Importing and distributing Arabica coffee from Mandailing Estate Coffee Company in Sumatra through the island and over the internet. Since the 17th century, the Dutch East Indies Trading Company had been plying a global coffee trade based on the Arabica plantations of Java. In 1835 Dutch trading ships entered a small port about 220km NW of Padang to unload a cargo of their highest quality Arabica
seedlings. Having already studied the area, their plan was to introduce these superior seedlings to Sumatra in the highland areas of Mandailing Julu and throughout Pakantan. This areas geographical position, altitude, climate and proximity to the ports presented the Dutch with the perfect scenario to grow, harvest and trade their most superior Arabica. The processed coffee then would be sailed to Amsterdam and traded. Since that time, The Mandailing Provinces of the West Sumatran highlands have been hailed as one of the worlds premium coffee growing regions. The strains of Arabica grown in this region produced such exceptional coffee, that it gave the Dutch a total monopoly on the global coffee trade for over 200 years. Prized throughout Europe this strong, black, rich, sweet coffee; Kopi Java Mandailing was then lost to the world and thought to be extinct due the dissolution of the Dutch East Indies Trading Company, numerous local political struggles, the Leaf Rust plague of 1880s, and eventually WWII. The plantations and the coffee trees were literally swallowed and strangled by the jungle. AfterWorld War II the Original Kopi Jawa Mandailing was assumed lost, European consumers were devastated. In mid 1995 a series of searches were planned to enter the Mandailing highlands to locate any surviving Arabica coffee trees of the cultivar Typicathen which Dutch farmers introduced into this highland area back in 1835. By the turn of 1998, almost three years since they began their hunt, they surrendered. The jungle had won. The group now turned their attention to establishing a modern Arabica coffee plantation. By the year 2000, with trees planted and reaching maturation, Anita's father, Bapak Baharrudin M Nor, went up to prune and tidy the jungle area known as the gonting on the highest ridges of the estate at an altitude of 1550 meters. Struggling to hold ground beneath their feet due to the ridges rugged terrain and out of breath, they sat to take a moments rest. It was not until they sat and looked around that they turned to each other in disbelief. "This is Typica" Anita says to Bapak, Bapak replied, "I think it is". Whether it was fate or blind luck - they had stopped to take their rest in the midst of a large Arabica coffee grove and one thing they both knew for certain - it was not coffee they had planted. They knew it had to be the Typica cultivar up this high. The local Indonesians wouldnt bother to plant coffee at that altitude or in such inaccessible terrain. It had to be the introduced coffee that was grown here by the Dutch. They had no idea if it was an actual plantation or if was a few stray seeds scattered by birds or animals. If the expeditions back in 1995 had covered the area just 150 meters further up on the ridges, they would have found what they were looking for. There were thousands of seedlings, most looked like they were dying being strangled by the jungles native flora. In amongst the seedlings were some extremely old trees with immensely thick trunks, some 15 meters tall. There it was, an entire plantation scattered along the highest ridge and all were the Typica species of Arabica and undoubtedly the cultivar intended to produce the export quality Arabica coffee which would be harvested and sailed back to Amsterdam to be sold to the then booming coffee market. Since the discovery, the plants have been tested and clinically confirmed to be Cultivar Typicathen Arabica; having lain dormant beneath a blanket of jungle canopy within the boundaries of Mandailing Estate. Immediately a rescue and rehabilitation scheme was set up and over the next seven years (1999 to 2006) a hidden plantation of this extremely rare species of coffee has been meticulously cared for and nurtured. Today these replanted Cultivar Typicathen Arabica once again produce premium berry and are thriving in the same soil, on the same original ridge and plantation where they were first planted 170 odd years ago. Two generations of extremely rare single origin Arabica coffee has been rehabilitated and are healthy fruit bearing trees once again. This coffee has not been available in any form since 1942 when Japanese soldiers occupied Indonesia and placed a ban on exports. From that time until today there has been no commercial quantities of Arabica produced for export from highland Mandailing. Today the majority of Arabica grown throughout Sumatra is exported and sold bearing the name Mandailing or Mandailing (Spelling variation). However, this labeling is incorrect. The only true Mandailing coffee is that grown in the Mandailing region at the Mandailing Estate.
