Sumatra | Solok Radjo Cooperative

Any banana bread fans out there? You’ll love this coffee. (Yes it really tastes like banana bread!) Any save-the-environment folks out there? You’ll love this coffee. ​​Any tiger lovers out there? You’ll love this coffee. 

Solok Radjo Cooperative is made up of 500 members and they have a grant from the government to re-forest 2,000 hectares of previously cleared land (by illegal loggers) at the border of the National Park in Sumatra. Protection of this forest is globally critical–not just for carbon capture, but also for wildlife protection. Almost 40% of the world’s remaining population of wild tigers resides in this Park. Solok Radjo’s initial phase included planting trees across 150 hectares and they’re now expanding to additional hectares.

Producer // Smallholder Local Producers, 500 members

Region // West Sumatra, Jambi Province

Process // Wet Hulled

Altitude // 1500-1800masl

Flavor Notes // Sweet Banana Bread

Roast Level // Medium

From the importers, Crop to Cup Importers: Solok Radjo Cooperative is made up of 500 members with 1-2 hectares each. They are a young, energetic group engaged not only in coffee production and export, but also in roasting, visiting cafes, brewing, agronomy, and more. They have 3 Q-certified cuppers/graders on staff and have cupping set ups at both the field location in Aie Dingin and the drying/mill location in Solok. They are checking moisture and roasting on site to check each lot and report back to our local staff in Medan. The coop operates 8 collection stations across the region to reduce the distance farmers have to travel to deliver. Coop members are paid cash upon delivery of wet parchment thanks to pre-financing of the coop thanks to our local staff and production/export partner in Medan. This further incentivizes growing membership and participation in the group.

On the ecology front, this group is serious. They have a grant from the government to re-forest 2,000 hectares of previously cleared land (by illegal loggers) at the border of the National Park. Protection of this forest is globally critical–not just for carbon capture, but also for wildlife protection. Almost 40% of the world’s remaining population of wild tigers resides in this Park. Solok Radjo’s initial phase included planting trees across 150 hectares. They’re now expanding to additional hectares.

They are growing both shade tree/forest seedlings and coffee tree seedlings at their coop nursery, and re-making this cleared land into forest land with coffee trees growing under the canopy. A few thousand dollars will support a hectare. We invite roasters to get involved and support this initiative alongside Crop to Cup.