goodmorningpapua.com – A story of Kopi Hari Bersama [Together Day Coffee] started with helping students from Okbibab District, Bintang Mountains Regency. At that time, the students were always dispatched coffee by their parents to pay tuition and living expenses in Jayapura City.
The coffee sent from Okibab is Arabica typica which is grown at an altitude of 2000 meters above sea level. Planted in lush semi-forest gardens, intercropped with sweet potato plants. Coffee is grown organically, completely relying on the goodness of nature.
The process of harvesting coffee cherries is still manual by hand, as is the processing of coffee cherries into green beans. The air temperature in Okbibab is very cold, with limited sun intensity, so drying coffee beans takes a long time.
In addition to the interesting taste of Papuan coffee is the story behind it. The journey of coffee beans to Sentani, Jayapura is very long. From the Okbibab District, the coffee beans are sent using a small plane of twin otter type, the flight is not scheduled, depending on if there is a charter from Sentani Jayapura, the farmers will only receive the coffee. Delivery of coffee beans from Okbibab District is packed in sacks used for rice containers.
Hari Suroto, the owner of Kopi Hari Bersama , explained that currently the marketing of Kopi Hari Bersama is done online, for ground coffee and roasted coffee beans.
“The intention started with helping to market coffee from the Ngalum Tribe farmers in the interior of the Bintang Mountains, Papua,” Hari explained, Sunday, October 20, 2021.
Hari, who is also a researcher at the Papua Archeology Center, explained that historically, the coffee plant in Okbibab was first introduced by missionaries in the 1970s. The coffee seeds are imported from Moanemani, Dogiyai Regency which is famous for its Arabica typica coffee, in Moanemani the coffee is cultivated by the Mee Tribe.
“The cost of sending coffee beans from Okbibab District to Sentani, Jayapura using a small plane, is IDR 7500 per kg. The small twin otter plane to Okbibab District from Sentani Airport is only an AMA plane, the ticket price is IDR 2 million per person,” he said.
Meanwhile, from Okbibab District to Oksibil, the capital of the Bintang Mountains Regency, it can only be done by foot for about 1 to 1.5 days.
Getting access to get to Okbibab District can only be done by small airplane. There is no land road, no cell phone tower. Communication only relies on SSB radio.
Hari said that the SSB radio in the Okbibab District was only owned by the district office or the maskHapai officer of the AMA pioneering aircraft.
For communication with families in Jayapura, residents use Whatsapp, via a satellite network which pays per hour. Satellite internet voucher at Okbibab is 100 thousand for 3 days.