Natural disaster in Indonesia could spell trouble brewing for B.C. coffee importers

Particularly attuned coffee lovers in B.C. might soon realize they’re not able to get their favourite top tier cup of coffee—but the province’s coffee importers are taking an even bigger hit.

In late November, a devastating storm set off extreme flooding and landslides in Sumatra—affecting 1.9 million Indonesians—in an area where much of the world’s coffee supply is farmed. 

Liza Wajong, one of the province’s importers of Sumatra Gayo coffee beans, imports specialty green coffee beans from the Indonesian islands through her company, Archipelago—but she’s now worried that the disaster will soon affect the supply chain, crippling business for her company and others like it, who rely on Indonesian coffee supply to deliver to B.C.-based roasters.

Indonesia is the third-largest supplier of green coffee beans globally, supplying upwards of 700 tonnes of coffee to the world, after Brazil and Vietnam. Last year, Archipelago—a B.C. registered corporation—brought in three shipping containers of product from Indonesia, representing about $450,000 of wholesale. The corporation supplies Indian Heritage Roasting and Delta Coffee Works in B.C., and Canadian Heritage Roasting Company in Calgary. Those beans, once roasted and packaged, are sold in Loblaws and Save-On-Foods.

Wajong works with coffee farmers specifically from Sumatra’s Gayo Highlands, which is notably affected by landslides that devastated farms and land from November 23 to 27, wiping out roads and modes of transportation and cutting off electricity to the region.

“In the Gayo Highland… the coffee grown in that region in the soil there, the yield is one of the best blends for roasters,” Wajong says. “Gayo coffee is one of the most sought-after coffees. Roasters love it.”

 

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Many Sumatra blends come from Gayo or North Sumatra, but Gayo has more farming land—about 90,000 hectares of it. The land is also ideal for supplying some of the world’s best beans because it produces arabica beans, which are grown at higher elevations—from 700 metres above sea level up to 1,800 metres—in comparison to robusta beans.

“Higher elevation means cooler temperatures. When it’s cooler, the cherries grow longer. That means the yield of green coffee is more intense,” Wajong explains.

“It’s not about caffeine—it’s about flavour. You’re looking for dark chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg, all these spices. That flavour develops because the coffee grows longer.”

Volcanoes, which are also active on the island of Sumatra, are another big contributor to the boldness of the coffee.

“This year, we were on track for around $800,000,” says Wajong, who had made inroads with farmers in the Aceh region where the beans are grown. “With the loss of Aceh beans, it’s a big loss for business.”

Just before the disaster hit Sumatra, Wajong’s company was in the midst of a transaction with a supplier to purchase 300 bags—60 kilograms each—of coffee beans. They had planned to sign the contract on December 1, but with farms wiped out and communication to the area cut off, the future is unclear.

Some farmers can’t even respond to calls unless they go to the city, she says, as everything in the village is down from communication to infrastructure. 

“Those 300 bags are really needed to supply our buyers, the roasters,” says Wajong. “It’s not just a delay. It’s uncertainty.”

For Wajong and others concerned about the state of the floods in Indonesia, the issue is more about people than numbers.

“This is about [farmers’] livelihood. This is about the land they grow their food on. And this is about the land that grows some of the best Arabica coffee in the world.”