Sumatra - Poda
INDONESIA – PODA
- Farm: Poda
- Location: Sitinjo, Sumbul, and Sidikalang
- Altitude: 1200-1400m
- Process: Giling Basah
- Varietal: Sigararutang, Ateng Super
Cupping Notes: Dark Chocolate, Plum, Tamarind and Spices
Poda takes a different approach to Sumatran coffee, and provides a radically different model for supply stream relationships in the coffee industry. Poda sources coffee only from Dairi regency, just to the northwest of Lake Toba, specifically from the three districts of Sitinjo, Sumbul, and Sidikalang. These three districts make up the highland homeland of the Pakpak people, a subgroup of the Batak people, where farmers grow coffee on their farms along with other cash crops. Farm sizes are small, with most coffee plantings covering less than one hectare, and a significant number as small as ¼ hectare
Poda works with farmers to organize and manage groups, which provide a platform for agronomy and other training to improve coffee quality, including the women’s farmer groups that contributed to this coffee. A key part of this is improving financial management, so the groups are often built around a community savings and loan group, helping to give the farmers more financial autonomy and break cycles of debt owed to middlemen (often repaid in coffee, further reducing the farmers’ potential income). Poda buys directly from these groups to improve coffee quality and also to ensure that more of the coffee’s value is returned directly to the farmers — the farmers receive a higher price than the market rate for their coffee, and a part of this increased margin goes into the community savings and loan fund, providing low-cost financing for the members.
Only the ripest, fullest cherries are hand-picked during harvest. Skilled workers remove any defects before the cherry is depulped. The beans undergo 24 hours of fermentation in tanks to develop complex flavors. After fermentation, they are washed again to remove mucilage. The beans are partially dried in the sun for 2-4 days until reaching a moisture content of 26%. At this point, the skin and parchment are mechanically removed in a process called wet-hulling. This drying method accentuates the coffee's inherent earthy, wild flavour notes. The hulled beans are dried for another 2 days to stabilise moisture.
