Iwannitosa (Iwan) Putra is a farmer and processor based in Atu Lintang, Takengon district, with his wife, a teacher at a nearby school, and his two children. Iwan has a small farm of his own, but also buys cherries from 440 local smallholder farmers. He has built a wet mill and drying tents to process his coffee, and also treats his waste water properly. Iwan and his farmers have an extremely strict tolerance for high quality cherry selection, only selecting the highest quality cherries for processing to maintain quality. This lot is sourced from 50 farmers in Bener Meriah, central Aceh.
Iwan’s processing facility is located at the top of a mountain around 1 hour from Takengon city, in Atu Lintang district. The mountains of Takengon are one of the most famous regions in Sumatra for high quality arabica coffees.
Aceh has a long history with coffee, which began during the Dutch colonial period in the 1930s. Even after the end of colonization in 1945, the coffee plantations remained. These plantations were later distributed by local authorities to the Gayo people, an ethnic group native to Central Aceh and Bener Meriah.
The Gayo take great pride in being coffee farmers. Even during difficult times—such as the GAM rebellion from 2003 to 2005, or the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022—they did not abandon their land. The Gayo were among the few who continued to care for and maintain their coffee trees, despite the challenges.
Iwan accepts only the ripest and highest quality cherries for processing. These cherries are floated for density separation and then dried on a patio under a specialised canopy for 15-25 days depending on climatic conditions.