The history of coffee in Indonesia starting from the Dutch governor in Malabar(Hindia) sending Yemeni Arabica coffee seedlings to the Dutch Governor of Batavia (now Jakarta) in 1696.
The first seeds failed due to flooding in Batavia. A second shipment of seeds sent in 1699. Plants thrive successfully, and in 1711 the first exports sent from Java to Europe by the Dutch East India Company, or VOC as the Netherlands (Vereeningde Oost-Indische Companies) established in 1602. In 10 years, exports rose to 60 tons per year. Indonesia is the first place, outside the Arab and Ethiopia, where coffee is widely planted. VOC monopolized coffee trading in 1725-1780.
The coffee was shipped to Europe from the port of Batavia (now Jakarta).
There has been a port at the mouth of the River Ciliwung since 397 AD, when King Purnawarman established the city called Sunda Kelapa. Today, in the city of Jakarta area, one can find echoes of the built heritage of the sea in the city. The ship was still sailing are encouraged to load cargo in the old port. Museum Maritim occupies a former warehouse of the VOC, which is used to store spices and coffee. Syahbandar Tower was built in 1839 to replace the flag pole that stood at the head of the pier, where the VOC ships docked to load their cargo.
In the 18th century, coffee shipped from Batavia sold for 3 Guilders per kilogram in Amsterdam.
Since the annual income in Holland in the 18th century is between 200 to 400 Gulden, this is equivalent to several hundred dollars per kilogram today. At the end of the 18th century, the price dropped to 0.6 Guilders per kilogram and a cup of coffee spread from the elite to the general public.
Coffee trade is very profitable for the VOC, but less so for Indonesian farmers who were forced to grow it by the colonial government. In theory, the production of export crops was meant to provide cash for Javanese villagers to pay their taxes. It is in the Netherlands known as Cultuurstelsel or Cultivation System, and covered with spices and a variety of other tropical plants.
Cultuur stelsel is iniated on coffee in the area of Preanger, West Java. In practice, however, the price set by the government for cash crops is too low and they shift labor from rice production, cause great difficulties for farmers.
In the mid 1700s the Dutch East Indies expanded Arabica coffee growing in Sumatra, Bali, Sulawesi and Timor. In Sulawesi the coffee was first planted in 1750. In the highlands of North Sumatra coffee was first cultivated near Danau Toba in 1888, followed in the Gayo highlands (Aceh) near Danau Laut Tawar in 1924.
In 1860, a Dutch colonial official, Eduard Douwes Dekker, wrote a book called "Max Havelaar and the Coffee Auctions Dutch Trading Company", which exposed the oppression of villagers by corrupt and greedy officials. This book helped change public opinion about the Dutch "Cultivation System" and colonialism in general. More recently, the name Max Havelaar was adopted by one of the first fair trade organizations.
In the late 18th century, Dutch colonialists established large coffee plantations on the Ijen Plateau in East Java.
In the 1920s farmers throughout Indonesia began to grow coffee as a cash crop. However, disaster struck in 1876, when the coffee rust disease swept through Indonesia, wiping out most of Typica cultivar.
Robusta coffee was introduced to East Java in 1900 as a substitute, especially in the lowlands, where the rust devastating.
Plantations on Java were nationalized at independence and revitalized with new varieties of Coffea arabica in 1950. This variety is also adopted by the farmers through the government and various development programs.
Today Indonesia is the fourth largest producer of coffee in the world. And has played an important part in the growth of the country. Indonesia lies in a geography that is ideal for coffee plantations.
Longitude and latitude means that the island country of origin all suitable microclimate for the growth and production of coffee, resulted in widespread environmental degradation and destruction of tropical rain forests have the highest concentrations of endemic species in the world.
Source: Wikipedia taken from here
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