Bandung, W.Java (ANTARA News) - Bandung, West Java`s provincial capital, will host a Road to Indonesia Coffee Festival on December 23, 2011, as a precursor to an Indonesian Coffee Festival in Bali next year, the event`s initiator said.

"Bandung which was the first region in Indonesia to host ​coffee plantations will have the honor of hosting the Road to Indonesia Coffee festival," Yanthi Tambunan said here Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Coffee Festival will be held in Bali in early 2012. The festival was expected to be a haven for coffee lovers in Indonesia.

According to Yanthi, Bandung was chosen to host the Indonesian Coffee Festival`s pre-event because of its history in coffee cultivation and trade that had brought it high prestige.

Bandung also played a significance role in the development of coffee in Indonesia because the first coffee plantations in Indonesia were established in the Bandung region by Peter Eugelhard during the Dutch colonial period, Coffee grown in the Bandung region later became known world-wide as Java Coffee, she said.

Based on this history, Bandung which has a cold climate, had a great potentials for coffee business both packaged coffee and coffee treats in cafes.

"The Road to Indonesia Coffee Festival will educate the public about coffee," Yanthi said.

Indonesia is currently the world`s biggest coffee producer after Brazil and Vietnam. Indonesia`s current coffee production stands at 200 thousand tons per year.

Ideally with this high production Indonesia no longer needed to import coffee. With growth of 10 percent of the local production, it would be sufficient to meet the domestic needs, Yanthi said.

"Indonesia`s coffee export potential is still large including to Japan, Germany, Italy, UK and U.S. However, usually the coffee exported comes back to Indonesia under a foreign label," she said.

The current upswing in the coffee price was related from the rainy season. The coffee price in the market was now around Rp80.000 per kilogram.

Source: http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/78449/bandung-to-host-road-to-indonesia-coffee-festival