Seasonal Sumatra Gayo Highland 250g Beans

Kopepi Ketiara Cooperative is a women-led coffee cooperative nestled in the Gayo Highlands of Sumatra, Indonesia, specifically within the Bener Meriah and Central Aceh districts. The region’s high elevation, ranging from 1,200 to 1,500 meters above sea level, combined with its cool climate and volcanic soil, provides an ideal environment for cultivating high-quality Arabica coffee. With around 1,000 farmers managing approximately 1,000 hectares of coffee farms 70% in Bener Meriah and 30% in Central Aceh—the co-op produces coffee that is not only traceable and organic but also deeply connected to its terroir. The traditional wet-hulled “Giling Basah” processing method used by Ketiara, along with the region’s microclimates, imparts a signature flavor profile marked by notes of chocolate, tropical fruit, sweet spices, and herbal undertones.

What sets Kopepi Ketiara apart is its strong focus on social impact and gender equity. Founded in 2009 with just 38 members, the co-op has grown to nearly 2,000 members, the majority of whom are women. It has pioneered initiatives like “Queen Ketiara,” a microlot series produced exclusively by female farmers, which has gained international recognition for both its quality and empowerment narrative. Beyond producing exceptional coffee, Ketiara invests in its community through organic farming workshops, seedling donations, and education scholarships strengthening the local economy and improving livelihoods. This progressive vision, under the leadership of Chairwoman Ibu Rahmah, makes Ketiara not only a leader in coffee production but also in ethical business practices.

The cooperative’s embrace of microlots highlights its dedication to quality and traceability. These small, curated lots allow buyers to experience unique expressions of Gayo coffee, often showcasing specific varietals like Bourbon, Typica, Caturra, and Catimor grown under distinct conditions. Environmental stewardship is central to their practices, with a strong commitment to organic farming and land rejuvenation. The Gayo Highlands’ ecosystem—with its lush forests, natural water sources, and volcanic terrain—plays a critical role in shaping the complexity and richness of Ketiara’s coffee. Together, the people, the land, and the co-op’s mission form a deeply rooted and sustainable coffee legacy.

Why Our Coffee is The Best?

Sourcing the Pick of the Crop

Established relationships with producers and the coffee farming community means we can consistently source the best Arabica and Robusta beans from over 40 origins across the Coffee Growing Belt. At Kingdom Coffee we always demand the pick of the crop. We buy Grade 1 or “Strictly High Grown” – SHG coffee beans. By selecting only coffee beans from the highest elevations we can be sure that the bean has matured more slowly, grown to a larger size and with more density to create a consistently great taste profile.

There’s no denying that coffee grown at higher elevations produces the best flavour profiles, which is then sorted and graded by the farmers with greater care and attention and therefore command a higher premium price which we are very happy to pay! We believe passionately that farmers should be rewarded fairly for their hard work and the quality of their crop.

 

 

Investing in the Purest and Cleanest Roast

ROASTING BETTER: We are unique in that we roast on a clean bed of air in small batches as opposed to conventional drum roasting - only 1% of coffee is roasted this way. Air roasting elevates the natural sweetness to give a smooth and pure taste. Unlike traditional roasting, the chaff, the skin of the bean, that surrounds the raw bean is removed during the air process whilst in normal roasting this is burnt onto the bean. This makes the resultant air roasted beans more pure as the beans will taste less burnt and acidic.

CONSISTENCY: Another benefit to Air Roasting is consistency - typical roasters rely upon roasting “to colour“ which returns a high degree of variance from batch to batch. The Air Roasters rely upon exact metrics such as temperature and time with specific profiles that have been developed by our Q Grader, a certified coffee professional, to suit the particular bean. An exact science rather than guess work.

 

 

Protecting the Environment

We all have to recognise and assess our individual impact upon the environment. Our new Air Roaster uses 30% less energy than a typical roaster and reduces wasted heat by recirculating it in a fully enclosed system. We have a catalytic converter to ensure that harmful gases released are reduced by around 96%. Committing further to minimise our impact on the planet we have moved our packaging to 100% curb-side recyclable. This new packaging still protects that fresh roasted taste.

 

 

OUR BEANS are amongst the freshest on the market, being roasted to stock in the UK as opposed to importing roasted beans on a much longer timescale. Our Neotech roaster is more environmentally friendly, energy efficient and better than conventional drum roasters in that it can roast in specific small batches with unique roasting profiles that are able to compensate product variations and unfold the unique flavour of each individual coffee blend whilst reducing wasted heat by recirculating in the fully enclosed system.

Our range of Ethical coffees support our partnership with Toybox, who we aim to donate £100,000 over a period of ten years, having donated £50,000 in the last 5 years. This enabled Toybox to provide the resources needed for the street outreach team throughout 2020, conducting 240 visits to children in the most high-risk areas in Guatemala City as well as deliver 100 children across the city a warm and nutritious meal each week. Your continued support of Kingdom Coffee means that we can fund vital projects like this so thank you very much!