Long Road to Cuppa Joy

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Workers dry arabica coffee beans in a greenhouse at Catur Mountain Coffee production center in Catur village, Kintamani, Bangli regency, Bali.

Goenawan Mohamad ends his poem Dingin Tak Tercatat (Unrecorded cold) with a question: God, how can we be happy? Let the Nusantara (archipelago) coffee beans “speak” of their meaning of happiness.

The joy of the Kintamani Bali Arabica coffee did not come overnight; it took a long road until it became widely known across the world as it is today.

The Kintamani Bali Arabica coffee became widely known after it received Geographical Indication certification in 2008. Since then, Kintamani coffee has flowed easily into the European (the world) export market.

Before that, however, the Arabica coffee farmers of Kintamani Bali bled for many years to maintain their existence. Coffee fought against orange crops because oranges were more valuable than coffee. The stories of coffee plantations being cleared for oranges spread from one place to the other.

I Ketut Surata, 45, a farmer in Catur village of Kintamani district, Bangli regency, said that in 1980, he was forced to take half a hectare of his coffee plantation and convert it to cultivating orange trees, because coffee plants were not worth the cost then.

"The coffee plantations at that time could not even be used as collateral for the bank. Back then, I needed only Rp 1 million for the children’s school fees and capital for coffee farming. I wanted to borrow money from the bank by using the coffee plantation as collateral, but the bank rejected because they didn’t believe I could repay the loan," said Ketut.

As a result, he decided to lease the land to a relative for 10 years. Ketut worked the land and shared its result with the relative.

"Today, I manage half a hectare of orange plants and half a hectare of coffee plantation. The income from coffee is now much higher than oranges," he said. The price of oranges is Rp 10,000 per kg, while the price of coffee can reach Rp 60,000 per kg for hard skin (HS) coffee.

Before 2000, coffee beans were worth less than Rp 1,000 per kg; today, they are worth Rp 10,000 per kg. Ten years since he was forced to cut down some of his coffee trees, Ketut has starting harvesting coffee with joy.

Orange flavor

The Kintamani Bali Arabica coffee was not an overnight success. I Ketut Jati, chairman of the Kintamani Protected Geographical Indication Community (MPIG), said that the success started in 2000, when a group of researchers from France’s CIRAD Agricultural Research Center and the Coffee and Cocoa Research Center (Puslitkoka) of Jember, East Java, under the support of the Bali Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantation Agency, conducted research on Kintamani coffee. They tasted a cup of Kintamani Arabica coffee and found it had an orange flavor.

The orange flavor of Kintamani coffee had not changed in coffee tastings between 2003 and 2006, and had not lost the orange flavor by 2007. Finally, it was agreed to patent Kintamani Arabica coffee with the agency’s support and in 2008, the Kintamani Geographical Indication certificate was issued.

Applicants for the Kintamani Geographical Indication included a group of subak abian (traditional dry agriculture institutions) coffee fruit producers, coffee processors (including subak abian farmers, private processors and roasters), advisory boards (local governments, supporting organizations, and a number of key buyers). They became grouped in the MPIG.

Kintamani Arabica coffee plantations now reach 14,000 ha with 4,000 farming families, spread across the three regencies of Bangli (Kintamani district), Badung (Petang), and Buleleng (Sukasada and Sawan). They are part of 64 subak abian groups, with each group consisting of 80-100 farmers.

Each is a registered MPIG member and has a Geographical Indication member card that bears their membership number. They have rules and requirements on the cultivation and processing of coffee, one of which is an obligation to harvest only red coffee fruit. The rules help control the quality of Kintamani coffee.

There is also a multi-level monitoring system for coffee production. The farmers monitor cultivation by filling out the requirement record, the subak abian cover annual monitoring and reporting to the MPIG, and the MPIG carries out a random inspection every five years.

Moreover, red coffee bean sales are also controlled by processing units. Each processing unit must check the membership card and record the producer’s name and the amount of coffee. The processing unit must send the list of its suppliers to the MPIG every two years, which the MPIG will use as data to check the volume of coffee the farmers sell with the farming area.

Today, Bali has two specialty coffees that have received Geographical Indication certificates: the Kintamani Bali Arabica and that Pupuan Robusta coffees. The Pupuan Robusta coffee was certified Geographical Indication in December 2017. The coffee is cultivated in Tabanan.

"We want to further promote Pupuan Robusta coffee to the people. We practice good cultivation and processing of coffee to improve the quality of the Robusta coffee. People should know that Bali also has good Robusta coffee," said MPIG chairman Pupuan I Wayan Dira.

I Wayan Dira, who also chairs the Subak Abian Batur Pendem in Pupuan district, Tabanan regency, said his group consisted of coffee farmers from 14 villages. They constantly try to promote Pupuan as a specialty coffee. One of the ways was to harvest only the red coffee berries.

"There are 800 coffee farmers in Subak Abian Batur Pendem. On average, they have 1 ha of land and produce 1-2 tons per hectare. In Pupuan district there are 15,000 farmers in 26 subak abian," said I Wayan Dira.

The market for Pupuan Robusta coffee has existed since 2016, when I Wayan Dira was able to export 2-3 containers of coffee to South Korea. The Pupuan Robusta coffee enthusiasts also come from Italy, Belgium and Taiwan. I Wayan Dira was able to penetrate the export market because the local plantation office often invited him to joint exhibitions in these countries.

KOMPAS/RIZA FATHONI

Workers dry arabica coffee beans in a greenhouse at Catur Mountain Coffee production center in Catur village, Kintamani, Bangli regency, Bali.

Building trust

The function of the Geographical Indication certification, as in the story of Kintamani Arabica coffee and Pupuan Robusta, is to build trust between traders and buyers. In other words, it becomes a bridge for moving coffee from farms to tables.

Certification convinces buyers that the coffee is of good quality and will not disappoint, and is important in marketing specialty coffees.

There are several certification institutions in the world coffee industry, including Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance-certified (RA), Utz Certified (UC) and Bird-friendly. Nana Suhartana and Sumino’s Toward Specialized Coffee Marketing, Marketing Case Studies at the Four Coffee Production Centers, published by the Indonesian Organic Farmers Network (2008), explains that the concept behind Fair Trade certification was that both buyers and sellers profited from the trade.

Simply put, this means that when consumers drink Fair Trade coffee, they contribute to reducing poverty and improving social and environmental welfare.

There is also the RA certification, also known as Eco-OK. This certification covers ecosystem issues with indicators concerning the lowest water pollution and soil erosion, reducing threats against the environment and human life, reducing waste and others.

The UC guarantees the proportional use of chemical fertilizers, workers\' welfare and workers\' access to health, training and other measures.

The Bird-friendly or shade-grown certification was developed by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC) of the National Zoological park in the United States. To qualify for this certification, producers must cultivate at least 10 trees per hectare with a minimum height of 10 meters per tree. During the day, the trees should cover 40 percent of the land.

Drinking coffee while imagining the farmers’ smiles and the safety of the environment does not only make coffee taste special; more than that, it can also soothe the soul.

(DAHLIA IRAWATI, COKORDA YUDISTIRA)