Things You Don’t Know About Indonesia Coffee

Vietnamese Coffee Exporter

Things You Don’t Know About Indonesia Coffee: The answer is no. Besides Vietnam, there are many coffee-growing countries in Asia such as Myanmar, Laos, and Indonesia…

But compared to other countries, Indonesia has strange similarities with Vietnam. Here are 4 similarities between Indonesian and Vietnamese coffee.

All Indonesia Vietnam pools grow coffee early

And they are all the result of colonial exploitation.

In Vietnam, from the late 19th century, when the French began to exploit the colony and bring coffee trees to grow for the first time in Nghe An, Ninh Binh. As for Indonesia, it’s much earlier. As early as the late 17th century, Dutch colonists carried out bringing coffee trees here after completing the transformation of Indonesia into their colony.

Coffee trees were first grown in Indonesia during Dutch colonial exploitation. Those are all coffee varieties originating from Africa.

However, unlike Vietnam and many other countries, Indonesian coffee at that time was brought around the world by the East India Company under the name Java coffee. Europeans at that time had a strange infatuation with this coffee line. In many places, people instead of saying “Give me a cup of coffee” will always say “A cup of Java”, no matter where the coffee they drink comes from.

Things You Don’t Know About Indonesia Coffee
Things You Don’t Know About Indonesia Coffee

The Dutch East India Company was the world’s first multinational company. They owned a fleet of extremely powerful merchant ships at that time.

Small side information

The Dutch colonists in Indonesia that year also tried to enter Vietnam. The Dutch colonists here were the Dutch East India Company – the most powerful company in the world at that time.

They possessed almost all of the Dutch government’s power, including waging war or establishing colonies. After completing the invasion of Indonesia, the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies also began to look at Vietnam.

During this period we are in the biggest civil war in history: the Trinh – Nguyen period. Lord Trinh at that time sent a letter to the governor-general of the East Indies who was in Indonesia. The content of the letter is to borrow the Dutch army and warships to attack the Nguyen princess inside.

In return, Lord Trinh could cede control of some lands to the Dutch when victorious. The Dutch East India Company accepted the help and sent its warships. These warships provoked and captured many Vietnamese people in the inner waters of the Nguyen Lords.

However, as a result, these warships almost all became “Dutch Flying… Corpses” soon after. The Nguyen lord’s large naval force quickly surrounded and sank these warships. Only a handful of ships managed to escape.

Arabica is the first coffee variety in two countries

Then comes Robusta coffee.

Arabica is the first coffee variety that the French and Dutch brought to Vietnam and Indonesia. These coffee trees have grown quite well in the soils of both countries. They bring a relatively large source of revenue for the “mother country” of France and the Netherlands. However,  eventually, both started to switch to Robusta and thrived with this variety.

The first Arabica coffee trees in Vietnam were grown in the northern plains such as Ninh Binh, Nghe An, Phu Ly …

In Vietnam, in the early 20th century, the French brought the first Robusta coffee varieties to plant on plantations in the Central Highlands. Suitable for the land, suitable for the climate.

These coffee trees have grown strongly and brought tremendous yields. However, it was not until 1986 that Vietnam’s coffee industry exploded and rose to the top 2 in the world in terms of coffee exports.

Do you know? There are two main coffee lines, Robusta and Arabica. Arabica is a type of coffee with a lot of fruity sweet and sour flavors and less bitterness. And Robusta is less sour, sweeter, and sometimes a bit more bitter than Arabica. With each coffee line, there are many small branches of different varieties. For example, with Arabica will be varieties: Typica, Bourbon, Catuai, Caturra …

Things You Don’t Know About Indonesia Coffee
Things You Don’t Know About Indonesia Coffee

As for Indonesia, from the end of the 19th century, the Dutch brought the Robusta plant here to save the country’s coffee industry. Because before that, Indonesia was almost destroyed by rust disease on coffee leaves. Robusta coffee with good disease resistance gradually replaced Arabica and is grown in most of the islands of Indonesia.

And not inferior to Vietnam, Indonesia’s coffee export output is always among the top in the world. Today, though, Robusta coffee production in both countries still accounts for the majority. However, the number of high-quality Arabica coffees in both countries is increasing, along with a wide variety of coffee flavors.

Indonesian farmers are preparing coffee in their traditional Wet Hulled way. This way of making coffee creates coffee flavors only found in Indonesia.

Popular coffee culture and close to everyone

Whether it’s in Vietnam or Indonesia.

Coffee in both Vietnam and Indonesia is a beverage for all walks of life. In both countries, the culture of drinking coffee has existed for a long time and has become an indispensable part of daily life.

Kopi Turbruk coffee is quite similar to black coffee. The only difference is that there is still coffee powder in the cup.

In Vietnam, coffee dishes like Black, Brown, and Bac Xiu can be found almost everywhere. From sidewalk stalls to 5-star hotels. Similarly in Indonesia coffee dishes like KTobrukbruk (a bit like black coffee) or Kopi Tarik (similar to racket coffee)… You can order and find this drink almost anywhere in the island nation this.

It’s a little different in Indonesia, people donut filters later to make coffee. Sometimes they just soak the coffee powder with hot water and drink it. Or, after soaking, filter the coffee through cloth racks, and then add spices such as sugar, ginger, and lemongrass … depending on the different dishes.

A unique coffee dish in Indonesia. An ember is put into the coffee cup when drinking.

Western coffee brings the family to all of Vietnam and Indonesia

Weasel coffee

When it comes to weasel coffee, people refer to Indonesia and Vietnam. No one knows which country is the birthplace of this coffee. Just know that, in both Vietnam and Indonesia, weasel coffee is extremely popular.

However, do not confuse these are the types of coffee made by the weasel as the Vietnamese name. This type of coffee is made by civets.

Wild civets

Wild civets are the creators of these exotic coffee beans. You distinguish carefully, it is a civet, not a weasel. Don’t call it a weasel or it will be sad.

There is a viral story about the origin of this coffee in both Indonesia and Vietnam. It was during difficult colonial times in both countries. Most of the coffee produced is shipped to the mother country for consumption or sold at a very high price. It’s almost impossible for ordinary people to want to make their coffee beans.

Until one day they noticed that the wild civets were quite fond of eating ripe coffee berries. And when excreting, they only digest the flesh of the coffee fruit, the seeds are still intact in the feces. They immediately tried to collect the seeds, then wash and dry them.

Then roast those coffees to drink. And surprisingly, the taste that these coffee beans bring is not bad at all, on the contrary, it is quite sweet and full.

These coffee beans, if certified as being formal or organic, are extremely expensive. It is expensive not purely because of the taste but because it is few and rare.

To harvest a pound of finished weasel coffee in the wild, the harvester sometimes has to go the whole forest to earn enough. Because wild weasels do not always eat coffee berries, but also many other fruits.

Follow wild weasel tracks in search of weasel coffee beans in the wild.

Today, however, mink farming and coffee production are more common in both countries. This makes enjoying this line of coffee easier. Westerners when traveling to Vietnam or Indonesia often buy it to give to friends and relatives.

And it is also because of this need that many places where weasel farming is not guaranteed have appeared and been strongly condemned. Conditions in captivity for mink in these places are extremely bad. In addition, they can also be tortured and forced to eat coffee to increase production.

Those are the most striking similarities between Vietnamese coffee and Indonesian coffee. However, there is still a big difference between these two countries:

Coffee flavor

If in Vietnam, coffee often has a mild sour taste of dried fruit, or a little wine yeast. Then Indonesian coffee is quite a smooth sweet and sour taste with high sweetness tone.

Not only that butt, but the coffee here also has some strange sweet and fragrant honey-soaked herbs. And both Vietnamese and Indonesian coffee can offer an extremely full feeling with an impressive long-lasting sweet aftertaste.esian coffees

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