Aceh (pronounced AH-CHEY) is the northernmost province of Sumatra. Its highland territory, surrounding Lake Tawar and the central city of Takengon, is considered to be the epicenter of one of the world’s most unique coffee terroirs.

Coffee farms in this area are managed with the experience of many generations of cultivation, while also harmoniously woven into their surrounding tropical forests. The canopies are loud and fields are almost impenetrably thick with coffee plants, fruit trees, and vegetables, all of which are constantly flushing with new growth.

Year-round mists and rain showers never cease, farm floors are spongy and deep with layered biomass, and almost every square meter of the region seems to exude life. Nothing is ever still. Including coffee ripening, which occurs ten months out of the year. 

The coffee comes from Aceh and Lake Toba, where small-holder farmers own as little as 100 plants up to a few acres of land. Due to the unique processing method, Sumatran coffee usually lacks the acidity and brightness of coffee grown in other regions of the world, but has increased body and deep earthy notes. Wet-hulling is something of a hybrid between a natural and a washed. First the coffee runs through a depulper and then it ferments overnight. The farmers dry the parchment to around 50%. A collector will dry it down to about 25% and then send it through a huller to remove the parchment layer. Finally, the coffee is dried down to about 12-13% before export.