayonese and Javanese.

The cooperative is well known for its incredible attention to detail in relation to the soil quality and the traditional wet-hulling process that allows the earthy funkiness of Sumatran coffee come through as a vibrant and clean cup.  The wet-hulling process used at Ketiara is unique to the cooperative, with the removal of parchment - the thin layer around the coffee bean - taking place much earlier than at other Sumatran producers.

The growers of Ketiara Cooperative understand the importance of preparing land, cultivating seedlings and pruning.  After the harvest, farmers transport the cherry to be depulped, fermented and then the parchment covered beans are dried in the sun to about 30% moisture content.  After they remove the parchment by hulling the beans (known as wet-hulling since the parchment retains so much moisture), the sill wet beans are then dried in the sun for a second time (to about 18% moisture content).  They then use a Sutton machine to sort the beans.  Finally, they dry the beans one last time, hand sort the coffee for quality assurance, then pack it for export.

This coffee is certified Organic.