Promoting Indonesian specialty coffee in Nordic

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Scandinavians are among the largest coffee consumers in the world.

The Statista Outlook 2020 records that the average coffee consumption of one person per year in Finland is 12 kilograms, Norway 9.9 kilograms, Iceland 9 kilograms, Denmark 8.7 kilograms, and Sweden 8.2 kilograms.

As the coffee produced by Indonesia which is one of the biggest coffee producers in the world,  the Indonesian specialty coffee is not yet commonly found in the Nordic region, which covers Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland, as well as the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland.

The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs discussed the issue in a webinar entitled Indonesian Specialty Coffee – Nordic on October 13, 2020.

Ambassador Prayono Atiyanto opened the webinar, which was attended by a number of Indonesian businesspeople and coffee lovers, as well as baristas, and their counterparts from Nordic countries.

“We deliberately took this specialty coffee theme aiming at finding common ground and exploring innovative ways to increase Indonesian coffee exports to Europe,” Prayono said in the opening remarks.

Meanwhile, Andre Nilsson from Business Sweden said the Indonesian coffee has its own uniqueness.

Recently, Indonesia’s Toraja and Aceh Gayo coffee beans have been increasingly marketed in the Swedish coffee markets, he added, hoping that coffee shops in his country could explore and market arabica coffee from other regions in Indonesia.

Nilsson further underscored that a systematic and measured campaigns would make Swedish people know more about the Indonesian coffee.

“Public education about coffee is very important, especially about the origin of coffee beans which are planted and grown based on environmental conservation concepts,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Norwegian businessman, Alf Kramer, said although Indonesia has been well-known for its diversity of coffee, arabica coffee from Indonesia are more in demand by European coffee lovers.

Kramer also suggested that the promotion and marketing of Indonesian specialty coffee be carried out more widely and informatively.

“Europeans are very critical of information,” he said.

Regarding Indonesia’s arabica coffee from Indonesia, an importer from Denmark, Regnar Kragh, regreted the unstable continuity of supply for this coffee type.

“About 80 percent of Indonesia’s coffee production is still dominated by the robusta type,” Kragh said.

Specialty coffee is the one with the highest quality, which comes from a single coffee type or coffee plantation.

Some of Indonesia’s specialty coffees that are well-known worldwide are Aceh Gayo, Kerinci, Jambi, Java Preanger, Bali Kintamani, Toraja, Flores Bajawa, and Papua Wamena.

The names are taken after geographical locations where the coffee beans come from.

Author: Bagas Hapsoro [RI’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Sweden concurrently the Republic of Latvia (2016-2020)]