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Now brewing: Specialty coffees and teas
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Dark pleasure: Each export market has its own specialty coffee acceptability criteria (Shutterstock/-)
U
nlike Indonesia’s specialty coffees, which are relatively easy to find at coffee shops, most of the country’s specialty teas are destined for foreign markets.
Specialty coffee as defined by the Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia (SCAI) may be very popular, but not all coffee players see the need to join the trend and use SCAI’s scoring system.
“Coffee farmers are mainly concerned about selling their beans at good prices. The ones whose coffee is in great demand or who already have regular customers normally don’t see the need to get their coffee scored by SCAI,” says Adrianus Kurniawan.
Adrianus’ company, Smoking Barrels Craft Coffee, buys coffees directly from farmers and gets them informally scored during cupping sessions at the ABCD School of Coffee in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
Agus Wijaya, who owns First Cup Coffee Shop at ITC Mangga Dua, North Jakarta, is not a part of SCAI but has completed a Pre-Q Grader course for extensive training in cupping in order to skillfully recognize and assess the quality of coffees. He doesn’t think it’s necessary for him to be a member because he does his business locally.
The association’s membership and scoring system, Agus says, make sense for businesses that sell Indonesian coffees to overseas buyers who choose products based on the scores of Q-graders, who are certified by the internationally recognized Coffee Quality Institute (CQI).
