Dutch officials brought arabica seedlings from Yemen to Batavia (now Jakarta) in 1696. The first batch died in a flood and a second arrived in 1699. The Dutch East India Company shipped its first Java coffee to Europe in 1711.
From about 1830 to 1870, the colonial Cultivation System forced farmers to grow coffee and hand it to state warehouses instead of paying taxes. The 1860 novel Max Havelaar exposed its abuses. Leaf rust later wiped out most of the old arabica, and planters turned to robusta.
Today more than 90 percent of Indonesian coffee comes from smallholders. In Aceh's Gayo highlands, Dutch planting began in 1908 and became commercial from 1918, worked by contract labourers brought from Java.
The everyday cup is kopi tubruk: fine grounds and hot water in a glass, left to settle. In Yogyakarta, street stalls drop a live coal into the glass and call it kopi joss.
Kopi tubruk
How it's made. Hot water is poured over finely ground coffee straight in the glass, usually with sugar. There is no filter; the grounds sink to the bottom.1
How it's served. Served in a clear glass at warungs across Java. Tubruk is Javanese for 'collision'. In Bali the same drink is called kopi selem, black coffee.
What time is taking away
Charcoal coffee
At Angkringan Lik Man near Tugu Station in Yogyakarta, a piece of glowing charcoal is dropped into hot coffee. It is named for the hissing sound it makes. The stall stood inside the station from 1968 to 1972 before moving.5
What the record says
- Arabica seedlings from Yemen reached Batavia in 1696; that batch was lost to flooding and a second shipment arrived in 1699.2
- The Dutch East India Company made the first coffee exports from Java to Europe in 1711.2
- Under the Cultivation System (about 1830 to 1870), farmers were forced to grow coffee and deliver it to state warehouses in place of taxes.2
- Eduard Douwes Dekker's 1860 novel Max Havelaar exposed abuses of the Cultivation System.2
- Coffee leaf rust destroyed most of Indonesia's Typica arabica, and robusta reached East Java in 1900.2
- Veenhuyzen first developed coffee in the Gayo Highlands in 1908; it became a commercial crop from 1918 on plantations worked by Javanese contract labourers.3
- More than 90 percent of Indonesia's coffee comes from smallholders, most farming around one hectare.2
- A 2016 study of caged civets at 16 kopi luwak plantations on Bali found every one failed basic animal welfare requirements; Rainforest Alliance and UTZ will not certify kopi luwak.4
Kopi luwak is mentioned only to note animal-welfare problems; it is not recommended. The rust date is given as 1876 in one place and the late 1880s in others in the same source, so no year is stated. Wikipedia says Gayo coffee began in 1924; the peer-reviewed Paramita paper says 1908, which is used here. Britannica's Culture System page returned 403. Harvest months vary by island and were not given.
- Kopi tubruk · Wikipedia in the bibliography
- Coffee production in Indonesia · Wikipedia in the bibliography
- Gayo Highland Takengon from 1904 To 1942: A Historical Analysis of Coffee Plantations at the Era of Dutch Colonialism · Paramita: Historical Studies Journal 30(1), 2020 in the bibliography
- The Disturbing Secret Behind the World's Most Expensive Coffee · National Geographic, 2016 in the bibliography
- Angkringan Lik Man should be on your list of places to visit when you're in Jogja · Yogyakarta Tourism Portal (Yogyakarta provincial government), 2022 in the bibliography
