Beautiful sunrise across the rice paddy this morning, as I traveled to the coffee plantation.

Indonesia is known for its coffee, which the Dutch colonists introduced in the 17^th century. Indonesian farmers use an old process of warehousing the coffee before it is processed to achieve a deeper body and less acidity. This process cannot be matched even by the latest technology. The coffees they process through this old method produce notes of earthiness, tobacco, spice, and leather.

When I was here in 2023, I posted all about coffee and the most expensive coffee in the world. You can see my post and more extensive information about the coffee process at this post: Feb 6 (2023) To Starbucks and Beyond.

In this post, I am going to focus on the farmer and plant. I am not a coffee connoisseur. I started drinking coffee about a year ago (I will admit Starbucks was my gateway coffee), so I did not know there are different kinds–thus the title of this post.

I worked with a farmer on the coffee plantation today. He has 2 types of coffee Arabica and Robusta. We road a motorcycle for about 2 miles then walked into the plantation.

My job was to sucker the plants, at least that is what I called it. The farmer needs to pull off all new growth so energy will go to the blooms and eventually the bean. They leave 1 new stem at the bottom of the plant to grow up. When the old limbs stop producing coffee the hope is the new limb will start producing beans.

Taking a break after a morning of coffee work.

This farmer had Arabica and Robusta plants. There are over 100 species of coffee, but these are the most popular. Arabica is the most widely produced (~70% of coffee produced). The coffee is aromatic, has a sweeter mouth feel, and is lower in caffeine. They have a higher quality and are more expensive.

Robusta amounts to ~30% of the world’s total production. Robusta is typically strong and harsh with deep flavor. The coffee has a higher caffeine content. Robusta is mostly used for instant coffee.

The Arabica and Robusta beans have different shapes. When the beans are ripe you can peel the outside off and suck on the jelly-like layer on the outside. It did not really have any flavor.