A string of mountains runs across Bali, giant calderas and towering volcanoes, giving the island its rugged highland centre. As one ascends to these peaks, the altitude rises and temperatures drop, and just at a certain sweet spot up the mountains, Bali coffee trees find their home.
On the slopes that climb towards the Batur Caldera of Kintamani, one will find Desa Manikliyu, an agriculture village overgrowing with oranges. Deep within this maze of orchards is where Tanamera Indonesia harvests, selects and processes their specialty coffee beans from Bali.
“The quality of coffee is determined from the moment the cherry is harvested,” explains Tanamera’s Master Roaster and Director, John Lee. “That’s why we are involved in every step of the process, from crop to cup.” It is this philosophy that has John on the road for at least a third of the year, tasked to quality control all of Tanamera’s partner farms across Indonesia, from Aceh to Tanah Toraja to Papua.
Founded in 2013 by Indonesian businesswomen, Dini Aryani Criddle, the vision for starting Tanamera was to uplift the reputation of Indonesian coffee. She was dismayed by how low the quality of Indonesian-produced coffee was, despite being the world’s second biggest coffee exporter, and being blessed with all the right ingredients to grow a spectacular crop.
Image Courtesy of Tanamera
Photo by Edward Speirs
Meaning ‘red earth’, an homage to the country’s fertile soils, Tanamera’s mission is clear: to realise the true potential of Indonesian specialty coffee, and help each coffee producing region to develop its own identity to international recognition. This requires development at the very roots of the industry, on the farms and with the farmers, just as they do here in Bali.
“Our biggest challenge is changing the mindset of local Bali coffee farmers,” explains John. “There is still a mindset of quantity over quality.” This is of course an ingrained symptom of Indonesia’s mass commodity coffee industry, also culpable for Indonesia’s poor coffee reputation in the past. John works directly with the farmers, educating them on when to harvest, spotting ripeness, how to process and preserve, and significantly, fostering patience to secure a higher quality for a better price.
John explains that with commercial-grade coffee, cherries are often ripped off branch-by-branch, whilst specialty coffee requires careful selection and picking. In the beginning of their operations, many beans were rejected from partner farms in the area, requiring further education.
One of the earliest adopters was Wayan Nengah, the head of the farming cooperative in Manikliyu Village, where around 100 separate farms are found. He has worked with Tanamera for eight years now, managing the brand’s own processing site deep in these Kintamani valleys. This is where the high-grade arabica beans, once selected (i.e. approved) by Tanamera, go through a fully washed process. This involves floating, pulping, water, two-day fermentation, final washing in pure mountain spring waters before a series of drying.
The result is a rich and flavourful arabica coffee, known for its citrusy, chocolatey notes, with a hint of caramel. This unique profile is owing to the volcanic soil, and perhaps the orange groves interspersed between the coffee trees. These are the rich characteristics that regional beans bring, if cultivated well. Each region displaying their own unique notes: Aceh Gayo’s full-body and bitter characteristics, or Toraja’s spice, herbs and more floral attributes.
Tanamera is considered quite a boutique producer, with their Kintamani farms producing a yield of only 20-30 tons of beans a harvest – with only a single harvest time per year. This is the trade-off when being highly selective and producing specialty coffee.
Their efforts have not been in vain. The brand has earned over 51 international awards for their specialty Indonesian coffee, and have been instrumental in raising the profile and farmer capacity of individual regions. Tanamera’s Kintamani coffee beans score on average between 83 or 84, officially recognising it a ‘specialty coffee’, along with other regions covered by the brand.
With a store in Singapore, Tanamera reaches an international market of discerning drinkers. But an equal measure of success has been the mindset shift domestically, where Indonesian consumers are proud to drink, source and serve homegrown beans.
“Indonesia is in the ‘Third Wave’ of coffee, close to entering the ‘Fourth Wave’, I believe,” shares John, referring to the evolution of coffee culture and adoption in regions. The third wave is described as an embrace of artisan roasters defined by the ‘craft’, with consumers having a higher expectation of their served cup. The Fourth Wave, gets more technical, and sees in-house roasters as a common feature for cafés, as one might find in Japan.
Of course, ensuring the quality of coffee beans is just the first part of the process; the next is the art of roasting. Here in Bali, Tanamera does this in their outlet on Sunset Road, where visitors can taste their specialty coffee straight from source, as well as explore a full dining menu and other products by this homegrown brand.
Used by five-star resorts, restaurants, cafés across Indonesia, you can taste their Kintamani or other Indonesian specialty coffees at the Tanamera Sunset Road outlet, or head to their website to purchase and find out more.
Tanamera Sunset Road
Jl. Sunset Road No.999, Seminyak
@tanameracoffee
tanameracoffee.com
Edward Speirs
Edward, or Eddy as he prefers to be called, is the Managing Editor of NOW! Bali and host of the NOW! Bali Podcast. He enjoys photography, rural travel and loves that his work introduces him to people from all walks of life.
