GayoBies® coffee - The History
 |
| Sjech Hasan (1907 - 1974) |
GayoBies Coffee is a single
origin Arabica coffee from asingle coffee plantation in Gayo Highland, Central
Aceh-Indonesia. The cultivation process of the plantation has been through four
generations a cross three industrial stages ie: the Dutch colonialism, Indonesian
government and information technological era.
In May 1926, a Dutch’s Company,
Onderneming Blanggolo, was trying to take over the coffee plantation and
surrounding area from local farmers by forced. Without permission they started
to put boundary markers along the coffee plantation that they consider good and
productive. And they did not allow the farmers to work on their own land
anymore.
During the time in Gayo Highland
only very limited people went to school to study. Majority of the people were illiterate.
It seems that due to the massive illiteracy the ruling party took for granted
that the local farmers will not stand up for their rights. But they were wrong.
Led by Sjech Hasan, a young local
elementary school teacher whose land was also marked, around 50 local
farmers sat together discussing their plan to challenge the Dutch Company and to
stand up for their rights. With all the constraint they had, Sjech Hasan and
the local people filing a law suit to Aceh Governor at Kutaraja (now Banda Aceh) against
Onderneming Blanggolo.
In December 1926, the local Dutch
colony claimed Sjech Hasanas a provocateur and put him into exile. But the
fight didn’t stop there. More and more people heard about the story and joined
the group to fight. Since then the two parties (people, led by Sjech Hasan, vs
Onderneming Blanggolo) went through many hearings and negotiation for about 6
years. In 1932 the fight was settled and the people led by Sjech Hasan Team won.
The plantation was given back to the local people.
Gaining back the coffee
plantation did not automatically make the coffee farmers hold the freedom to
cultivate the land and sell the coffee at a fair price. Although the coffee
trade was very profitable for the VOC but the coffee price set for local market
was so low that causing hardship for farmers.
After Indonesia independence, the
coffee trade in local market in terms of price in farmer level had not changed
much. Most farmers sell the coffee in form of red berries to collectors or local
exporters who set the price. Some time farmers have to sell the coffee while
it’s still green in the tree, of course with a much lower price, due to their
lack of capability to fulfill their daily necessity. They even didn’t have
a chance to try their own coffee so that they have no idea on the quality of
coffee they sell. And those have been happened for generations. Not until the
development of information technological era and the growing market of specialty
coffee in the world, that local coffee industry in Gayo Highland start to change
significantly in price and quality.
GayoBies coffee are produced from
Sjech Hasan’s coffee plantation, the piece of land that was once marked by the
Dutch Company to betaken over because it is considered good for coffee
plantation. With all the development of specialty coffee, technological
information, and processing technique, GayoBies coffee is now managed by the
third generation of Sjech Hasan, which bring the fight to the next level,
striving for excellence by producing quality coffee with integrity.
