Visit to Seribudolok Coffee Farm (Land of Thousand Hills), North Sumatra, Indonesia

Singara Utang Varietal coffee tree

It was an impromptu trip, when my good friend in Jakarta, Danang recommended a unique coffee bean varietal from North Sumatra called the Singara Utang grown at Simalungun, North Sumatra. He brought some samples when he dropped by Sun Ray Cafe couple of weeks ago. After cupping it, we were intrigued with the body balance and flavours of the coffee and decided to pay a visit to the farm.

Coffee cherries depulping

It was a short and sweet conversation with Dian through Whatsapp the night before and he extended an invitation to visit his farm, we took the next flight to Medan, Sumatra to meet his brother-in-law and CEO of PT Santamara.

Coffee sorted manually for damaged beans

PT Santamara has their coffee processing and warehouse in Medan where most trading companies are based. We were impressed with their vision of wanting to share to the world about Simalungun coffee and the quality of the coffee beans. After cupping some of the coffee we proceeded to their farm at Simalungun which is about 3 hrs drive from Medan City.

The unique feature of the Singara Utang is that it produces crop all year round even though there are 2 main harvesting season, March to May and September to November.

 

Simalungun HIghlands are on the on the north east of the famous tourist attraction, Lake Toba. The climate and altitude is perfect for growing Arabica coffee given the volcanic top soil and favorable pH level. The unique feature of the Singara Utang is that it produces crop all year round even though there are 2 main harvesting season, March to May and September to November. The farmers are always striving to improve their coffee plantation by experimenting and learning new farming methods. In fact the locals grown many other crops including oranges, corn and chili. 

Coffee cherries harvested ready for processing

What really impressed us was how the whole community involving in the coffee business from picking the coffee cherries, processing it, drying it followed by packing for shipment. 

The cherry pickers rotate around the various farms to pick the cherries.

Tasting notes of the for fully washed: Blueberries, dark chocolate with a full sweetness body after taste.

 

Singa coffee beans are now available in our stores and we have came up with a new blend dy/dx incorporating this new bean.