Brilio.net - That morning the sky in Magelang looked bright, the majestic Mount Sumbing seemed to welcome motorists heading towards Kaliangkrik. This time, brilio.net headed to Ngawonggo Village, Kaliangkrik District, Magelang Regency, which is located on the slopes of Mount Sumbing.
The road is increasingly steep, winding and narrow. Approaching the village, cars can barely pass each other. However, all of that is paid off by the green scenery of vegetable fields and coffee shops around. Brilio.net's goal in going to this village is to meet a coffee pusher named Rinto.
After graduating from college in Bandung a dozen years ago, he chose to return to his birthplace, Ngawonggo Village. Rinto lives with his wife and three children. The fairly spacious balcony of his house is used as a slow bar with a beautiful view, even though the man who graduated from Informatics Engineering prefer to call it a living room.
photo: doc. brilio/Ida Setya; doc. Rinto
While serving coffee, Rinto began to tell how coffee became a part of his life. Rinto has been planting coffee since 2012. His main reason at that time was because he wanted to break the chain of tobacco which rarely gave profit to farmers.
"At that time, the majority of farmers here planted tobacco, including my father, but from what I saw the price was unstable, so sometimes we made a loss," he said when met by brilio.net on Sunday (11/8).
Knowing that coffee is suitable for planting in the mountains, he began to try planting Arabica coffee in his fields. Slowly he invited farmers in his village to change their habit of planting tobacco to a new commodity, namely coffee.
"At first it was difficult, because planting tobacco has been passed down from generation to generation. At that time, we also did not force it, but if there were farmers who wanted to switch to planting coffee, we were willing to assist through farmer groups," continued the 39-year-old man.
Yes, through a farmer group called Mekar Lestari, Rinto is assisted by his father to accompany the farmers. He continues to share knowledge with farmers from upstream to downstream, starting from cultivation techniques to post-harvest processing.
photo: doc. Rinto
Rinto also helps sell coffee owned by farmers to customers from various cities. Since then, more and more farmers have partnered with Rinto. Until now, he said there are hundreds of farmers who have worked with him.
"At least from coffee, they already have an idea of how much they want to get, compared to tobacco, the price of which tends to follow the market price, which can be cheap or expensive," he said.
To revive the coffee ecosystem in his village, he collaborates with various parties in distributing coffee throughout Indonesia except Papua. In fact, he also sold it internationally to Canada, Ukraine, Egypt, Slovakia, and Finland. In one country, he usually sends 300 kg of coffee beans per month. However, due to some shipping obstacles, he now prefers to distribute it domestically only.
Rinto usually provides Kaliangkrik coffee beans in 4 types, namely fullwash, natural, honey, and kewa. The full wash variant is coffee beans that have been washed clean so that they produce a light taste. The natural type has a thicker taste, while honey tends to be sweet. because it maintains the sap in the coffee beans. Then, for kewa it has a complex and light taste.
Rinto's steps did not stop there, he actively introduced Kaliangkrik coffee to various coffee exhibitions and festivals. His efforts paid off, farmers also did not miss receiving fertilizer assistance and coaching from the government.
"Alhamdulillah, even though our place is at the end and remote, there have been several guests who are not reluctant to come, such as the Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy and other great people," said the coffee activist and head of the PAUD school.
Always involve farmers in various agendas
photo: doc. Rinto;Instagram/@sandaljepitmedia
The more people know about Kaliangkrik coffee, the better news for him. Many newcomers want to learn how to grow coffee in his village. He also did not fail to involve farmers in the village in the activity. He hopes that these farmers can be empowered through coffee.
"I hope that they can be empowered through coffee, have bargaining value, and one day have an impact on their welfare," he continued.
He also hopes that farmers have the competence to become educators for visitors who come to the garden. So that farmers can get value when introducing coffee to foreigners, visitors also get the experience of farming coffee that cannot be obtained in urban areas.
For those of you who are interested in learning to grow coffee, or enjoying Kopi Kaliangkrik at Rinto's residence, visit Instagram @kaliangkrik_javacoffee first, okay! Get information from the social media account, because the opening hours are uncertain following Rinto's busy schedule.