INDONESIA / CENTRAL ACEH
Near the equator,a cool paradise for coffee.
About four degrees north, some 500 kilometres from the equator, there is a coffee region where altitude does the cooling.
Origin ·
At the northern tip of Sumatra, inland in the province of Aceh, lie the highlands called Gayo. Gayo is not the name of a coffee variety. It is the name of this mountain country and of the people who have long lived here. The highlands centre on Central Aceh and extend into the neighbouring regencies.
They are close to the equator and still cool because they are high. The main coffee slopes sit at roughly 1,200 to 1,700 metres. Under the geographical indication, Arabica grown between 900 and 1,700 metres in three regencies of this area may carry the Gayo name.
It rains a great deal. The documents behind the indication put annual rainfall at a little over 1,800 millimetres. Much of the ground is volcanic in origin, and to the north, in Bener Meriah, stands Burni Telong, a volcano that is still active. The soil, though, differs from farm to farm.
The main town, Takengon, sits on the shore of Lake Laut Tawar. The lake lies more than 1,200 metres above sea level and is about 17 kilometres long. Coffee is also grown on the hillsides around it.
In 2017, “Kopi Arabika Gayo” became the first Indonesian product registered as a geographical indication in the EU. The name of the place itself was recognised as an origin worth protecting.
Behind your cup, picture the ridges overlapping between breaks in the mist, and the rows of coffee on the slopes.
A lot from these highlands
EAST COMMON COFFEE carries an Arabica from Pantan Musara in the Gayo Highlands. It grows at 1,400–1,700 m and comes in seven processes to choose from. We will publish the price and flavor notes once they are confirmed.
NEWCROP 13
Gayo Pantan Musara
- ORIGIN
- Pantan Musara, Gayo, Central Aceh, Indonesia
- VARIETIES
- A mix of Bourbon, Abyssinia, Ateng, Tim-Tim and Lini-S (Abyssinia or Bourbon single variety, depending on the harvest batch)
- ALTITUDE
- 1,400–1,700 m
- PRODUCER
- —
- PROCESS
- Choose from 7
- FLAVOR NOTES
- —
Sources
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/870 (registration of Kopi Arabika Gayo)
- PGI Kopi Arabika Gayo specification (version 9, July 2016: altitude, rainfall, geology)
- Indonesia Investments, “Gayo Arabica Coffee Awarded Protected Status by EU”
- Mongabay Indonesia, “Lut Tawar, Danau Sejuk di Dataran Tinggi Aceh Tengah” (2017)
- CNN Indonesia, “Status Waspada, Pendakian Gunung Burni Telong Aceh dan Lokon Ditutup” (2025)
Altitude and rainfall are figures for the whole area from the geographical indication documents, and vary from farm to farm. The illustration conveys the feel of the landscape and does not depict a specific farm.