The Coffee Trail from Mount Wangun, West Java: Still a Hidden Gem
CNBC Indonesia has discovered a type of coffee that has so far received little attention and is not widely known to the public. This coffee is grown on Mount Wangun, West Java.
Indonesians, particularly the millennial generation, have in recent times grown familiar with the coffee shops that adorn every corner of the city. This is inseparable from the rising popularity of coffee among Indonesian society.
Coffee is now one of the commodities favoured by people from all walks of life. Its strong aroma and flavour entice enthusiasts to include coffee in the midst of their daily routines.
The current coffee trend in Indonesia is certainly not popular simply because of its trendy coffee shops. That is only one of several factors that have made today’s coffee trend increasingly popular. Equally important is the sheer variety of coffee flavours on offer.
This variety of coffee would not exist without Indonesia’s role as one of the world’s finest and largest coffee bean producers. Indonesia has many regions producing high-quality beans, each with its own distinctive flavour profile.
One of these is Bogor Regency, whose terrain sits at an altitude well suited to robusta cultivation and which holds great potential for expanding robusta production. Bogor has now emerged as one of the largest robusta-producing regions in West Java.
With annual production reaching 4,004 tonnes, the district nicknamed Bumi Tegar Beriman ranks fourth among robusta producers in Indonesia, and is the top robusta producer in West Java.
CNBC Indonesia found a type of coffee that until now has remained largely untouched by and unknown to the public. Gunung Wangun Jaya coffee is grown in the Karang Tengah village area of Babakan Madang by a group of farmers.
To this day, few people know of Gunung Wangun coffee, even though it is a genuine Bogor coffee. The coffee grown here is robusta, unsurprising given the altitude of only around 600 to 900 metres above sea level.
One farmer sells his robusta coffee in Kampung Wangun, Karang Tengah village, West Java, at Rp 60,000 for 500 grams.