Starbucks on Sumatra

One of the stops we made was to a Coffee cooperative that is located in the mountains surrounding the town of Takengon in the highlands of the island of Sumatra. The cooperative was made up of nearly 7,000 local organic farmers. The farmers bring their crop to the processing location where the beans are examined for quality (basically, they smell the beans) and are dried, sorted and bagged.

The beans processed at this location were, for the most part heading to the US and were purchased by, among others, Starbucks. So, next time you pop in to your local 'buck and order a cup of Sumatra blend, it may have come from this fascinating outfit perched in the hills above Takengon.