Best Coffee with Flavor of Happiness

Many good things have come from the persistence of Wildan Mustofa in growing coffee. In the last seven years, Wildan and his coffee plantation have helped restore the environment and smiles on the faces of the local people.

KOMPAS/SAMUEL OKTORA

Wildan Mustofa

Many good things have come from the persistence of Wildan Mustofa, 50, in growing coffee. In the last seven years, Wildan and his coffee plantation have helped restore the environment and smiles on the faces of the local people.

The Java Frinsa coffee estate and its coffee processing factory in Margamulya village, Pangalengan district, Bandung regency, West Java, looked deserted that evening. Working hours had finished at 3:00 p.m. and the workers had gone home.

However, the day was not yet over for Wildan. Along with his wife and several assistants, he held a meeting to finalize the coffee export plans for this year. "The target is to realize the first stage of exports to Japan before Lebaran, as much as one container," he said.

Wildan is optimistic that the future of coffee will be brighter. This year, along with growing support from the bank and an increasing number of business partners, his coffee production has been more ideal. The customer of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) has three plantations in Bandung and West Bandung regencies.

His plantation in Ciwidey, Bandung, is 10 hectares, 20 hectares in Margamulya and 30 hectares in Weninggalih, Sindangkerta District, West Bandung. Overall production is 18 tons per year. "Since 2016, the coffee beans from the plantations have been sent to several countries," he said.

Wildan has not been long in the coffee plantation, only seven years. The first planting was in Margamulya village near Mount Malabar. Some coffee plants have been planted on land belonging to state forestry company Perhutani. Choosing coffee is not entirely about money.

He is concerned about the environmental damage in the watershed areas along the Citarum River. Floods and landslides occur easily because logging was carried out indiscriminately in the upstream area, while vegetables were cultivated widely without using proper methods. He was convinced that the coffee he planted in the Citarum’s upstream area would help restore the local environment.

However, being born from a family of potato growers made planting coffee challenging, particularly as the crop was becoming more popular at that time and with his minimal knowledge. He was not a coffee trader, nor did he drink coffee.

"The first coffee seedlings we planted died. The failure was caused by many factors, including the poor quality of seeds, and the location was too high. At that time, it was decided to replace the coffee plants with tea, and the coffee plants were moved to Weninggalih," Wildan said.

Becoming known

His effort got a response. The Embassy of the Netherlands invited Wildan to submit a business proposal to the Programma Uitzending Managers (PUM). The PUM Netherlands senior experts is a Dutch consulting firm that provides assistance to small and medium enterprises.

Wildan chose coffee, and his proposal was approved. PUM then sent a coffee agronomist to Pangalengan, Bandung, to provide Wildan with guidance on the downstream coffee industry, from post-harvest processing to marketing. "I then collected coffee varieties from several places in West Java, from Pangalengan and Garut, to Lembang, West Bandung and Cianjur for testing," he said.

The PUM experts’ flavor test, or “cupping”, determined that West Java coffee was high quality. It had a grade above 80, which means it is specialty coffee. Wildan became even more convinced that West Java coffee had the potential to be developed. "I chose to focus initially on planting. If we want to get the best coffee, the first thing is to start with the planting," he said.

He then went on a mission to find superior coffee in a number of regions in the country. He visited Aceh, North Sumatra, East Java, Bali and South Sulawesi, and all the way to East Nusa Tenggara. "From Aceh there are the Gayo 1 and Gayo 2, the Sigararutang from North Sumatra. When planted, the seeds developed well, and they adapted to the geographic conditions in West Java," he said.

His coffee grew well. After he started harvesting in 2014, his coffee varieties became known when they became some of the highest selling varieties in the Specialty Coffee Association of America Expo (SCAA) auction in 2016. The coffee from the Sindangkerta and Pangalengan plantations ranked second and 17th, respectively. This year, his coffee received a bronze medal in the Immersion, Blend, and Cappuccino Milk category at the Australian International Coffee Awards in Melbourne, Australia.

"The results of the competition show good and consistent product quality. Having an international jury was also good for the market. Today, the coffees from our plantation are used by cafes in Europe, including Norway, Australia, England, Finland and also Spain," Wildan said.

The price of coffee also improved, and now reaches more than Rp 70,000 per kilogram. This improved the farmers’ welfare. Despite his rising fame, Wildan remains committed to his vision. He does not want to become greedy. Cultivating coffee should still focus on environmental quality.

Flavor of happiness

He does not indiscriminately plant superior coffee. Tall trees, for example, are not cut down, but are used to protect the coffee plants from the direct heat of the sun. Bushes are not burned down so the branches and leaves that fall to the ground can support the growth of grass. This condition enables farmers not to resort to herbicides to eradicate weeds. Moreover, he planted more coffee on the slopes in an effort to protect them from landslides.

"The results are slowly making everyone happy. New springs have emerged at the Weninggalih plantation. Moreover, erosion has also decreased, and even last February when the weather was poor, the coffee plants did not topple over. Their roots are strong," said Wildan.

The coffee plantations are not only environmentally friendly, but have also restored the smiles of the local people. Coffee has become an alternative means of the farmers’ survival. Today, 50 farmers help Wildan at his three plantations, as well as a several farmers groups that he partners with outside his own plantations.

"Previously, many residents around the coffee plantations were forced to move to other cities due to the lack of work. Many people worked in big cities as construction workers for little income," he said.

Hamim, 46, a resident of Weninggalih and a worker at one of Wildan’s plantations, said coffee had changed his life. "This kampung used to be deserted. Many residents moved to the cities in search of work. As a result, we didn’t know each other. Today, since Pak Wildan\'s plantation was established, we can work in our own village. Coffee has given us a choice in life," said Hamim.

In Wildan’s hands, the best coffee is not merely about the perfect aroma and the depth of flavor. The smiles of the local people have made his coffee taste perfect.