Coffee and Indonesia can be separated, especially if you are originally from Aceh . Drinking coffee is a hereditary culture for its local people. No wonder if we travel there, we can find many coffee shops there night and day. Coffee has existed since the Aceh Sultanate era, and this city has become one of coffee producers in the world. 

Since the Dutch colonial until now, there were two main areas as coffee producers in Aceh, Ulee Kareng and Gayo. Ulee Kareng is a type of robusta, while Gayo is a type of Arabica where its existence is already well-known in the world market, making this coffee classified as a premium class. Arabica coffee from Aceh was able to be one of the best coffee producers in Indonesia, and has dominated around 40 percent of the domestic market. 

History of Gayo Aceh Coffee

The original taste of Gayo coffee comes from the highlands of Gayo. Gayo coffee widely exists in the Bener Meriah district, Central Aceh, also in Gayo Lues. As mentioned before, Gayo coffee has been around since the Dutch colonial era in the mid 17th century when VOC was in charge. According to Agromedia, after planting coffee in Java, the Netherlands expanded their authority to North Sumatra and Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD). Afterwards, coffee played an important role as a main commodity for the Dutch trade union which made local farmers suffer. 

Another story comes from coffee expert and owner of Kopi+Corner, Haris Pardede. He decided to build his own business in 2017 and straightly travel to Aceh to ensure his Gayo coffee is indeedly from the trust supplier. Pardede met with a Dutch family who experienced gayo coffee until the fourth generation. Based on their story, it's hard to get coffee that grows naturally in the Netherlands because coffee like Arabica coffee is able to grow productively only on land 1,000 meters above sea level, like tropical areas such as in Indonesia, Colombia and its surroundings, and Central Africa. Its geographical factor which makes Gayo coffee win in its fields. 

Well-known worldwide

Becoming one of the high-ranking coffee in Indonesia, Gayo coffee brings Indonesia's name up to the international world. In 2018, Gayo coffee was also promoted in the largest specialty coffee exhibition called the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Coffee Expo in Seattle, the United States on April 19-22 2018.

Visitors had a chance to prove that Arabica coffee from the Gayo highlands, in fact, is the best quality ever. Gayo coffee was chosen to become the target of the Trade and Private Sector Assistance (TPSA) Project because it has strong potential to be exported to the Canadian market. 

Gayo coffee also participated in the Indonesian Special Coffee in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on May 24, 2018. Aside from Gayo, there are also other Indonesian signature coffees that you must try, such as Mandailing from North Sumatra, Java Preanger from West Java, Toraja from Sulawesi, Toraja from Sulawesi, and Bajawa from Flores.