A selection of images from my trip to Java and Sulawesi in July 2012
This was not my first time to either place, but they are both visually fascinating, as well as rewarding for the great coffees we have sourced here.
We started in the Sundanese area of JavaThere are several types of Abyssinia variety coffee, but they are not from Ethiopia but rather Indonesia. Abyssinia 3 = AB3. PJS Cramer, a Dutch plant researcher, introduced this variety..., West Java, centered on Bandung. We ended up in Toraja and Enrekang areas of SulawesiSulawesi coffees are low-acid with great body and that deep, brooding cup profile akin to Sumatra. The coffee is sometimes known as Celebes, which was the Dutch colonial....
Be warned that a few photos from the Sulawesi funeral Pesta are gory! It involves a lot of slaughter (water buffalo and pig mostly). All the meat is used, to be sure. -T.O.
Distant Peaks to the North – Java has much active vulcanism, and the dramatic mountains that crown the horizon act as a reminder of this. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Home on the Terraces – A house surrounded by rice in Java Sunda, in the morning light. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Early Morning Saturation – Java Sunda, about 2 hours from Bandung, terraced rice fields against jagged peaks in the first light of day. Pacet area. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Hauling Coffee Down the Hill On Foot – In the Pacet area, coffee is carried on foot, or motorbike, down narrow footpaths – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Rice – The key staple of the area, the entire Sunda area is a breadbasket for the large cities near by, Jakarta and Bandung in particular. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Robusta – Robusta is still an important coffee crop, although you don’t see much of it in the higher areas of Sunda where Arabica types grow well. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Kopi Sunda – An old type of Typica coffee found in the area, might be an original coffee brought by the Dutch from Yemen, via India. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Inputs – In a local village shop, an abundance of fungicides and insecticides for the crops. Interestingly, nothing is used on the coffee; these are all for the food crops, cabbage, carrots, onions, etc. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Snack Break – This guy was selling bags of brightly colored rice gel and coconut goo – it was beautiful but definitely forbidden to out-of-towners who want to avoid great intestinal distress. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Tempeh – Sunda diet, which is quite healthy. I didn’t even know that tempeh was originally from Indo. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Ghost fish – The aesthetics of Sunda life are appealing, with gardens and ponds a part of the household. This image has a phantom fish in it, created by a swirl of water. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Covered, Raised Bed Drying – Drying under shade, which is gentle and uses air as well as solar heat to dry the coffee. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Papandayan Volcano, Java Sunda – In what is becoming a tradition, we walked up to the Papandayan cratar. Coffee grows on the slopes below. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Visitors at night – Evening guest in the bedroom, quiet and non intrusive, although I was told they will pee on you if you try to pick them up. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Sulpherous formations at Papandayan – The steam vents form unique sulpher crystals at Papandayan – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Not underswater photography… – I couldn’t help but feel the pictures I was taking would look sub-marine, and they do. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Just a little green … – A small pocket of green moss that must be tolerant to the extreme heat and mineral content issuing from the steam vents on the Papandayan vocano – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Delicate laced mineral formations – at the Papandayan Volcano cratar in Java Sunda – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Volcanic Mud Pots – Of course I slipped and stepped in the mud after taking this picture. I was worried it would burn me; it didn’t. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Sulpherous – Of course the place smells of boiled eggs, and I could only take it for so long. But it was beautiful – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Remnant – Before the volcano exploded in 2002, it was well forested. Remnant trunks remain. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Toothy – A reminder to brush? Who knows … the driver only spoke Sundanese – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Local Options – Brands of local instant coffee, sold in packets and ready to use. Needless to say, it is awful. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Cimulek – Laying out the coffee to dry on tarps after fermentation. Much Indo coffee is wet-hulled and not fermented, but these Java coffees are perpared the same way a wet-process Central would be. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Broca – Coffee Berry Borer – CBB is not a huge problem in this part of Java as it is in other parts of Indonesia, but it is present. Cold night time temperatures keep the insect population down. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Part Ripe – On a walk up to a coffee farm near Cimulek, Typica coffees show selective ripening. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee Dog – Covered in seeds from weed flowers, a coffee dog on the farm of Pak Yayat – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Typica – Newer Typica varietal trees, around 7 years old, planted on the farm. Larger farms like this are rare – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee Dogs again – Sorry, indulge me, I like dogs. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Seedings – Java Sunda – Typica seedlings for a bright new future, Java Sunda – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Loading up coffee to take to the wet mill – Coffee cherry is delivered by motorbike down the narrow paths, or carried on people’s backs. There are no roads to the farms, generally. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Canus Yayat – Coffee farm dogs, very shy and timid, a little barky, but sweet. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee New Growth of Typica Variety – Typica coffee has brown-tinted new leaves, normally. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Typica – All typica variety of coffee at some of the farms in Sunda. This is preferable to the Catimor types used here and all over Indo. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Clumpy fruit – Some of the older coffee types, Bourbon and some Typica, will have organized clumping form to the coffee fruit. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Dirty Coffee – I just like pictures of dusty, dirty coffee. It warms my heart… although it your don’t process it as washed coffee, it will have a dirty cup too. ha ha. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Weeds – Add a description…A nice camera and lens can make most any flower look nice. Even a weed flower like this one… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee You call it Lechuga – I liked the way this crop looked in the distance. Actually it might have been cabbage… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Plantain – Banana is intercropped in much of Indo, and while that’s not ideal for the health of the coffee tree, there’s not much you can say about it either. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Millie … – … the Millipede. Just interesting … – Sweet Maria’s Coffee How you get from Point A to Point B – The paths are narrow and steep. These guys can handle 100 kgs of coffee, carrots, or whatever on the backs of these lightweight bikes. Amazing. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Sunda Farmer – Waiting for someone to pick up his coffee and take it down to the washing station. Cimulek area. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee Warehouse in Bandung – Lots are separated by each process batch and cupped to weed out those that might not be up to par. Bandung. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee It’s My Wall Pig. – Or Walles … Grafitti Pig in Bandungs hip area. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Like totally Iron Maiden, Man – Bandung heavy metal grafitti – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Fine Art – In the tacky toursit area of Bandung, a strangely rippled representation of a horse. I didn’t know horses were so bulgey – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Welcome to Sulawesi, Eat Crab – No complaints – my favorite seafood restaurant ever is in Ujung Padang (aka Makassar) – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Box Fish – This is a really ugly sucker with a exo-skeleton, but the meat is delicious! – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Parting Shot – Leaving Java on the way to the airport; I am not sure how this translates, but … – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Boulder Burial – Many of the tombs are in rock, either large boulders or huge cliffs. This is a typical Toraja tomb with offerings and the water buffalo adornment – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Funeral Biers outside Rantepao – – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Detail – The couple entombed within, durable flowers, and often you will see hats and purses of the deceased as well. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Rice Pac Man – Rice heaped up to dry in Toraja land. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Rice terraces and tombs – A couple tombs overlooking the fields where they worked, I am sure. One vault has the effigies of the deceased decorating the exterior. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Toraja Rice Terraces – Intricate communal rice fields of Toraja from a lookout point far above. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Harvest – A favorite image of mine from the trip, peeking out from the harvesting rice to see who is walking by on the road… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Toraja-ette – I usually don’t publish pictures of kids, but there are always exceptions for great faces. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Tau Tau guard a burial in the rock face of Lo’ko mata – Tau Tau are effigies, often carved in wood, that are perched outside a burial. They often have the hair of the deceased, and clothes. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Lo’ko mata burial site: Lembang Tonga Riu – A large burial site outside Rantepao town, which I have visited several times now – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Fresh Tomb Making – Carving a new vault in the rock at LokoMata – it supposedy costs 400-600 USD to create the tomb. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee A wood and concrete tomb – Other burials and monuments take the form of the traditional Toraja house, the Tongkangon – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Rice to Dry – I can’t help taking a nice photo, nomatter how many times I have the same subject matter in frame… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Dogs of Toraja … – … and I also can’t resist a good dog photo. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Just a pet – I swear, I was gentle. It looks like I might be preparing to pick him up by his cranium… but I love this image. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Uma Station, Sulawesi – At the Uma buying station, parchment coffee is checked, purchased by the local collector, then transfered to marked bags to take to the mill. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Young Typica Coffee – New growth from younger plants – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Gravel Bed – Eminating warmth, I am sure… near Uma, Sulawesi – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Cat’s Cradle – At Uma town, a girl has a new plaything to mother, willing or not. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Water Buffalo – These stunning blue eyes are often found in the albino water buffalo, but this one has it as well. Albinos are prized for wedding and funeral ceremonies and command huge prices. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Perangian station. S-line type coffee from India – Much of the coffee planted by organized farms is from India, what they call S-Linea coffee, which has much Typica input in the form of Kents variety, as well as others. In India the corresponding type is S-795 – Sweet Maria’s Coffee New Node – A new node on the plant might produce coffee flowers (then fruit) or new leaf. Much is determined by weather and plant nutrition, as well as the natural bi-annual growth cycle. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Perangian Station, Sulawesi – At another coffee buying station called Perangian, mother and son. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee That Dude. – I have a talent for being a clown. But people seem to think it’s funny. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee It’s the People’s Art – Years of practice signatures at the buying station for coffee in Rantepao. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee T Shirt Wisdoms – Sport Need the Brave Kindness. Is this not true? – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Socks n’ Flip Flops – Unique Toraja fashion sensibility… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Yes, Intense … – … but slaying the water buffalo is part of the deeply rooted traditions of the Toraja funeral. Each part of the buffalo is used, distributed among the community. The horns adorn the family home and signify status. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee 11 killed, 11 donated – At this particular funeral Pesta, 11 were killed, some parts cooked to feed guests, other given to community members and family. Another 11 are donated to the church and local villages to sell for community funds. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee It’s Pesta Time… – A pesta is a party, in this case a funeral party. I warn you that if you don’t like this image, don’t go to the next one. It’s gnarly. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Day Glo Crops – Intense brightness from the newly planted rice crops. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Sorting coffee in Rantepao – At the Pedemaran plantation, sorting coffee for export. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee mills make good screen images – I love these types of images for screen backgrounds. Jute bags ready for the new crop… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Disco lighting in the mill – Unusual dayight colors a the Pedemaran mill, storing parchment coffee waiting to dry mill. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Custom Cart – A hand dolly with unique webbing to keep coffee bags in place, with nice lighting. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Mossy channels. – Some green growth along the channel washing the coffee fruit skins away at the mill. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee From the soaking tanks to the patio – This mill uses mechanical washers to take off the muilage after pulping the coffee, but they also soak the coffee after to remove any residual amount of fruit. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Perspective – Even I can’t figure this image out – it is a tiled washing channel for wet-processing, with parchment submerged below (meaning it is good, dense coffee) – Sweet Maria’s Coffee La Criba – In Spanish, the Criba, to separate good coffee that has been pulped from under-ripe green cherries that made it past the pulper intact. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Split cherry from too much rain – In the last phase of ripening on the tree, too much rain will split the coffee cherry and lead to rotting on the tree. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Control – Everyone needs control… Pedemaran farm near Rantepao – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee Mill Dog 1 – At Pedmaran, slightly hostile dog #1 – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Coffee Mill Dog 2 – At Pedmaran, another slightly hostile dog. Not bitey, just not friendly to strangers, – Sweet Maria’s Coffee The Typical Mix – What you see in Toraja land; rice, lush greenery, newer structures, old ritual Tongkongon houses for storing rice (or relatives awaiting their funeral) – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Reflection in Rice – Clouds in a newly flooded rice field – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Rantepao McMansion – The measure of success, globally, as opposed to the traditional houses with so many water buffalo horns affixed to the front. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Blinded by the Light – Night time infestations at the Heritage Hotel – Sweet Maria’s Coffee KFC Sulawesi – On the way back to Makassar, traditional Toraja food at the KFC, with a whole lot of ketsup for those who need it. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Opening Londa – The cliff and cave burials at Londa. My third time here – I guess we were first of the day – they hadn’t opened the porch where the Tau Tau are lined up… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Carved – At Londa, an old casket with carving detail – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Cask-ette – Another casket, and my tacky umbrella hat… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Snake face – Inside, half a snake face that I only noticed after taking the picture… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Peek-A-Boo – Typical state of caskets inside the caves at Londa… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Cigarette Decay – What I had thought was trash on my first visit are offerings to the dead by relatives, or tourists trying to play a part… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Spinal – The natural limestone caves already have a skeletal quality in their forms… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Hanging Graves – Outside, at the cave entrance, the hanging graves, called Liang Pa’pa – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Base – Outside, the skulls are everywhere. Surprisingly not creepy – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Smokes – Clove cigarettes must be the most important thing in the life of a true Torajan, because they all need a heavy supply of them even after death – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Pile o’ skulls – As I was saying … – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Starved for Thought – At a tourist shop. Kinda anorexic. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee USA – I donated my hat to a local. It tears me up inside to think about it, I miss it so (not) – Sweet Maria’s Coffee The Secret Beach, Java – A small, uncrowded beach to relax and think about all I had seen. Oh, damn. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Java down below – We returned to Java for a flight to a beach to the south west of Jakarta, near Pangandaran. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Scooter Crazy – We motored around and came across this fantastic 6 person Vespa creation – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Hamming It – Of course, I had to try it out… – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Extra Brittle Star – On the beaches, lots of neat shells and other sea life. Dead sea life – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Java Coves – Miles of beaches, much of it rugged, some protected and serene. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Lunar – The volcanic nature of Java means plenty of rugged coastal cliffs with shoe-shredding rocks like this – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Pesta on Film – 6×6 film image of the ritual killing of the water buffalo at the funeral pesta. – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Gas Station – Often you buy gas (bensin) in 1 liter bottles by the side of the road, suited for the small scooters popular all over Indo. 6×6 Film – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Tending to the rice drying, Perangian – – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Washing – Pushing the coffee up the washing channel to separate heavy coffee from the floaters. 6×6 Hasselblad film image – Sweet Maria’s Coffee Thompson Island – At last I discovered Thompson Island, installed satellite internet and a generator, and I write you from my perch high above the crashing waves. Adieu! – Sweet Maria’s Coffee
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