What Is Java Coffee and How Does It Taste?

Java coffee here refers to beans from West Java, Indonesia, specifically the Aromanis honey-processed lot grown on Mount Tilu at 1,400 to 1,600 meters. It breaks the usual heavy, bittersweet Indonesian stereotype, showing tropical fruit aroma, plum and jackfruit notes, and a clean sweet aftertaste. It scored 92 points in cupping.

Honey processing keeps some of the cleanliness of washed coffee while adding sweetness and a caramel mouthfeel. The method is divided into yellow, red and black honey depending on how much mucilage remains. Drying took 25 to 26 days with the beans turned every hour, including at midnight, because of high humidity, which helps explain why is java coffee strong is not the whole story here.

The Aromanis honey-processed coffee from West Java, Indonesia, breaks the stereotype of Indonesian coffee being heavy and bittersweet with its unique tropical fruit aroma and clean sweet aftertaste. This bean comes from the Mount Tilu region at an altitude of 1,400 to 1,600 meters, and the honey processing method preserves the sweet flavor of ripe fruit. This article will guide you through a comprehensive understanding of this elegant offering—which scores as high as 92 points in cupping—from the principles of honey processing, the terroir of the West Java region, the flavor performance of the Aromanis bean variety, and the pour-over extraction parameters recommended by Front Street Coffee.

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The honey processing method allows the coffee to retain the cleanliness of washed processing. Although the brightness of the coffee decreases somewhat, it gains sweetness and caramel mouthfeel. Depending on the degree of honey processing, honey-processed coffee is further divided into yellow honey, red honey, and black honey. The advantage of honey processing is that it best preserves the original sweet flavor of the ripe coffee fruit, giving the coffee a delicate brown sugar flavor and nutty sweetness, while berry flavors also underpin a red wine-like aroma, making it considered a very elegant offering.

Variety: Jember, S-795

Altitude: 1,400——1,600 meters

Flavor: Fruity, plum, jackfruit flavors, clean sweet aftertaste

Indonesia, West Java

The coffee cherries are picked from the branches and separated from the fruit, rinsed, and then dried. The coffee beans are "diserok" every hour to ensure even drying, including at midnight. "It is at night that this is very important, because of the high humidity," said Arief, who goes by the name "Transformed Coffee" (August 5, 2014)——machine translation from the original Indonesian text.

The coffee processing took 25-26 days! Not surprisingly, Aromanis coffee beans are a bit more expensive than regular coffee beans. The coffee farmer cooperative sells Aromanis raw coffee beans at 130,000-150,000 rupiah per kilogram, while Transformed Coffee offers them at a retail price of 80,000 rupiah per 200-gram pack.

Factory name: Coffee Workshop Factory address: Front Street Coffee, Bao'an Qian Street, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou City Manufacturer contact: 020-38364473 Shelf life: 90 Net content: 227g Packaging method: Loose coffee beans Roast level: Roasted coffee beans Contains sugar: No sugar Origin: Indonesia Roast level: Light roast

Pour-over West Java. 15g coffee powder, medium grind (Fuji Ghost Teeth burr grinder setting 4), V60 dripper, 88-89°C water temperature, first pour 30g of water, bloom for 27 seconds, pour until 105g of water then stop, wait for the water level in the coffee bed to drop to half before pouring again, slowly pour until 225g of water, discard the final drips, water-to-coffee ratio 1:15, extraction time 2:00.

West Java Honey Processing Aromanis

Country: Indonesia

Estate: Aromanis

Region: Mount Tilu

Roast level: Light roast

Processing method: Honey processing

West Java Province is a first-level administrative region of Indonesia. Located in the western section of Java Island, bordered by the Java Sea to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south, including offshore islands, with an area of 46,300 square kilometers. Java's climate type is tropical rainforest climate, hot and humid year-round. The plains along the northern coast have the highest temperatures, while the mountainous areas are much cooler. High humidity often creates a debilitating climate.

From November to March of the following year is the northwest monsoon period, rainy and cloudy; from April to October is the southeast monsoon period, with many sunny days and little rainfall. Jakarta's average annual rainfall is about 1,760 mm (69 inches). Jakarta's average daily maximum temperature is 30°C (86°F), and the minimum is 23°C (74°F). In the inland highlands of Tosari (elevation 1,735 meters [5,692 feet]), the average temperature is 22——8°C (72——47°F). Because volcanic ash periodically fertilizes the land, Java's soil is very fertile.

Aromanis "爱缦妮" is a traditional sweet snack unique to Indonesia, made from flour and sugar as basic ingredients. Here, Aromanis is used to name this coffee, indicating that this coffee bean has a marshmallow-like mouthfeel. But the coffee beans come from Ciwidey and Garut in West Java. In fact, no special coffee seed is used, but coffee processed by the sun-dried method can present such a unique flavor. Of course, this flavor is not widely recognized in West Java, Indonesia.

Region: Mount Tilu, Indonesia

Altitude: 1,400——1,600 meters

Roast level: Light

Processing method: Honey processing

Flavor description: Strong fruity aroma, with plum and jackfruit flavors, clean and sweet with a lingering aftertaste.

Flavor: Complex floral aroma on entry, with tropical fruit flavors like mango and jackfruit on the palate, soft and thick mouthfeel, with a long sweet aftertaste.

West Java Honey Processing

West Java Aromanis honey-processed coffee from Indonesia scores as high as 92 points in blind cupping. The English name of this bean, Aromanis, is Indonesian, meaning sweet mango.

At the estate, we personally tasted a completely different Indonesian coffee.

The farmers used the simplest hot water soaking method to brew the coffee they grow for us.

Careful cultivation and processing

allow the coffee's flavor to break free from the established framework of Indonesian coffee.

Fruit sweetness, lemon aroma, even floral notes,

are all powerfully presented in different varieties,

truly overturning our preconceived notion of bittersweet richness.

【Honey Processing】

The honey processing method, called Honey Process or Miel Process, and the coffee called Honey Coffee, is adopted in coffee farms in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, and other places. So-called honey processing refers to the process of producing green beans by drying with the mucilage intact. After the coffee beans have their outer pulp removed, there is a sticky gelatinous layer. Traditional washed processing uses clean water to wash it off, but due to water resource limitations in some high-altitude producing areas, this direct drying method was born.

Honey processing is a relatively complex, time-consuming, and difficult processing method. The first step is to select high-quality fruit, then remove the pulp while leaving the inner pericarp—here the inner pericarp is the core of honey processing. The inner pericarp is rich in sugar and acidity, and during the drying process, the sweetness and acidity slowly penetrate into the coffee beans. The second step is drying, which is also the most important condition for producing high-quality coffee beans.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.