Washed Sumatra Kampung Kenawat - December 2026
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Time to read 5 min
A Return to the Gayo Highlands, With a Whole New Flavor
Some coffee origins are worth visiting more than once. This month's Roaster's Choice takes us back to Kampung Kenawat, a small village in the Gayo Highlands of Sumatra, Indonesia, where a remarkable transformation in coffee production continues to attract attention from the specialty coffee world.
We first explored this origin with our September 2025 Roaster's Choice, an anaerobic wet-hulled coffee with distinctive notes of cotton candy, rose jam, and cascara. Our newest selection comes from the same community of smallholder farmers but takes a different approach to processing.
Sumatra Kampung Kenawat Anaerobic & Inoculated Washed is a medium roast with a mild body and an unexpectedly refreshing combination of watermelon, prickly pear, and honeycomb. Its unique character comes from a carefully managed fermentation process that combines modern coffee processing techniques with an ingredient deeply rooted in Indonesian food culture.
Grower: 6 smallholder farmers organized around the Adena Coffee Kenawat Mill
Region: Kampung Kenawat, Bener Meriah Regency, Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia
Altitude: 1,300 meters above sea level
Cultivars: Typica, Tim-tim, Catimor, Abyssinia
Process: Yeast-inoculated, anaerobically fermented, washed
Drying: Fully dried in parchment
Harvest: November–January, April–June
Roast Level: Medium
Body: Mild
Cupping Notes: Watermelon, Prickly Pear, Honeycomb
Kenawat: A Village Rebuilding Its Reputation Through Coffee
Kampung Kenawat's story is inseparable from the history of Aceh, a region at the northern end of Sumatra that experienced decades of political unrest and conflict.
During the conflict between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian military, Kenawat became associated with the separatist movement. Although many residents had no direct involvement, the village suffered from the reputation that followed. Coffee farms located near Kenawat were abandoned, opportunities for local growers dwindled, and even after the 2005 peace agreement, some buyers remained reluctant to purchase coffee from the community.
For a village like Kenawat, where agriculture represented an important source of income, that reputation had lasting consequences.
Adena Coffee began working with local producer Fahman Yoga to improve coffee processing and reconnect Kenawat's farmers with the specialty coffee market. Their partnership helped create new opportunities for growers who had struggled to find reliable buyers and fair compensation for their harvests.
Today, Adena Coffee provides Kenawat farmers with access to financing, processing facilities, and export services, helping bridge the distance between small farms in the Gayo Highlands and coffee roasters around the world.
The progress has been significant. During the 2022/2023 Indonesia Cup of Excellence competition, a coffee produced through Adena's partnership with Kenawat earned ninth place, bringing international recognition to a village once overlooked by buyers.
For Fahman Yoga, the change has been about more than coffee quality.
“I am happy to see the people in Kenawat are no longer confused about what they have to do, many of them are enthusiastic about managing their coffee farms because the price is now stabilized.”
Six Farmers, Four Cultivars, One Exceptional Coffee
Our latest selection comes from just six smallholder farmers growing coffee near Lake Tawar and the town of Takengon. Approximately 70% of Kenawat's coffee farmers are women, many of whom depend on income from their harvests to help support their families.
The farms cultivate a mix of Arabica varieties, including Typica, Tim-tim, Catimor, and Abyssinia. It's an interesting combination that reflects both the history of coffee cultivation in Indonesia and the practical challenges growers face in Kenawat.
Typica is one of the oldest and most influential Arabica varieties, tracing its history in Indonesia back to the arrival of coffee during the Dutch colonial period. Abyssinia, sometimes referred to locally as AB3 or Java, represents another important chapter in the movement of Arabica coffee from Ethiopia into Southeast Asia.
Tim-tim, also known as the Timor Hybrid, developed from a natural cross between Arabica and Robusta and is valued for its resistance to coffee leaf rust. Catimor, a descendant of the Timor Hybrid and Caturra, was similarly developed with disease resistance and agricultural productivity in mind.
Together, these cultivars offer a diverse foundation for specialty coffee production. In Kenawat, their potential is being explored through both traditional Indonesian processing methods and more experimental approaches to fermentation.
The Secret Ingredient: Ragi
One of the most interesting aspects of this coffee is its use of Ragi, a traditional fermentation starter familiar throughout Indonesian food culture.
Ragi is commonly associated with the preparation of tape (also spelled tapai), a fermented food made from ingredients such as cassava or glutinous rice. These starter cultures contain microorganisms that help transform starches and sugars during fermentation.
For this particular coffee, Adena uses a commercial Ragi Tape starter containing Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a yeast species better known to many of us as baker's or brewer's yeast. While the use of selected yeast cultures has become increasingly popular in specialty coffee processing, Adena's approach draws on an ingredient already familiar to the region.
After harvest, the coffee cherries are depulped and placed into a sealed, oxygen-limited environment. Ragi is introduced to inoculate the coffee, helping guide fermentation over the next three days. This process gives producers greater influence over the microorganisms involved in fermentation, which can affect the development of aromatic compounds and ultimately contribute to the coffee's flavor.
Once fermentation is complete, the beans are thoroughly washed and dried with their parchment layers intact. This final step is an important distinction from the wet-hulled coffees traditionally associated with Sumatra. Rather than removing the parchment while the beans still contain substantial moisture, Adena allows this coffee to dry fully in parchment before hulling.
The result is a different expression of an already fascinating origin, one that demonstrates how processing decisions can dramatically change the character of coffee grown in the same region.
What Does Sumatra Kampung Kenawat Taste Like?
Sumatran coffees are frequently associated with earthy flavors, herbal complexity, and rich, full-bodied cups. While those characteristics have earned the island a loyal following, they represent only part of what Indonesian coffee has to offer.
Our Sumatra Kampung Kenawat Anaerobic & Inoculated Washed takes a noticeably different direction.
The first thing that stands out is its fruit-forward character. Notes of watermelon bring a refreshing, juicy sweetness, complemented by the delicate tropical flavor of prickly pear. Both are balanced by honeycomb, which adds a familiar, mellow sweetness to the finish.
Despite its unusual tasting notes, this coffee isn't overwhelmingly intense. Its medium roast and mild body create an approachable cup that allows the fruit characteristics to stand out without overpowering the overall experience.
It's also an excellent example of why we enjoy exploring different processing methods through our Roaster's Choice program. Two coffees grown in the same village, sometimes from the same cultivars, can deliver remarkably different experiences depending on what happens after harvest.
How Do I Get This Coffee?
Part of the fun of Roaster’s Choice is discovering the unique methods used to further expand the variety of flavors that come with specialty coffees.
And returning to Kampung Kenawat gives us yet another opportunity to experience just that.
Through the efforts of its farmers, Fahman Yoga, and Adena Coffee, Kenawat has developed new opportunities for local growers while introducing coffee drinkers around the world to the remarkable potential of the Gayo Highlands.
This month's selection highlights another side of that work, using a traditional Indonesian fermentation starter and carefully managed washed processing to create a coffee with an entirely different personality from our previous visit.
With its distinctive notes of watermelon, prickly pear, and honeycomb, Sumatra Kampung Kenawat Anaerobic & Inoculated Washed is a wonderful reminder that even familiar coffee origins can still surprise us.
Order your Roaster's Choice subscription before December 5th, 2026, to experience Sumatra Kampung Kenawat for yourself
