Fikri Raihan Hakim

Although Indonesia is one of the oldest coffee-producing countries, producers there are in the middle of developing its own specialty coffee industry within the country, which is different from the development of the specialty coffee industry in Africa and Latin America. The low elevation of the land and the traditional processing methods of Sumatran style are not exactly the best environment to produce clean cup coffee with fruity acidity that is the standard of specialty coffee. Having said that, Indonesian coffees have a certain remarkable charm. They are earthy, herbal, rich, and sweet. Personally, coffee from Sumatra was the first coffee I fell in love with and I have fond memories of it. From the establishment of TYPICA, we always wanted to have a partnership with coffee producers in Indonesia, but there were very few specialty coffee producers to begin with, so our choices were very limited. At that time, we were particularly attracted to Java Frinsa Estate. We felt the warmth from them that you usually find from a family-owned business. Java Frinsa Estate is an Indonesian coffee producer that has earned a very high reputation, especially in Europe. Fikri, the second-generation owner of the company, is just twenty-five years old and plays a central role in the big coffee company. On the interview day, Fikri came into our Zoom meeting a little late while taking off his helmet at the same time. The day of the interview was during the peak season for processing coffees and it was the busiest time of the year. It seemed that he was going around the farms and mills on his motorcycle every day. I could feel...