Three Years Later: Indonesia Natural Sulawesi Tana Toraja Bolokan

If you’ve been a long time blog reader or a newsletter subscriber, you may recall that Andytown was invited to participate in a coffee and culture trip with the Consulate of Indonesia back in 2019. Along with two other coffee professionals, I traveled to Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, where I learned about Torajan culture and coffee production in the region by visiting coffee plantations and processing areas. The island of Sulawesi is the 11th largest island in the world. It is east of Borneo and is one of four of the Greater Sunda Islands.

The tongkonan is an iconic structure in Tana Toraja. These traditional ancestral homes are a focal point for family life, serve as a central point for congregation in society, where rituals and celebrations are held. While the main purpose of the trip to Toraja was to learn about coffee, it was also just as important for us to learn about the local culture. Here, we had the opportunity to attend and observe the funeral procession of a well respected member of society.

On our first day of touring coffee sites, we visited PT Sulotco Jaya Abadi in the Bolokan Valley. The Rantekarua Estate was previously built and owned by Dutchman H.J. Stock Van Dykk. During the Indonesian War of Independence in the mid to late 1940s, Dutch owned coffee estates were abandoned, including this one. All coffee plantations became government owned after the war,  and the Rantekarua Estate remained mostly abandoned until Sameul Karundeng, the current director of the mill, found the old Dutch house and coffee trees at the site in 1986. The following year, the government gave cultivation rights to PT Sulotco Jaya Abadi.

The Torajan people are known for their elaborate funeral rites and rituals. During the trip, we had the opportunity to visit the Loko’ Mata stone burial , one of the biggest stone burials in Toraja.

Stopping to take a photo near the Loko’ Mata stone burial. (For those of you wondering, we made sure we were not standing on a grave when we took this photo!). Left to right: Kevin from Blue Bottle, Corazon, Evan from Royal Coffee, Rizka and Nursiani from the Consulate of Indonesia.

Since then, the 1200 hectare land has gone through massive renovation. 200 acres of land has been converted into natural forest, making the estate a beacon of innovation in matters of land conservation. The remaining 1000 hectares became a coffee plantation, and Sulotco Jaya worked with the local community to get it up and running. Farmers were given 1 hectare of land and given coffee seeds to plant. Coffee is cultivated using organic inputs, including manure from more than 2000 sheep distributed among farmers for free. Sulotco Jaya then implements a revenue sharing system at each harvest, where 25% is allocated to the company, and 75% is allocated to the farmer. The farmer can then sell their coffees to Sultoco Jaya for a fair price.

Agnes Briliana, Quality Control Manger at Sulotco Jaya, preparing samples for evaluation in the cupping lab.

In addition to touring the washing, drying, and sorting stations, we were given the opportunity to taste samples of several coffees from their recent harvest: some wet-hulled, some washed, and one natural processed coffee. All of them received high marks in the cupping table, but the one that left a lasting impression on me was the natural coffee. To no surprise, this is in part due to the careful selection and processing of the cherries. During harvest, cherries are picked and transported to the Bolokan Valley, where they are floated in water to sort out the defective cherries and then washed. Afterwards, the cherries are moved to covered, raised beds where they are monitored and rotated regularly while drying the coffee for at least two weeks. The coffee is then rested in their dried cherries in containers for a few weeks before hulling and preparing for export.

Green coffee beans are expertly hand sorted as the final step before being placed in bags and prepared for export.

Since the trip, we’ve had this natural coffee in the back of our minds, waiting for it to become available in the US for us to purchase. Sulotco Jaya has an esteemed reputation in Indonesia, but they mainly supply the domestic market. So, harvesting a large enough volume to be able to supply coffee to their current partners and to be able to have enough to export to the US was part of the battle. Royal Coffee Importers has maintained a relationship with Sulotco Jaya over the years, and Sulotco’s openness and willingness to share information has helped build trust and strengthen their connections. Once Sultoco had enough coffee to export, it was an easy decision for Royal to work on bringing the coffee stateside. 

It was a pleasant surprise to bump into Agnes, left, at the Global Coffee Expo in Boston back in April 2022!

We were eager to book this coffee as soon as we heard it was on its way, and we’re incredibly excited to be sharing this coffee with you. This is a nuanced and complex coffee: while it is juicy and singing with fruity tones, it carries some characteristic herbal notes that Indonesian coffees are known for. We taste pomegranate and black cherry up front before it settles into soft, herbal notes that remind us of marjoram. Whether it’s served hot or iced, this is a coffee that will quench your thirst!