In 1706 botanists in Amsterdam, through their research, discovered that coffee grown on Java island had produced high quality coffee seeds. They recommended that the Java coffee seeds be cultivated and distributed to botanical gardens in Europe. The coffee seeds were also sent to the botanical garden of King Louis XIV.
It was then that Java coffee seeds were officially brought to Martinique, a French colony in the Caribbean through the Royal Botanic Gardens Jardine de Plantes. Through the Martinique plantations, the coffee first planted in Java became the early seeds of Coffee Arabica grown in various plantations of coffee producing countries in the world.
“In 1711, Java coffee broke the highest price sold at the auction house in Amsterdam,” said Prawoto. Moreover, 90 percent of coffee (equivalent to 2,145 tonnes) auctioned in Amsterdam were originally from Java Island.
Since 1726, Java coffee dominated the Mocha coffee market in Europe.
(*In an interview by Tempo with Prabowo Indarto at the Jagongan Ngopi Neng Solo event in Pasar Gede, Surakarta, 30 September 2016).