Posts Tagged ‘Coffee’
Kopi Luwak – Revolt in the Coffee Corner
August 9th, 2010 | 
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You may not have heard the name of the Kopi Luwak coffee that comes directly from the islands of the Indonesian islands. There in the forests is found a strange animal named luwaks. These animals reside on the tree tops and go on searching for ripe cherries. The cherries are the favorite food of the little animals. The little cherry beans go through a process of indigestion in the stomach of the animals. In due course the beans are evacuated by the animals. The beans that are not digested come out. The beans that remain intact are collected from the forest floor. Then the beans are cleaned, roasted and ground like other coffee beans.
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Great Coffee Origins – Indonesian Coffee
Coffee came to the Dutch East Indies archipelago in the late 17th century. The legend of coffee itself makes fascinating reading (Kaldi and his dancing goats!), but for Indonesian purposes coffee arrived here in an organized and less mythical fashion on VOC (the Dutch East Indies company) trading galleons, via Yemen and the Dutch enclave of Malabar. These first coffees introduced were Arabica, direct descendents of 6 coffee trees the Dutch managed to smuggle out from Yemen and plant in the Botanical gardens in Amsterdam. The trees were well suited to the tropical conditions found on Java and quickly thrived and produced cherries. The first plantations were located close to Batavia (modern day Jakarta). Later plantations were established in Sulawesi, Maluku and Sumatra. Independently Colonial rivals Portugal planted Arabica in East and West Timor as well as in Flores. Coffee, along with nutmeg, cloves and other spices, became the backbone of the VOC economic machine. Infrastructure to get crops out of plantation areas led to development of port and later rail and road systems that still exist today. After the demise of the VOC the Dutch colonial government took over many of the business activities in Indonesia. At one stage sale of these commodities made up almost 30% of the entire Dutch GDP.