Banks is back from Sumatra

I love visiting Sumatra...

although one of the hardest parts of traveling to Sumatra is simply the travel itself. It all starts with a 3:10am departure from Vancouver enroute to Hong Kong (a 13-hour flight over 15 time zones); next, a four-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and finally another short one-hour flight to my destination: Medan, Sumatra.

Check-in and Check-up

Admittedly, the motivation behind this month’s visit to Sumatra is a little different than usual, and very different than our visit to Nicaragua earlier this month.

As we mentioned back in January, friends and colleagues within the KBQB co-op and the coffee industry shared that we may experience challenges securing this year’s supply of high quality coffee from Sumatra because of extreme rains in Aceh in recent months, and a lack of rain in Lintong.

So, with Sumatra, Aceh Gayo as one of our most popular Single Origin coffees, we wanted to ensure that all was well for the coming year.

Lessons from the Road

What this trip did for us as a company is reinforce the power and importance of direct fair trade. If we didn't enjoy such a strong relationship with KQBQ, I might be anxious about our Sumatran supply in the coming year.

The best news of all is that not only are we going to have high quality coffee from Sumatra, Aceh Gayo again this year, we were also able to contract enough of our Sumatra High Density (a Micro-Lot in 2010) to introduce this excellent brew to our line of Single Origin coffees in 2011. All good things for Sumatran coffee lovers, like our own Mickey McLeod.

Sumatra Travel Journal - Recap

Day 1 and 2. All travel.

3:10 AM departure non-stop to Hong Kong is how it all starts. One of the hardest parts of traveling to Sumatra is the travel itself. First a 13-hour flight that takes me over 15 time zones. Next, a 4-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur then a short one-hour flight to Medan, Sumatra... and, finally a 12-hour nap.

Day 3. Medan, Sumatra with C.V.

Still recovering from jet lag. I visited CV. Sidikalang, a coffee exporter in Medan. We cupped a few spectacular coffees from Lintong and Aceh. The Aceh was really interesting; it was quite bright with a nice spicy flavour to it. Once I get to Aceh, hopefully I'll get a chance to meet the farmers that grew this awesome coffee.

Day 4. Volkopi, Indonesia.

This morning I was lucky enough to have time to cup at Volkopi, Indonesia before leaving for Aceh - and wow were these coffees good. We cupped 10 coffees overall, all good but a few really stood out: Aged Sumatra Peaberry, Lake Tawar and a blend from Lintong. At the moment, I believe the best coffees in Sumatra are coming from Volkopi. I would love to write more about these unique coffees but it's time to jump on a very small plane and head to Aceh.

Day 4 Part 2: Travel to Takengon, Sumatra.

Travel from Medan to Takengon (home of KBQB co-op) was grueling. It started with a bumpy one-hour flight, then a windy five-hour drive into the mountains. Thankfully the trip ended at guesthouse (later than expected) with outstanding Chinese food.

Day 5 Part 1: Cupping at KBQB.

Our morning was spent cupping coffees from KBQB. As always the coffees from this area are extraordinary. I am happy to announce that the high density bean will be our Single Origin Sumatra this year. We should have new crop in June and will have enough for the whole year.

Day 5 Part 2: Tour of KBQB.

The KBQB dry mill is one of the cleanest and best-organized mills that I've visited. This place does huge volumes of coffee; just yesterday they received 37 tonnes of wet coffee, which will yield about 12 tonnes of grade one organic coffee. Although I heard that this was going to be a challenging year in Sumatra, so far things are looking ok for Salt Spring Coffee.

Day 5 Part 3: Farm visit.

I ended the day with three farm visits. The farmers had their homes and farms completely burned down in 2004 during the civil war in the Aceh region. With the help of KBQB co-op these farmers have been able to move back onto their old land, rebuild their homes, replant their coffee and get their lives back. Be on the lookout for a blog about this in coming weeks.

Day 6.

Today we visited a few more rehabilitated farms of KBQB’s. The afternoon was spent meeting the board members of the Tunas Indus co-op and then a trip to their dry mill. At this point in the harvest season, they don’t have any coffee to show, so our visit was short but nevertheless important.

Day 7 Journey home.

Left Takengon Saturday morning on NBA airline, which uses old small airplanes that look like a bus with wings to fly back to Medan. We’re spending the night in Medan and then starting the long trek back to Vancouver with some really interesting coffee samples that we'll be tasting at Friday's 10:00 staff cupping. See everyone soon.