We’ve been waiting for this for some time now, and super excited to finally introduce you to a new Limited-Edition coffee from the Aceh region of the Gayo Highlands in Sumatra. This coffee has an incredible back story and is so important to Sumatra, the tropical rainforest, and the future of sustainable coffee farming in Sumatra.
Allow us to introduce to you the amazing Orang Utan Coffee.
The advancing destruction of tropical rainforests is threatening the existence of both Orangutans and farmers alike in Sumatra. The Orang Utan Coffee Project helps farmers operate ecologically friendly coffee plantations without clearing rainforests. Due to intensive agricultural development and rapid deforestation, Orangutans lose their natural habitat. The greatest threat is the rapid expansion of the palm oil plantation industry at the expense of rainforests.
Profits from the sale of Orang Utan Coffee are invested in organic certification, training such as organic farming methods, coffee production and processing, marketing, infrastructure, and facilities such as processing, storage, and transport. The goal is to sell enough Orang Utan Coffee to provide effective and long-lasting support for the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (SOCP) as well as smallholder coffee farmers.
The Orang Utan coffee growers receive a bonus of at least 0.50 EUR/kg of green bean for their commitment to protect the tropical rainforest and cultivate the coffee according to the strict Orang Utan Guidelines. These coffee farmers are the most important partners in this project, guidance and motivation are given to help them manage their land sustainably, knowledge is shared to promote respectful interaction between the farmers and the wildlife, as well as conservation of the rainforest. Farmers are also supported to convert to organic farming and strengthen their traditional knowledge about the balance between farming and the natural rainforest land.
A little bit about the Wih Bersih farming community where we are sourcing our coffee from The village of Wih Bersih is situated in the district of Aceh Tengah at an altitude of 1200 up to 1600 m.a.s.l on the terraced grounds of a volcano. It is surrounded by its coffee plantations and lies in the close neighborhood of vast, intact mountain rainforest, covering the top of the volcano. The coffee farmers of Wih Bersih were the first partners to join the Orang Utan coffee.
The project started in 2012 with 40 farmers and today there are 75 of them with around 53 hectares of Arabica coffee, mainly Tim-Tim and Ateng coffee varieties. Our first coffee farmers were organic-certified in April 2014. Wih Bersih literally translated means “clean water”. Thanks to the intact rainforest, Wih Bersih profits off pristine water. The biodiversity on this plantation is high, also because the farmers plant a variety of shade trees such as the legume Lamotoro as well as avocado, mandarin, jackfruit, durian, papaya, banana, and cinnamon.
This coffee presents with positive earthy notes; tobacco, hazelnuts, grapefruit, brown spices (turmeric and ginger). It has a lovely full smooth body and low to medium acidity.
If you would like to learn more or help, please visit Orang Utan Coffee or if you would like to learn about Orangutan adoptions Visit Website
Orang Utan Coffee is now available at RAW
