35Indonesia
11,380,000 bags (ICO 2009)In-depth country profile: production, varieties, classification, history, current situation and points that remain uncertain. Region: Asia.
To each island its terroir: that is perhaps what sums up Indonesia best. Introduced by the Dutch from the end of the 17th century, coffee spread from Java to Sumatra, Bali and Sulawesi. The country produces mostly canephora, but it is the diversity of its terroir arabicas that makes it singular.
The harvest, spread over five to six months, is done by hand every ten days to pick only the ripe cherries, a real quality factor. Specialty coffees have developed greatly there, starting with the famous and very rare Kopi Luwak, with its, to say the least, particular processing.
- Botanical species
- Arabica, Canephora
- Altitude
- 1,000 to 1,700 m
- Soil type
- Volcanic
- Shade
- Pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, cacao, clove, patchouli
- Harvest
- Manual and selective
- Processing
- Wet process and dry process
- Sorting
- Electronic (sorting and screen grading)
- Harvest period
- MainMay to Aug.; second: Oct. to Jan.
- Packaging
- 60-kg bag
Recent volume 11.3 million bags in 2025-2026, a recordUSDA FAS, June 2025
The description of arabicas systematically takes the region into account (even the plantation or the variety), so distinct is each island's typicity. Preparation criteria are added to it.
Number of defects (300 g sample)
| Grade | Defects |
| Grade 1 | 11 |
| Grade 2 | 12 to 25 |
| Grade 3 | 26 to 44 |
| Grade 4a | 45 to 60 |
| Grade 4b | 61 to 80 |
| Grade 5 | 81 to 150 |
| Grade 6 | 151 to 225 |
The grade can also be designated by an acronym rather than a number. These acronyms are in Dutch, the language of the former colonial power, and they tell the level of preparation of the lot.
- EK1Eerst Kwaliteit, that is, 1st quality.
- GBGewone Bereiding, that is, simple preparation.
- OIBOost Indische Bereiding. The profile gives no French equivalent for this acronym.
- WIBWest Indische Bereiding, the best preparation.
Canephora bean size
| Size | Criterion |
| Large bean | 2.5% max below 7.5 mm |
| Medium bean | 2.5% max below 6.5 mm |
| Small bean | 2.5% max below 5.5 mm |
| ELB | Extra Large Bean |
For arabica, no bean size specification.
History
The first coffee plants of Java arrived in 1696. The Dutch had them shipped from Kananur, on the Malabar coast.
Governor-General Willem Van Outshoorn planted them on the Kedawoeng estate, near Batavia. The attempt failed for a reason that had nothing agronomic about it: an earthquake and a flood swept the plants away.
It therefore had to be started again. In 1699, Henricus Zwaardecroon imported cuttings, from Malabar again. These succeeded, and became the ancestors of all the coffees of the Dutch East Indies.
Twelve years later, Java coffee entered the European market. The first public sale took place in Amsterdam in 1711: 894 pounds, knocked down at about 47 cents a pound.
Ukers, All About Coffee (1922), ch. II, p. 5-10; LC ch. 8Forced cultivation came next. The Company first imposed compulsory deliveries on the regents of Java, who had to supply coffee whatever the harvest.
The system hardened with the Cultuurstelsel of 1830-1832. Each family in the Sundanese districts had to maintain a thousand trees. Coffee ceased to be a chosen crop and became a burden imposed on the household.
The coercion left two written traces. In 1860, Multatuli drew from it the novel Max Havelaar. And Walsh, in 1894, still describes the system as closely akin to despotism.
Ukers 1922; Walsh, Coffee: Its History, Classification and Description (1894); LC ch. 9The archipelago was then the stage of two decisive events, and both come down to rust.
The first is a destruction. In the 1870s-1880s, rust destroyed the arabicas, and plantations switched to canephora and liberica, two species planted at the time because arabica was dying.
Witnesses of the earlier arabica remain. Bergendal / Sidikalang of Sumatra and Blawan of East Java are old Typicas that survived the episode.
The second event is a discovery. On the island of Timor, a natural hybrid between arabica and canephora was spotted: the Timor Hybrid.
Its reach goes far beyond the archipelago. Almost all the rust resistances used since descend from it.
World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog 2025, Bergendal, Blawan, Timor Hybrid profiles; McCook 2019; LC ch. 12 and 14Today
The volume at the head of the profile, 11,380,000 bags, is that of the profile (ICO 2009). The USDA reports 11.3 million bags for 2025-2026, a record.
Indonesia produces mostly canephora. Its singularity lies elsewhere: in the diversity of its terroir arabicas, grown between 1,000 and 1,700 meters.
Four materials come up repeatedly. First Typica. Then the Timor Hybrid, grown as is under the name Tim Tim in the Gayo highlands. Next Ateng, the local name of the Sumatran Catimors. And finally the Gayo selections.
The harvest is spread over five to six months. It is done by hand, every ten days, which makes it possible to pick only the ripe cherries. This repeated passage is a quality factor.
Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026; USDA FAS, June 2025; World Coffee Research, Coffee Varieties Catalog 2025, Tim Tim, Ateng, Gayo profilesIndonesia invented the strangest process in the coffee world, wet hulling (giling basah, in Indonesian), in which the parchment is hulled at a very high moisture content, which gives the blue-green bean and the earthy profile of Sumatran coffees. It is also the origin of Kopi Luwak, which passes through the digestive tract of the civet.
LC ch. 17b; Country Profiles, Marco De Sousa Rosa, 2026Gray areas
- The actual moisture content at which Indonesians hull their coffee is not established: four incompatible ranges coexist in the literature.
- The exact year of the appearance of the Timor Hybrid is not fixed; the sources give a range.
- The respective shares of arabica and canephora in current Indonesian production are not quantified here.
- The actual volume of Kopi Luwak produced, and the share of captive production, are documented by no source in the corpus.