Java coffee is Java’s black gold

Java coffee is Java’s black gold. Coffee is one of the most famous things on Java Island. The coffee made the island prominent worldwide. For instance, many cafes or bars have Java coffee or mocha on the menu.

In fact, the coffee isn’t of origin from Indonesia. During the colonisation of Indonesia, in the 17th century, the Dutch brought coffee to Indonesia. Today, coffee is a big industry in Indonesia. Not only in Java growing coffee shrubs. Other islands such as Sumatra, Bali or Sulawesi have their own coffee.

In Africa or South America, the coffee shrubs have a season while in Indonesia coffee grows over the entire year.

Actually, coffee is a shrub and the fruits are called cherries. Unripe fruits are green. When the fruits become ripe the colour change to red. The fruits look like cherries. The coffee beans inside the cherries are the seeds of the coffee shrub. Each cherry contains exactly two seeds.

Indonesia is the home of a coffee curiosity. This coffee is called Kopi Luawk. The Luwak is a kind of a civet. While the word kopi means coffee in the Indonesian language. Civets like to eat coffee cherries. The beans don’t digest in their stomach, only fermenting. For that reason, farmers collect the excrements. They separated, cleaned and roasted the beans. Finally, the coffee is ready to brew. In the western world, coffee Luwak is a speciality and is sold for high prices.

In East Java, the Kawah Ijen plateau has many coffee plantations. The coffee shrubs are cultivated at about 1400 m high. The shrubs grow in the shade of trees. In fact, the coffee grows well on the sloops of the volcanos. Java exports coffee all over the world. The farmer planted mostly Arabica shrubs.  However, Robusta coffee grows in many places as well.