Pegasing - Indonesia

RHUBARB, CACAO NIBS

In the Aceh region, where the red earth rises to 1,400 meters and fog clings to the coffee leaves, Hendra inherited from his father, Hamdan, something more than just a plot of land: an obsession. While everyone else processes coffee as they always have, he experiments, takes risks, enclosing the cherries in oxygen-free vats and letting them ferment for days in the silence of CO₂. Rhubarb that surprises you, bitter cocoa that lingers. This isn't the Indonesian coffee you expect. It's what Indonesia can become when someone decides to do things differently.

WHERE AND WHO

In 2006, Hendra's father, Hamdan, moved from Banda Aceh to the Pegasing subdistrict, where he purchased land to start growing coffee. This deeply inspired his son Hendra, who began working alongside him in 2010. Studying historical literature and engaging with other Indonesian producers, Hendra began experimenting with washed processes, moving away from the traditional wet-hulled method to enhance the unique characteristics of specialty coffee. This washing station, owned by Hendra and his family, is one of the few farms testing and applying experimental processes in a context dominated by the conventional wet-hulled process, typical of the area.

Since then, the family has invested significantly in post-harvest infrastructure: with the support of some funding, they built a small washing station equipped with two pulpers, gravity-fed washing channels, and raised beds in large polyethylene tunnels. Today, Hendra produces around 8-10 different processes, with coffee sourced from around 70 local farmers.

FROM THE CHERRY TO THE BEAN

For this carbonic maceration batch, he uses cherries from the best farmers who collaborate with him, harvested at the highest altitudes and remunerated with a quality premium.

The cherries are immersed in plastic fermentation tanks where CO₂ is introduced to completely eliminate oxygen, creating an anaerobic environment. Fermentation lasts 70-80 hours, allowing for the development of complex and distinctive flavor profiles. The coffee is then placed on raised beds inside temperature-controlled drying tunnels, where it is turned regularly for 20-25 days until the right humidity level is reached.

The coffee undergoes a rigorous selection process: it is passed twice on a densimetric table to remove immature beans and subjected to two manual selection cycles, thus ensuring impeccable cleanliness and compliance with specialty standards.

ABOUT THE VARIETY

Tim Tim is a hybrid variety developed in Indonesia, the result of crossing Timor Hybrid with other local varieties.

The Timor Hybrid, its main progenitor, arose naturally on the island of Timor as a spontaneous cross between C. arabica and C. canephora, resulting in a plant with superior resistance to coffee rust and other pests, while maintaining quality characteristics closer to Arabica.

The Tim Tim variety is well adapted to the mountainous conditions of Indonesia, thriving at altitudes between 1,100 and 1,600 metres above sea level.