The Soil in Java

The soil on the side of this mountain is very fertile and many other crops, from potatoes to cacao, share space with the coffee. Recently, exporters and other professionals in the coffee industry have been working with the agricultural communities there to foster a resurgence in Specialty Coffee's best coffee beans. The terrain is so steep that even four-wheel-drive vehicles become useless about 3,000 feet, and you move up on foot. Coffee cherries are still brought back down to the collection point via scooter.

The History of Coffee Beans in Java

The first export of green coffee beans was sent from Java to Europe by the Dutch East India Company and was received at Amsterdam in 1711. The shipment consisted of 894 pounds from the Jakarta plantations and from the interior of the island. When the first public auction was held, this coffee brought twenty-three and two-thirds stuivers (about forty-seven cents) per Amsterdam pound.  Within ten years, exports rose to sixty tons per year. Java was the first place, outside of Arabia and Ethiopia, where coffee was widely cultivated. The Dutch East India Company monopolized world coffee trading from 1725 to 1780. This coffee is the true Java part of the famous Mocha Java Coffee. 

The History of Coffee Growing in Indonesia

Coffee did very well on certain islands in Indonesia, Sumatra, Sulawesi, and Java. The capital, Batavia (today known as Jakarta) was located on the main island of Java.  Boatloads of sacks of coffee left from Java, and of course the bags were stamped with the word Java so the words Java and Coffee became synonymous.