This coffee made it onto our cupping table thanks to a newly established relationship with Belift Green Beans. Founders Ivan Hartanto, Kevin Soewondo, and Kenny Soewondo began working together in 2015 and have since opened a specialty coffee shop, roastery, and coffee academy in Indonesia. Belift Green Beans’ mission is to provide access to unique and traceable Indonesian coffee through their curated network of producers that are willing to embrace change and committed to improving quality. Currently, they are focused on the island of Java, though they hope to expand their operation to other Indonesian coffee producing islands in the coming years.

Some of those quality focused producers are the members of the Pokmas Walida Cooperative, located in Tlogosari Village, which lies in the shadows of Mount Argopuro, East Java. Pak Muhlisin, who is lead farmer of the group and Belift’s farming partner, provides leadership and training for the small producing community.

Unlike the most familiar Indonesian coffee producing island of Sumatra, which is known for its polarizing wet-hulled coffees, coffee producers in Java have historically used the washed method to process their coffee. However, the team at Belift have been experimenting with alternative processing methods along with their producing partner rarely seen in Indonesia. This lot was processed using a variation of the natural method where the coffee cherries are left on the beans during drying. What makes this coffee especially unique, is that lactic acid bacteria starter which was obtained from mixing cascara with brown sugar, was added during the fermentation process. The result is a fruit-forward flavor profile not often seen in coffees from Indonesia.