BATU - The Impactful Leading Consortium Research Team (RIKUB) from Universitas Brawijaya conducted a strategic research visit to the coffee plantation owned by Salman Al Farisyi, founder of Padda Coffee, situated on the fertile slopes of Mount Arjuna in Batu, East Java on Sunday (14/6/2026). This collaborative field initiative marks a pivotal milestone in an ongoing research project focused on formulating microbial culture-based fermentation starters, explicitly designed to elevate the quality of local Arjuna Coffee to the prestigious "Excellent" category under the strict guidelines of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).
The interdisciplinary RIKUB UB delegation comprised prominent senior academics and researchers, including Prof. Dr. Ir. Joni Kusnadi, M.Si., Dr. Nur Kusmiyati, S.Si., M.Si., and Dian Widya Ningtyas, STP., MP., Ph.D. Accompanied by a dedicated cohort of graduate researchers and students, the team carried out an exhaustive on-site evaluation tracking the entire production continuum—ranging from field agronomy and microclimate adaptation to precision post-harvest processing.
Climate Resilience and the Brazilian Hedgerow Method
During the plantation assessment, Salman Al Farisyi showcased the cultivation of the Arabica Compasti variety, thriving optimally at an altitude of approximately 1,200 to 1,400 meters above sea level (masl). Developed by the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI) in Jember, this specific variety was strategically selected due to its robust resilience against climate volatility, high pest resistance, and superior crop yield efficiency.
"Aided by the natural soil fertility of the Batu volcanic region, the Arabica Compasti variety here exhibits a remarkably accelerated vegetative cycle, achieving its first commercial harvest within a concise timeframe of just 1.5 years," Salman stated.
A defining feature of the plantation is the implementation of an advanced Brazilian cultivation model known as the hedgerow system. By maintaining a dense inter-tree spacing of approximately 70 cm within rows, the coffee trees form a continuous, compact canopy. This configuration allows neighboring trees to mutually shield one another from excessive solar radiation, effectively eliminating the need for conventional shade trees, though it demands a highly calculated, intensive nutrient fertilization regime.
Precision Post-Harvesting and the Fermentation Bottleneck
Beyond evaluating agronomic systems, the RIKUB UB consortium thoroughly inspected the specialized post-harvest processing infrastructure built adjacent to the fields. The production flow initiates with rigorous mechanical and manual density sorting to meticulously isolate perfectly ripe, uniform coffee cherries from under-ripe green cherries, twigs, and foreign matter.
Currently, the farm processes its harvest using two traditional pathways: the natural (dry) method and the washed (wet) method:
Natural Process: Whole, intact coffee cherries undergo an extended ambient fermentation phase for approximately two weeks.
Washed Process: Following mechanical pulping, the parchment coffee is submerged in a specialized mosto (fermenting coffee juice) medium for a controlled period of about one week.
Upon completing fermentation, the coffee is transferred to a specialized indoor solar dryer where ambient temperature and relative humidity are monitored continuously for three to four weeks. The drying cycle is precisely halted when the internal moisture content of the green beans hits the stable target threshold of 11%, rendering them stable for storage or immediate distribution as premium green or specialty roasted beans.
Despite these sophisticated agronomic structures, Salman acknowledged that the final cup profile has consistently faced a technical ceiling, unable to break into the definitive SCA "Excellent" score tier (80+ points). Scientific assessments suggest that the primary bottleneck stems from unoptimized, spontaneous microbial fermentation, which fails to consistently generate the essential flavor precursor compounds required for complex specialty profiles.
Prior commercial attempts to bypass this by introducing generic dry commercial fermentation starters across both natural and washed processes yielded erratic results, falling short of specialty target benchmarks.
Biotechnological Intervention: Tailored Microbial Cultures
To systematically address this quality gap, the RIKUB UB team is accelerating a multi-year longitudinal research project aimed at developing highly effective, localized microbial culture formulations specifically tailored to the chemical composition of Arjuna Coffee cherries.
"Our primary objective for 2026 is to finalize and refine the optimal starter culture formulation so that it is stable, scalable, and immediately ready for practical field application by local smallholders. We are highly optimistic that this targeted biotechnological intervention will catalyze the flavor complexity of local coffee, firmly positioning it within the SCA Excellent threshold," explained Prof. Joni Kusnadi.
Closing the Loop: The Circular Coffee Economy
In perfect alignment with modern sustainable processing paradigms, the research initiative looks far beyond mere cup-score optimization. The consortium is actively engineering a circular coffee economy framework to valorize the massive volumes of organic processing byproducts that conventional agriculture routinely discards.
Historically, only about 30 percent of the coffee cherry's total biomass yields direct economic value in the form of commercial green beans. The remaining 70 percent—comprising external exocarp (pulp), pectin-rich mucilage, and silver skin—is typically discarded, posing environmental degradation risks to local watersheds.
Through tailored industrial biotechnology and solid-state bioconversion, the UB research team is exploring these nutrient-dense waste streams as rich substrates for prebiotic compounds and functional probiotic cultures. This biorefinery approach seeks to transform hazardous agricultural waste into high-value commercial secondary streams, including prebiotic functional foods, specialized organic bio-fertilizers, and optimized fermentation media. The ultimate goal of this model is to push total biomass utilization of the coffee fruit close to 100 percent, effectively eliminating the carbon and waste footprint of specialty coffee processing.
Furthermore, Prof. Joni elaborated that this advanced biotechnology initiative is executed under a formal multi-institutional research consortium across three premier Indonesian universities. Professionally coordinated and led by *Universitas Andalas (UNAND)* as the primary institutional hub, the consortium integrates the specialized regional research strengths of *Universitas Jember (UNEJ)* and *Universitas Brawijaya (UB). The overarching program operates under the strategic research umbrella: *"Transformation of the Specialty Coffee Value Chain Based on a Circular Economy."
"We are explicitly designing a closed-loop system where every bio-component of the coffee fruit is funneled into a cascading value chain. By doing so, the economic resilience of agricultural communities is no longer vulnerable to green bean market fluctuations alone. Farmers will generate secondary revenue from specialized upcycled byproducts rich in prebiotics and bio-active microorganisms. We are moving from a wasteful 30% extraction model to a near-zero-waste 100% bio-utilization framework," he concluded.
By blending targeted microbial fermentation starters with a rigorous circular economy infrastructure, this consortium research framework does more than pave the way for Arjuna Coffee to claim its SCA Excellent status. It creates a scalable, highly resilient bio-economic blueprint that safeguards farmer livelihoods, mitigates agricultural pollution, and amplifies the global competitiveness of Indonesian specialty coffee in an environmentally conscious international market.
