Frinsa Estate, Indonesia

Located in West Java, Frinsa Estate was started by Wildan Mustofa and his wife, Atieq, in 2010. Since the first year of production, Wildan's focus has always been on quality. While the majority of Indonesian producers were doing wet-hulled processing, Wildan focused on fully washed processing and careful drying.

Fikri, Wildan and Atieq's son, recently came aboard the business after graduating from university, actively involving himself in the coffee processing. The family operation runs the 110 hectares farm, as well as a wet mill, greenhouse, warehouse and dry mill. This allows them full control over their product, from harvest to grading, sorting and shipping.

In 2015, Frinsa Estate began experimenting with different processing methods, with support from Nordic Approach, a green sourcing company focused on high-quality coffee. Aiming to develop processing techniques that can be replicated consistently over time, without exorbitant prices, they succeeded in creating lots that rather unique and different from typical Indonesian coffees.

This coffee is a saccharic honey lot, fermented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a species of yeast that has had an instrumental role in winemaking, baking and brewing since ancient times. It starts off with cherries being harvested, floated and sorted for any undesired defects. Then, the coffee is placed in plastic bags, with lactic bacteria and the Saccharomyces culture. The bags are sealed and allowed to ferment in this anaerobic environment for three days. During this fermentation phase, the bags are turned for even fermentation.

The coffees are then pulped and dried on raised beds as honey processing, with the mucilage attached. Depending on rainfall, drying may take 14 to 20 days. Extra precautions like close monitoring are taken during the drying phase to ensure optimum results, This unique processing method creates a taste profile with high sweetness, syrupy texture, and a complex cup.