A taste of Sulawesi (Celebes): Sulawesi, one of the Greater Sunda Islands is the world's eleventh largest island with a land mass of about 74,000 miles, falling 1,800 square miles short of the tenth spot, which is held by Ellesmere Island in the Canadian arctic. Despite its size, it has a very rich history of coffee cultivation.

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Sulawesi is part of the Island Nation of Indonesia, whose general orientation is north of Australia and between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Sulawesi (formerly-known as Celebes) is bordered on the west by the Makassar Strait and beyond the Indonesian island of Kalimantan (Borneo). The Banda Sea and the Indonesian Island of Maluku (the Moluccas) are in the east. Flores, one of the Lesser Sunda Islands is in the south, while the Celebes Sea and the Philippines border Sulawesi in the north. The island has a spidery shape with four long leg-like peninsulas connected by a mountainous middle section. The central area is so mountainous (the highest peak, Mt. Rantekombola is 11,335 ft) and difficult to traverse, that the "legs" of the peninsula have better links with each other by sea than over land.

Sharing the economic and social history of Dutch colonization, as its sister islands, Celebes joined Indonesia in 1950. The marriage has not always been a happy one, and within the last 57 years there have been several risings against the central government. With the Indonesian nation consisting of 13,000 geographically disparate islands, many with their own cultural ideas of nationhood, the federal government in Jakarta has had its hands full keeping the country unified.

Sulwesi Coffee History

Coffee was introduced to Celebes by the Dutch some time after 1722, but possibly not before 1750. To put this in perspective, coffee was introduced into Haiti in 1715, to Costa Rica in 1808 and Ecuador in 1920. In 1822, Celebes produced 10,880-lbs. of coffee, but in the 1880's Java was still the generic designation of all coffee of the Eastern Archipelago of the Pacific.

The Portuguese first visited the island, which they named Celebes, in 1512. The Dutch, who first made a settlement on the island at Makassar (now Ujung Pandang) expelled the Portuguese in the 1600s, and initiated war with the Sultanic rulers of the native peoples, whom they later conquered in the Makassar War (1666-69). In 1950, Sulawesi became a province of the newborn nation of Indonesia, which had declared its independence from the Dutch in 1945, and was granted independence in 1949. It was at this time that the name of the island was changed from the colonial 'Celebes" to the indigenous "Sulawesi."

Sulawesi's People and Culture

Sulawesi has almost 15-million inhabitants that make up approximately 7.5% of the Indonesian population. Although these are primarily Malayan, there are some indigenous ethnic groups in the interior, with the largest being the renowned, seafaring traders, Makassarese-Bugis.

The island is subdivided into six provinces. The largest cities on the island are both seaports; Makassar is in the South, and Manado is located in the North. Manado is Sulawesi's political capital. Its surrounding area is about 95% Christian with a Hindu minority, which is unusual in a country that is largely Muslim. The largest ethnic group in the North is the Minahassa. They speak Manado Malay, which is also known as Minahassa Malay. However, many also speak Dutch, with whom they strongly identify culturally and politically. When Indonesia became independent in 1949, some residents in this area petitioned The Netherlands to let their region remain a province of The Netherlands.

In the Southwest region is a port city, known as Ujung Pandang (formerly Makassar). As you move inland, there is rugged terrain leading to the green plateaus of South-central Sulawesi, where many isolated tribes still live and share a common ancestry with the seafaring, coastal Bugis, Mandar and Makassar peoples. The coastal dwellers call these tribesmen, the "Toraja" or highland people; it is unclear whether this is a mark of respect, derision or just a descriptive phrase. The area where the Taraja live is called Tanah Toraja (Torajaland). The Toraja live often on hilltops, in villages, wrapped in stonewalls to protect the homes. In each village, there are usually several extended families living in a home of unique architectural design. The homes, called tongkonan, are built in a circle around an open common field, and have a long roofline that rises on both ends, just as the prow of great pre-historic ships. Often, in the middle of this circle, there is a sacred stone or banyan tree. It is also said that the rooflines are a cultural remembrance of the vessels that brought the ancestors of these people to Sulawesi, perhaps a thousand or more years ago. The panels of the homes are carved with motifs and painted with bright colors that friends have likened to those seen in Asian and Polynesian cultures, and also in those of the Inuit and Native American's of the Canadian Pacific and Northwestern U.S. They are always built on a Northeast-Southeast axis, which according to the Torajan is the direction of their ancestral home.

The Roast Style of Sulawesi

Today, some of the best coffees in Sulawesi are found near the town of Rantepao. Here, the coffee grows on small plots with the entire family helping to realize the produce, a supplemental cash crop that brings in a much-needed hard currency in support of the family group. The coffee names we see most often of Sulawesi. They continue to be recognized as coffee market names, but it is Celebes Kalossi that thrives on U.S. retail shelves and bins.

In a posting on the Roasters Guild bulletin board, roastmaster and cupper, Scott Reed, reminds us that, "names such as 'Toraja' and 'Rantapeo' have about as much meaning as 'Mandheling' or 'Lintong'. However, he advises readers to "buy what cups well, but do keep in mind that names are meaningless to those who produce these fine coffees." Within that same thread, Peter Giuliano of Counter Culture Coffee, Durham, located in North Carolina wrote: "In my view, Sulawesis are even more "lot-to-lot" than most origins. Surely, net usage of Sulawesis has gone way up in recent years (at least in the States). I don't necessarily think that Sulawesis used to be better than they are now (I had one of the best lots I have ever had last year), I just think the lots are few and far between, and with more people using the coffees, that makes them farther between."

Sulawesi coffees are most often grown from Catimor or Typica seed, and are semi-washed coffees. Most exports to the U.S. specialty trade are Grade 1 (no more than 11 defects per 300-gr. sample). "In the old days, you would district this coffee as Celebes Arabica Kalossi DP (double-picked). Another coffee is Celebes Arabica Rantepao DP, and according to broker and green coffee authority, VDP Coffee b.v. Lieren The Netherlands, is in less demand and of lesser quality, and thus cheaper. This information was printed in another web discussion. "Nowadays, for marketing purposes, denomination is fancier and more liberal. You name it, I sell it ..." added van der Putten, speaking of the nonchalance of nomenclature, among some that offer the fine coffees of Sulawesi for sale.

Beginning in June each year, Coffee ships from Manado, in the North, and Ujung Pandang (old Macassar) in the South. Although only 10-15% of Indonesia's coffees is Arabica, there is a continuing government effort to plant Arabicas throughout Indonesian coffee islands, and particularly Sulawesi. As for Robusta, its cultivation has been outlawed for some years now.

Editor's note: When transliterating the sounds of another language into the American idiom, foreign languages spelling is very problematic. There are alternate spellings for all Indonesian words in the above text. I have tried to be uniform in my spelling practices of place names, and hopefully without offending a land and people I hold in high respect.--DNS

About the Author: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal Gourmet Editor Donald N. Schoenholt, an original member of the SCAA Green Coffee Arbitration Panel, has a particular fondness for uncommon, and yet remarkable coffee origins. Mr. Schoenholt can be found at Gillies Coffee Co., www.gilliescoffee.com.