Gayo Mandiri・Sumatra

Aceh (pronounced AH-CHEY) is the northernmost province of Sumatra. Its northernmost province of Sumatra. Its mountainous terrain, surrounding Lake Tawar and the central city of Takengon, is considered the epicenter of one of the most unique coffee terroirs in the world.

The coffee farms in this region are managed with generations of experience in cultivation, while being harmoniously integrated into the surrounding rainforests. The canopies are noisy and the fields are almost impenetrable with coffee plants, fruit trees and vegetables, all of which are constantly growing. The mists and downpours never cease, the farm soils are spongy and deep, with layered biomass, and almost every square meter of the region seems to exude life. Nothing is ever still. Including the maturation of the coffee, which takes place ten months of the year.

Gayo Mandiri is a family-owned exporter based in Bener Meriah, a vast district that encompasses the mountains along the northern shore of Lake Tawar. Gayo Mandiri works with local cooperatives, operates a central dry mill and promotes a relationship-based sales model with its buyers.

Gayo Mandiri, like many local industries in the region, identifies itself as “Gayo,” after the Gayonese ethnic group that has long lived in Aceh and is largely comprised of farmers. Interestingly, regional coffee distinctions in the northern provinces of Sumatra are all based on human ethnicity rather than geography itself, which has unfortunately blurred the island’s traceability over time. The term “Mandheling,” for example, refers to a cultural group that is widespread in Sumatra and Malaysia. It is also the most general trade term for coffee, applying to nearly all blends of wet-hull coffees from the northern half of the island. These terms are malleable, and it is often difficult to determine the exact origin of a coffee without a direct partnership.

It is often difficult to determine the exact origin of a coffee without a direct partnership that allows buyers to trace the entire value chain themselves. It is therefore useful to work with exporters who have a local supply chain, who operate in the highlands themselves and who are personally informed about the origin of the coffee.