Indonesia | Sesongot

REGION : Bebesen, Sumatra

ALTITUDE : 1,300 - 1,600 MASL

VARIETAL : Abyssinia

PROCESS : Anaerobic Natural

FLAVOUR NOTES : Cola, Blackberry jam, Iced Tea

Aulia Kahfi inherited Rakyat Farm from his family and has been involved in coffee production since his early teens. His interest, however, has always leaned towards speciality coffee. At a time when there was little local demand for it, he took an unusual detour, spending several years mining and selling vesuvianite, a mineral found around volcanic regions, before returning to coffee.

Now in his early thirties, Aulia has steadily expanded his operation beyond the family farm. Travelling in an old van or borrowing a friend’s car, he buys ripe cherry in small quantities from neighbouring producers in Lukup Sabun, Pantan Sile and Ratawali, more recently extending his network to Gegarang in Jagong Jeget.

His commitment to quality has gained wider recognition. In 2019, Aulia placed ninth in the Sumatra Prestige Cup with an exceptional wet-hulled lot.

He calls his experimental and specially processed coffees ‘Sesongot’, after a distinctive caterpillar native to Gayo that can often be found among the coffee trees. Its unusual appearance felt like a fitting namesake for these equally distinctive lots.

Like most coffee farms in Sumatra, farms here are small, typically between 0.5 and 2.5 hectares. Coffee is the principal cash crop, but it grows alongside vegetables, maize and fruit, much of which becomes an important part of farming families’ diets throughout the year.

For this lot, Aulia selectively hand-picks ripe red cherries and supplements his own harvest with carefully selected cherry from neighbouring farmers. The cherries are fermented for 24 hours, with the water changed every 12 hours, before being laid out on patios to dry. Throughout drying, they are raked regularly to encourage an even and consistent process.