Java Sunda Badak

In the Cup: Heavy cocoa, sugar cane, and jammy fruit flavors with tart acidity and a smooth mouthfeel.

Process: Wet Hulled

Regions: West Java

Variety: Java

Elevation: 1200–1700 MASL

Country: Indonesia

Harvest: May–August

West Java is where the Dutch planted Java's first coffee in the 1600s, and today the best of the island's coffee comes from the Priangan Plateau, a volcanic highland home to the Sundanese people. Unlike the big estates in the east, coffee here is grown by smallholders who bring their crop to central mills. This lot is Sunda Badak — named for the Javan rhinoceros — a signature coffee from Frinsa Collective, which selects day lots that match a specific Preanger profile and pays farmers a premium to keep them separate. The variety is Java, a selection descended from Ethiopian landrace stock, grown here between 1,200 and 1,700 meters.

This lot is wet-hulled — giling basah, as it's known locally — the processing style that defines Indonesian coffee. The cherries are pulped and the parchment only partly dried, then the coffee is hulled while the bean is still wet, far earlier than almost anywhere else in the world. That's where Java gets its weight and depth, and here it comes through as heavy cocoa and sugar cane sweetness with jammy fruit, tart acidity, and a smooth body.