What does asalan mean in Indonesian coffee?

Asalan is a Bahasa Indonesia term for green coffee that's been wet-hulled, sun-dried, and prepared for sale to a local exporter. It marks the end of the farm-level processing chain, most commonly used in North Sumatra and Aceh.

In practice: a smallholder in the Gayo Highlands picks cherry, pulps it using the Giling Basah wet-hulling method, dries it to a tradeable moisture level, and sells it locally as asalan - essentially in its ungraded, unsorted state. A collector or exporter then buys it, carries out additional sorting and grading, and prepares it for export.

Because asalan is sold before export grading, quality is variable. Understanding the term helps when reviewing supply chain documentation from Indonesian origins - it tells you where in the chain the lot was aggregated, and therefore how much traceability you can reasonably expect.