Vancouver, April 19, 2018 —Indonesian coffee producers will be whetting the taste buds of coffee lovers across the Pacific Northwest in April. Through the work of the Canada-Indonesia Trade and Private Sector Assistance Project (TPSA), these producers will attend the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Coffee Expo in Seattle, followed by a Coffee Promotion Event in Vancouver on April 24 and 25.

Taking place between April 19 and 22, 2018, Coffee Expo provides coffee producers with an opportunity to display their products to industry professionals in a one-stop shop format. More than 13,000 people participated in the 2017 Specialty Coffee Expo.

Four participants— Arinagata Cooperative, Meukat Komuditi Gayo, Orang Utan Coffee Lestari and Redelong Organic Cooperative—are making their second consecutive appearance at SCA Coffee Expo. Kokowagayo, a women-owned and-managed cooperative, is attending for the first time.

The Coffee Promotion Event in Vancouver will connect TPSA Gayo Arabica Coffee producers with Canadian roasters and importers. Both the Indonesian and Canadian participants will learn more about each other’s background, products and markets.

The event takes place on Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at Pinnacle Hotel Harbourfront, 1133 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Nusa Coffee Company is hosting in collaboration with Los Beans and Indonesia’s Ministry of Trade International Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) in Vancouver. Owned by native Indonesians, Nusa Coffee Company is a Canadian importer of premium coffee beans from the archipelago’s biologically diverse islands. Los Beans Trading Inc. (Los Beans) sources the finest beans from around the world, working with partners that share their stance on social, environmental and economic sustainability.

“At Nusa Coffee, we thrive on three elements: people, product, and process. Our connection with Gayo coffee producers incorporates all of those elements, specifically in realizing our vision to bring traceable and sustainable coffee beans into Canadian market.   We expect the best possible outcome from this event, so we could continue to pave the way of making the concept From Farm to Cup into reality,” said Liza Wajong, owner of Nusa Coffee Company.

“After the visiting of Gayo last November, I think Los Beans can do something for the coffee farmers. We  will work with Indonesian coffee farmers more closely, to present a great cup of Gayo coffee to Canadian coffee lovers,” said Mike Li, President of Los Beans.

Indonesian coffee was selected as a TPSA target commodity due to its strong potential for exports to the Canadian market. Indonesia ranks as the sixth largest supplier of coffee to Canada, accounting for 5.1 per cent of the Canadian import market. Both the Indonesian share of the market and the size of the market are growing. The total Canadian import market almost doubled between 2006 and 2016 (from US$320 million to US$623 million in 2016), a compound annual growth rate of 6.9 per cent.

Indonesia’s International Trade Promotion Center are a network of 19 offices located in 18 countries, and the Vancouver office of ITPC was founded in 2009.

The five Indonesian participants at Specialty Coffee Expo and the Coffee Promotion events are:

• Arinagata Cooperative is a Gayo Arabica Coffee producer and exporter specializing in organic coffee. The cooperative has 2,168 select coffee farmers on 2,436 hectares of coffee plantations covering 39 villages in Aceh Tengah district of Aceh Province, Indonesia.
• Kokowagayo (short for Koperasi Kopi Wanita Gayo) is a women-owned and -managed Gayo Arabica Coffee cooperative. Founded in 2014, it works with 567 farmers from 7 villages located in the Bener Meriah district in Aceh Province, Indonesia.
• Meukat Komuditi Gayo was founded in 2013 in Aceh Tengah district. Its primary activities are in high-quality, fully washed coffee processing, local trading and exporting.
• Redelong Organic Cooperative (REO), located on the island of Sumatra, was created in 2014 in the community of Kenawat Redelong. The REO Cooperative has 703 members from four villages in the Bener Meriah District of the Gayo Highlands, with a total production area of 560 hectares.
• Orang Utan Coffee Lestari (the Orang Utan Coffee Project) works with 300 Gayo Arabica coffee farmers to manage their plantations in an ecological and sustainable way to protect the rainforest. This is the natural habitat of critically endangered Sumatran orangutan, and coffee sales support the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program.

Trade Facilitation Office (TFO) Canada is providing support to Indonesian SMEs to export to Canada and globally.

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About the TPSA Project

TPSA is funded by the Government of Canada through Global Affairs Canada. The project is executed by The Conference Board of Canada and the primary implementation partner is the Directorate General for National Export Development, Ministry of Trade of Indonesia.