This coffee comes from the Sunda Hejo group, a coffee project established in 2010 in West Java. We were introduced to the model through its two founders - Eko Purnomowidi and Dadang Hendarsyah. After learning about a growing opportunity for specialty coffee in Java, Dadang and Eko began traveling to the region to purchase coffee. Shortly thereafter the duo set up a small wet mill in the district of Pangalengan for purchasing and processing cherry from area farmers. They then planted a small plot that would eventually become a model farm for ecologically sustainable coffee production within West Java. Today, Sunda Hejo has over 2,000 members.

Java is an island in Indonesia and contains 38 mountains which form an east / west spine. The mountains have all at one time been active volcanoes. Java was the first place coffee was cultivated in Indonesia, brought to the island by the Dutch in the 1600s. Traditionally in Indonesia, coffee is processed using a unique wet-hulling method. By contrast, this coffee from Sunda Hejo is fully washed.

In this area of West Java, most producers lease the land they grow coffee on from the government. In the Sunda Hejo model, much of this land is protected forest that the government has designated for sustainable agriculture. Coffee is particularly encouraged because it limits soil erosion compared to other crops. These protected forest blocks are divided into smaller plots that each farmer manages.

Sunda Hejo operates five processing facilities, called shelters, in the region. Farmers deliver cherry to the shelter and receive payment by the kilo. The day’s lots are combined, depulped, and fermented, then fully washed the next morning. The coffee is then dried on covered raised beds before being hand-sorted as parchment. Finally, the parchment is allowed to continue to dry in covered patios, before it is cupped and prepared for export.

Stumptown’s Java Tenjolaya is comprised of coffee grown in the Tenjolaya Ciwidey forest block, which represents 63 producers. The coffee was processed at the Ciwidey shelter and cupped by the Sunda Hejo team. We first started purchasing coffee from this group in 2018 and we’re thrilled to offer Java again as a single origin. This lot shows an exceptional intensity of flavors, with notes of fresh blackberry, molasses and honeyed sweetness.