Wahana Estate meaning “Vessels for Great Success” is the first single varietal and speciality estate located in Sumatra. The Estate itself was established in 2005 and currently extends across 468 hectares, 250 of which are given over to growing coffee, with a further 30 hectares to a nursery.
From an initial concentration on the Rasuna and Longberry varietals, the estate has moved to a more diverse offering comprising local varietals such as Andong Sari, Jember, and Jantung, as well as more recognisable ones such as Villa Sarchi, Colombia, and Catuai. These are all kept separated throughout the process, enabling future production of micro-lots. Wahana specialises in non-traditional processing. In a land where Giling Basah is common, it’s hard to find fully washed, let alone naturals, so it really is a testament to the dedication and drive the team put into the quality to get coffee of this grade.
Longberry is a varietal that (likely) has its roots back in the Ethiopian Harrar varietal that often produced longer narrow shaped beans stemming from a mutation of the typical variety traditionally found. It is one of the varietals Wahana have tried to establish in their work on selecting new and suitable varietals to adapt to growth in Sumatra.
The estate also provides free housing, water and electricity to the 1,000 workers it employs, as well as there is a free health centre on-site, kindergarten, and nursery. The cherries are picked fully ripe and then brought to the patios where they are sorted and dried for 48 hours before being mechanically dried from then on. The humidity in the air during drying times requires close attention to detail, which a mechanical drier can offer better than patios in this instance. Once dried, beans are hulled and prepared for export.
