“The best chapters in our economic history are those that embrace the many, not the few” (David Cameron, British Conservative Party Leader, “World Economic Annual Meeting, Davos, 2009)

Saimi Saleh (51) takes pleasure in being criticised by the farmers he coaches, even as far as being scolded by them.  For Saimi, honesty and integrity are the most important aspects in implementing his coffee export business around the globe.  It’s not easy trying to meet him, as his position as the chief executive officer of Indokom Citra Persada – one of the biggest coffee exporters in Indonesia – demands him to compete with time.  Today he is in Jember, and the next day he will have to fly to Jakarta, then to Makassar, and so on, and so on.  So it was yesterday during the 2011 Coffee Conference in Jember that I finally had the chance to talk with him, albeit a short one, thanks to Syafrudin from PT Sabani International who introduced me to Saimi. ( Photo 1 : Yudistira, Saimi Saleh (from Indokom) And I at 2011 Coffee Conference, at Puslit Koka (Indonesian Coffee and Cacao Research Institute) in Jember, East Java)

(Image 2: A glimpse of the coffee storage warehouse located in Buduran, Surabaya.  This is where 8 tonnes of coffee beans are stored and ready to be exported all over the world)

If you want to talk about coffee business, Saimi’s family have been roasting coffee for several generations.  However, he decided there and then to focus in this field since 1986, when Saimi drastically changed directions; dropping out of college and decided to sell coffee cherries, due to financial limitations as well as putting his siblings’ education first.  A decision that would change his life later on.  In 1996, he plunged into a coffee exporting business and built his own company in Lampung province, and another one in Sidoarjo, East Java, a year after.  Now, Indokom Citra Persada is one of the biggest coffee exporting corporations in Indonesia, who employs many sub-companies, including a frozen shrimp packaging company, also located in Sidoarjo. 

(Image 3: The partnership is interlaced between Indokom, Research Centre, Bank of Indonesia, the local government and the coffee farmers in Bondowoso regency in producing coffee that is refined and highly valued)

At the coffee conference, Saimi – who was born in Belitang, Ogan Komering Ulu, in South Sumatera – cited on how important this institution was.  ICCRI has gained the market trust and it’s has more than just a government research facility.  A research centre will be built in every export harbor to support our coffee industry.”  Explained Saimi.  As a side note, Indokom has created a partnership with the farmers in Bondowoso, who have just received their reward from exporting their coffee to Switzerland, after vigorously trained by ICCRI. 

Saimi could be seen as an eccentric person, especially by other businessmen.  When people are busy collecting money from selling coffee seeds, he gives them away for free to the farmers in many parts of the country.  He has been sowing 10 million seeds for the farmers.  One needs to simply do the math and wonder – If one seed of coffee in a typical traditional market is worth two thousand rupiah, then how much has he spent in sowing them? 

Image 4: All the raw coffee processing equipments which was built on more than a two hectares ground had been assembled domestically. 

So what makes him so eager to share?  Saimi truly believes that the agro industry is the future of Indonesia, a business that has been proven to stay strong throughout the crisis. “ As long as mandkind still need food, then this business will keep on growing, and furthermore, coffee is a labor-intensive industry that can fight through poverty.”  Saimi stated. 

“Try to imagine the prospect that this country has.  In Indonesia there are 6 million hectares of land located above 1000 meter which is perfect for arabica coffee plantation.  Then there are 9 million hectares of land that havent been cultivated and they are located around 400-1000 meter, great for robusta coffee plantation.  So in total, there are 15 million hectares of land that are ready to be developed for both kinds of coffee.  Let’s say we plant about six million hectares of that land with arabica coffee, with an estimated income of 160 million rupiah per hectare.  That doesn’t include milk, timber, spices and also honey, which we can also produce in the same plantation.  And that’s only arabica coffee; I mean, we haven’t even talked about robusta coffee yet.  Within one or two decades, this country will no longer beg on developing countries.”  Explained Saimi vehemently. 

Image 5 : This pulper machine is given out at no cost to be used by the farmers, without any contracts nor obligations to sell their harvest to Indokom.  So they can sell their products to other parties, but if they do want to sell their products to Indokom, then the company is obligated to buy them.  This is the business etiquette that has been practiced by Indokom, as a part of their genuine concern for the coffee farmers. 

Corporate’s sharing principles through social responsibilities – often called Coroprate Social Responsibility (CSR) – is perhaps nothing compared to what Saimi has done.  For the man who has recently quit smoking, giving coffee seeds is just one of his ways of improving farmers’ lives through his company.  Another effort is shown with the pulper machine that he gives away for free.  Even though there are only a couple of dozens of them, these machines help the farmers to try the wet processing technique that in turn, improves the quality of the coffee beans being produced.  As if giving these machines for free isnt enough, the farmers are given the freedom to choose their own customers, because Saimi doesn’t obligate them to bind any transaction contracts with Indokom.  However, if they do wish to sell the harvest to Indokom, then Saimi has the obligation to buy it off them. 

It’s also Saimi’s wish for Indonesia to produce more arabica coffee, since the selling price is quite high. “ If it’s possible, the ratio should be 70:30 between arabica and robusta coffee,” he explained.  Unfortunately, the discussion with Saimi must come to an end because Saimi had to attend other events, but I was invited to visit his exporting facility in Buduran, Sidoarjo, on Friday, 17th of June, where I would meet his younger brother, Asnawi Saleh. 

We met Asnawi at a coffee processing facility in Sidoarjo, who took us around for a tour to see the warehouse and the place where the coffee cherries were being processed, all happening on a two hectares land.  Asnawi, the father of two and graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from a university in Malang, explained the whole coffee processing sequences; from receiving coffee cherries that are sent through containers and trucks to Indokom, sample taking for quality control, processing, sorting and then finally they are ready to be delivered to countries all over the world.  According to Asnawi, the company is currently training around eight thousand farmers, especially in Flores, Bali, West Java and several in East Java, like in Bondowoso.  From those farmers, Indokom succeeds in collecting around 88,000 tonnes of coffee every year, in which 60% is arabica, while the rest is robusta.  However, the amount varies, because it depends on the harvesting season. 

Image 7: The United States, Europe, Australia and Japan are the main markets for Indokom, and the U.S. remain as the biggest market segment. 

Despite the tonnes of coffee being exported overseas, Indokom remains as supportive as ever in improving the growth of coffee market in Indonesia, especially for the development of cafés that are growing in numbers.  These cafés can purchase export quality coffee through Indokom’s sub-company, PT Sabani Internasional, of course with the minimum order of 60 kg of coffee.  As of today, their biggest markets are from the United States, Europe, Australia and Jepang, as well as meeting the demands of domestic requests. 

As a huge fan of robusta coffee, Asnawi fully comprehends the political and economic landscape behind this less-desired coffee.  Never assume that robusta coffee has an inferior taste compared to arabica. “ If it’s well-processed, robusta coffee can produce a flavour that matches arabica coffee,” explained Asnawi.  An opinion in which I agree whole-heartedly, after I was asked to participate in a cupping event, in which I had the chance to try their best robusta coffee which was brewed in an espresso machine. “ It doesn’t taste like an average robusta coffee, does it?”  Asnawi asked us.  For the first time in my life, I tasted espresso that was made of 100% robusta coffee, and the fragrant as well as the flavour was hard to differentiate with arabica coffee. “ This robusta coffee is quite pricey in the New York commodity market,” informed Asnawi proudly.  While sending a prayer above, I do hope for the revival of specialty robusta…

Image 8: Specialty Robusta.  Robusta coffee that is 100% ready to be used to make espresso, and the taste can be pitted with Arabica coffee or a mix of the two.  According to Asnawi, as long the coffee is well-processed (using the wet-processing technique), then the espresso is just as good as that produced from Arabica coffee.  In the New York commodity market, the high-quality Robusta coffee that we tasted there is valued +1000.  In other words, there will come a time when this inferior coffee enter the Specialty Robusta domain. 

The visit was only for a couple of hours, but I learned a lot from both Saimi and Asnawi, not only about the nitty gritty detail of the coffee export world, but the most important thing was learning about a business ethic that doesn’t just act as words, but also actions, since they’ve been helping and doing good deeds, especially for the coffee farmers. 

Image 10: Cupping is a daily thing here, so we participated in this routine ritual.  At the end of the event, I was asked to choose my favourites.  Out of the dozens of selection, there were three that stood out well; Two were Robusta, and one was an Arabica from Flores. 

Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as you ever can (John Wesley, 18th Century American religious leader)

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Toni Wahid

Brewing coffee is truly a combination of art and science.  It takes knowledge, skills, and most importantly, passion for a perfection.  The contents of this coffeelicious blog is created by me, who effortlessly cool and adorable by nature.  Trusting me at your own risks. 

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