Preserving the Heritage of Waerebo Coffee

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Coffee harvested by Marselus Esbi, a resident of the traditional kampung of Waerebo, Satarlenda village, West Satarmese district, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, Thursday (8/2/2018). Residents process their coffee up to the form of green beans.

Coffee is more than an economic commodity to the Waerebo community on the island of Flores. Neither is it just a hot drink to repel the cold breeze from the mountains. Long before tourists discovered the area, coffee has been a blessing – a breath of life.

The sun was rising as Marselus Esbi, 35, moved from one coffee tree to another carrying a small basket. He was racing against the rain that had been falling in Waerebo for a few days. Many coffee branches had been trimmed. He picked the reddish coffee beans and put them into the small basket.

“We must cut the branches, so that the trees get the sunlight and the nutrition does not go to the branches with no fruits,” he said at his coffee farm in the traditional village of Waerebo in Manggarai regency, East Nusa Tenggara, on Thursday (8/2/2018).

Marsel, his nickname, was tending the coffee trees on the farm of 25 by 100 meters. It was not yet the harvest season, but that day he picked the ripe and reddish coffee beans off the branches. In Waerebo, the harvest seasons are normally April and August.

Over the past decade, Waerebo has become a tourist destination for its seven cone-shaped houses, called mbaru niang in the Manggarai language of the locals.

The cone-shaped houses with thatched roofs, wooden pillars and wooden floors were built from local materials. They stand in the middle of a forest surrounded by green hills. It is an attractive tourist object for domestic and foreign holidaymakers.

Waerebo lies 1,300 meters above sea level in a valley surrounded by mountains. It is about 5 kilometers from the first checkpoint, where all motorized vehicles must stop. Visitors have to proceed on foot from the checkpoint to Waerebo, a walk that can take a couple of hours.

Marsel’s family owns around 1.5 hectares of coffee planting areas. Other farms of the same size are spread on the slopes in the east, west and north of the village. Marsel inherited the coffee farm because he is the only person living with his parents in Waerebo. His father, Gabriel Ngantur, 72, is too weak to take care of the farm.

The 1.5-ha farm produces an average of 400 kilograms of coffee beans per year. The beans are usually sold to big traders at Dintor Market, a kampong on the coast on the way to Waerebo.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Waerebo coffee.

Life support

This year, the coffee price is around Rp 25,000-Rp 35,000 per kg. In a year, Marsel’s family can earn around Rp 14 million from the coffee. The money is used to support the family, such as to buy rice and fund the education of their children.

“The native residents of Waerebo have no other farmland, such as dry land or rice fields. The money from the coffee is used to meet the daily needs and future needs,” said Gabriel.

Gabriel was able to fund the university education of two of his six children. One of them, an undergraduate in agriculture, works as a farming supervisor in West Satarmese district, and another works as a teacher on Mules Island, the only island in West Satarmese, about 7 km from Dintor.

Meanwhile, Marsel and his three younger siblings only got up to senior and junior high school education. “Although I am a high school graduate, I am proud considering our limited income,” said Marsel, who also had lived in Bali for nine years.

Gabriel said he could save some money from the coffee sales. Living in a remote village, they keep their savings at home. When they go to the city, they usually buy jewelry for it. The savings are later used to fund the education of the children and their living costs in other cities.

Dita, 50, a female farmer in Waerebo, did much the same thing. Her coffee farm is around 1 ha in size. Thanks to the coffee, she is able to provide her three children with education. Currently, two of them are at university and another is in senior high school.

Marsel’s and Dita’s families are among 118 families that rely on coffee in Waerebo, with the village’s coffee plantations totaling about 200 ha.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

A night scene in Kampung Waerebo, Satarlenda village, West Satarmese district, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, which is located at an altitude of about 1,300 meters above sea level, on Wednesday. (7/2/2018).

Since the opening of the customary village to the outside world in 2008, coffee has become an attraction for tourists. Not only do people sell the coffee at the market, they also serve coffee to the tourists. Moreover, visitors are told all about the local coffee business, from planting to processing.

Ground coffee is packaged into souvenirs. Local farmers have begun to expand their business activity from simply selling the beans to processing and packaging them.

Marten Forma, another farmer of Waerebo, said coffee had supported the life of the people long before tourism helped increase locals’ income. Nevertheless, they are grateful for increased tourism in Waerebo, as this had given Waerebo coffee a name recognized among coffee enthusiasts across Java Island.

“There is a café owner in Bandung, who buys coffee from Waerebo at a high price. This would be impossible without tourism,” Marten said.

What makes Waerebo special is that Arabica and Robusta beans are usually grown on one farm. During harvests, however, the farmers can separate them. Traders at the market usually ask if the coffee beans the farmers sell are Robusta or Arabica.

Waerebo village leader Aleksander Ngadus, 71, said coffee had entered Waerebo in the 1960s. A seed of Robusta coffee was brought in by a resident who had just returned from selling goods in Colol, East Manggarai regency, which was known for its coffee. “After the first harvest, other residents became interested in growing coffee. Coffee then become a major source of income. Other business was only additional,” he said.

Waerebo residents also engage in other farming activities and collect cinnamon. Some residents also have rice fields in Kombo, some 8 km from Waerebo, close to Dintor. Kombo village lies on a major road, affording better market access.

Waerebo residents below the age of 50 normally have rice fields in Kombo. They also have houses in the kampong. Waerebo children normally live in this kampong to be able to attend school.

KOMPAS/TOTOK WIJAYANTO

Residents dry coffee beans in the open in the traditional kampung of Waerebo, Satarlenda Village, West Satarmese district, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, Thursday (8/2/2018). Apart from tourism, this traditional village earns income from agriculture, including coffee planting.

Surrounded by coffee

Not doubt, coffee plays an important role in Waerebo, a village surrounded by coffee plantations. Heading to Waerebo at the height of 700 meters above sea level, we can see coffee plantations. On the outer parts of the plantation, there are coffee seedlings that have just been planted. Approaching the kampong, there are fully grown coffee plants.

Cultivation and post-harvest processing of coffee in Waerebo has so far relied on traditional methods. Local farmers avoid chemical fertilizer, and the cultivation without using pesticides is a heritage from the ancestors to respect the plants.

I was taken on a tour of the coffee plantations around Waerebo. Tired of touring the plantations, Marsel later took me to his house. A minute later, his wife Maria Stefani Edan, 32, was out of her kitchen bringing six cups of coffee.

At his veranda, Marsel sipped the coffee, while breathing the pollution-free air. He expressed hope for growing tourism to help improve Waerebo’s coffee potential, so that it would give his family ample income to support the future of their children and grandchildren.

(Videlis Jemali, Gregorius M Finesso)