Almost all the land in the Gayo Highlands can be used to grow the Gayo Arabica Coffee. For the sloping areas farmers build terraces, depending on the inclination they can be either mountain belt terraces or individual terraces.

The cultivation of Kopi Arabika Gayo is exclusively natural, utilising organic materials, without any artificial chemical substances in the form of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The fertilization takes place twice a year using coffee beans’ shells and manure from cows as fertilizers. This way the fertility of the soil is guaranteed by the regular and natural fertilisation practices.

During the first few years, coffee trees make many branches as they use all the nourishment to develop their trunks and branches. As the branches grow, they need to be pruned to give the trees a good shape and remove the unnecessary branches that would otherwise weaken the plant. The pruning is done in a way to maintain a height of 180 centimetres.

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In the Gayo Highlands, it is common to plant the coffee trees under shelterwoods. The shelterwoods most commonly used are lamtorogung tree, orange and avocado. In particular the lamtorogung tree can grow from trees cutting, can easily be pruned and the pruning disposals are used as organic fertilizer. This way the Kopi Arabika Gayo can resist the sun and high temperatures during the hottest parts of the year.