Indonesian Coffee news coverage

Uncover the Secret of Sumatran Coffee

Small farms in Aceh—the northernmost province on Indonesia's island of Sumatra—produce coffee unlike any other on the planet. Earthen and syrupy with notes of tobacco and tropical fruit, Nespresso's Aceh-sourced Master Origin Indonesia Arabica owes its distinctive taste, in large part, to an unusual coffee processing technique called wet hulling.

"The coffee farmers hull the coffee of its parchment skin when the coffee is still wet," says coffee expert Shirin Moayaad. "Everywhere else dries pulp parchment coffee completely, but in Sumatra, it gets skin-dried overnight to allow the largest amounts of excess moisture to drain off. Then, they hull it when it is wet—at about 40 percent moisture—so the coffee beans are very pliable. If you chew on one, you could bite right through it."

As Shirin explains, wet hulling likely was born of necessity—a way to accelerate the drying process in Sumatra's hot, damp environment. "The process is done in a few other places now, but nowhere else produces the intense, cured tobacco note of the Sumatra coffee. The combination of the wet hulling, the local climate and plant varieties, and the microbes and microclimates there produces this insane coffee."

“A Perfect Storm: Navigating the Effects of COVID-19 on Coffee Producers” at Re:co 2020

Presented by: René León-Gómez, Executive Secretary
PROMECAFE/IICA

René León Gómez is currently Executive Secretary of PROMECAFE, a regional collaborative program that promotes technological development and modernization related to coffee production within 10 countries along with the support of agricultural research and technology institutions such as IICA, CATIE and WCR. He graduated as an Agronomical Engineer from Zamorano University, with a masters in B.A. and Finance from the Central American Business University (UNITEC). He has been working with coffee for more than 15 years, along with his personal experience as a small coffee producer. The main focus of his work is to promote strengthening and development of coffee production, emphasizing on the needs and constraints that limit profitability and economic sustainability of small holders producing coffee in Honduras and in the Promecafe region, addressing issues based on research, cooperation, innovation and the establishment of strategic alliances.

How This Seattle Based Entrepreneur Is Giving Back To Her Homeland

Despite living in the coffee capital of the US, Cintha Putri missed the taste of home so much she decided to bring unique flavors from Indonesia and start a luxury coffee company, working with a women-cooperative in her homeland. 

Seattle might seem like the world’s most highly saturated coffee market to try and infiltrate, or possibly the smartest to target if your coffee is among the rarest in the world. Indonesian entrepreneur, Cintha Putri is doing just that, introducing highly-prized, luxurious ‘wine coffee’ into Seattle while giving back to her birthplace and the coffee’s place of origin, an area torn apart by a Tsunami in 2004 that killed over 170,000 people in one day.

To many people, Aceh on Sumatra island is best known for this natural disaster. But less known about this region is that it’s home to one of the world’s most sought-after coffees, which firstly benefits from being grown on nutrient-rich high land volcanic soil. One of the specialties to find there is ‘wine coffee’, which is made from coffee ‘berries’ that go through a whole process of fermentation. The second luxury coffee is called Kopi Luwak, put politely, in this process the coffee beans have been digested and pooped out by wild animals called civets.

From Aceh to Seattle 

Aceh is also the home of Cintha Putri, who started out as an aspiring tennis player. “I learned the value of practicing all the time, to never give up, and to focus on trying hard in everything,” she explains. She moved to Seattle 15 years ago, a place she now calls home. 

“I spoke very little English when I arrived in the US, it wasn’t easy at first. And I love coffee, obviously, because Aceh is so famous for it. But these special types of coffee from Indonesia were hard to find, even in Seattle,” she says.

This new dark roast ‘ultra coffee’ concentrate from Jot will satisfy even the biggest coffee snob

I  am bad at making coffee. My household owns a drip machine, a pour over, a French press, an espresso maker, several cold brew and iced coffee contraptions, and a pile of instant coffee left over from our Dalgona phase.

Yet, I far too often find myself buying my coffee on weekends, en route to work, and throughout the day. I love the consistency—not left to chance, depending on how coarse my beans are, whether the water was just boiling or not, and when the last time I descaled was. I’ve conditioned myself to think of coffee as a treat—a break from my desk, a reason to leave the house—or a bribe to get me up and going in the morning. What kind of Pavlovian experiment would this be if my reward weren’t consistently satisfying?

But Jot coffee is different. The company launched last year with a simple concept: a coffee concentrate that it deems “Ultra Coffee.” It’s 20 times the concentration of regular coffee and gets tipped into a glass or mug one tablespoon at a time.  Add water, ice, and/or milk to your liking, and you have a latte, an espresso-esque shot, an iced coffee, whatever your heart desires. Several Fast Company editors gave the original offering a taste test last year, and the results were unanimous: They loved it. 

Now Jot Dark joins the mix: an (obviously) darker, bolder version of the original, made with Fair Trade Colombia and Sumatra coffee. Like its predecessor, Jot Dark is brewed using a temperature-controlled extraction process that gives it more potency than your standard freeze-dried instant coffee product. A $24 bottle is 200 ml and contains 14 servings of Jot.

Coffee Design: Vuna Coffee Rituals

Dennise Yeh, Winnie Yeh, and Sara Morrocchi are the team behind Vuna Coffee Rituals, a new company based in Amsterdam with a focus on transforming mass accessibility to specialty coffee. This story has deep roots, but it's born in part out of the isolation of the pandemic, and a realization that more people than ever are looking to enjoy the flavors of specialty coffee. “Our families love the taste of specialty coffee but don’t want the trouble of brewing it,” the Vuna team tells us in the interview below. “They have no idea about processing, origins, and felt lost when reading labels… So we thought, could there be a simpler way to understand, make, and enjoy specialty coffee?”

It's a question they're answering via a single-use steeped coffee bag, bringing decades of experience to market along the way. Vuna Coffee Rituals launches in the coming days on Kickstarter—for now, consider this an inside advance look at the burgeoning brand.

Costco Is Already Selling Starbucks Holiday Blend K-Cups

The return of Starbucks' fan-favorite Pumpkin Spice Latte today marked the unofficial beginning of the fall season, and we're not going to lie: We're pretty excited. Cooler weather, colorful leaves, and the ability to sip on a warm PSL in our favorite sweater – what's not to love? The return of everything pumpkin-spiced also serves as a reminder that the holidays are right around the corner, and if you're eager to start decking the halls, we have some exciting news: Retail giant Costco is already stocking its shelves with Starbucks Holiday Blend K-Cups so Keurig owners can get a serious jump-start on getting into the festive spirit.

Costco fan Instagram account @costco_doesitagain shared the exciting news of the seasonal coffee's return to the wholesale store, sharing a photo on August 23 of the familiar holly-covered, 72-count boxes of K-Cups that run for $29.99 each. "Too soon?! @starbucks Holiday Blend has hit Costco!" the Instagrammer captioned the post that has since racked up nearly 3,000 likes, and though some expressed their belief that it was a bit early for holiday drinks, most people seemed incredibly pleased.

It's never too soon for holiday coffee, according to many Starbucks fans

Starbucks' Holiday Blend is described by the Seattle-based coffee chain's website as a combination of "seasonal, bright Latin American beans with mellow Sumatran coffee." A cup of this java promises "a balance of nutty and maple flavors" in every sip. Most Starbucks locations don't start selling bags of its festive blends until November (via Starbucks Stories), so the appearance of the brand's Holiday Blend K-Cups at Costco more than two months in advance understandably has fans excited. "Never too early for holiday stuff," Instagram user @missalexandramarie commented on @costco_doesitagain's post. "Yayy!! This is great coffee, making a purchase asap," said Instagrammer @perezpalmer. A third user who said they no longer drink coffee even contemplated purchasing a case just so they could fill their house with the aroma – now that's a true fan!

‘BUY BLACK’ WAS A BOON FOR DEAD STOCK COFFEE. IT WAS ALSO A BURDEN.

At the beginning of 2020, Deadstock Coffee, a tiny, energetic cafe in Portland’s Chinatown, was selling 10 bags of coffee each week. Six months later, in June, the shop sold nearly 2,000 bags in one week. But if you talk to Deadstock owner Ian Williams, that skyrocketing sale wasn’t about his coffee; it was about white guilt. A former Nike shoe developer, Williams opened Deadstock as a cart, which he described as a “snob-free coffee zone,” in 2015. Its slogan: “Coffee should be dope.” And in the minds of many, his coffee is: For years, customers have strolled up to the cafe to order different blends of iced tea and coffee, drip coffees, oat milk lattes — and a slice of cake baked by his mother. In the last five of those years, Deadstock has gone from a stand within the Compound Gallery boutique to a small cafe space in Chinatown with a loyal fan base and an impressive slate of house roasts.

The shop has never had a formal menu, so the inclination when you approach the counter is to simply order what you want, hot or iced. Deadstock devotees have learned the cafe’s vernacular: “Slow jamz” is code for decaf, while ordering a “Luther Vandross” will get you a smooth, silky lavender mocha.

In the winter of 2018, Williams began slowly roasting beans in small batches, teaching himself to roast via what he calls “YouTube university.” Williams applied the ethos of Deadstock’s cafe to his process, making accessible, fun, and fruity roasts labeled with such descriptions as “cinnamon toast crunch” and “tastes wealthy.” Williams’s current favorite Deadstock roast is called No Skips, a natural-process coffee sourced from Bali with notes of rose water and sake; its name is a nod to the rapper Oddisee, who is a fan of Asian-grown coffees.

In the past, Deadstock Coffee has been recognized for its sneaker- and NBA-themed decor, selling athleisure apparel, and making shoe-shaped latte art. But don’t let its aesthetics and vibe distract you from the main truth: Deadstock is a bold and inventive coffee shop peddling some of the city’s most exciting brews. Coffee blog Sprudge described it as “unlike any other cafe in Portland right now,” with bright and singular roasts and drinks hard to find anywhere else. But in the spring of 2020, Williams found himself attracting a lot of attention — not for his coffee, but for his identity as a Black-owned coffee shop owner. “I am just a coffee shop owner,” Williams says. “I’m an owner of a business [who] just happens to be Black. I’m not ashamed of it; I just don’t want that to be the identifier for people.” Nonetheless, that’s exactly what happened.

Ikuti Pameran Kopi di Amerika, Kopi Specialty Indonesia Bukukan Potensi Transaksi USD 26,3 Juta

Bisnis9, Boston – Sebagai salah satu negara penghasil kopi di dunia dan dalam rangka memperkenalkan kopi Indonesia kepada dunia, beberapa waktu yang lalu Produk kopi khas dan premium (specialty) Indonesia kembali tampil di pameran Internasional. Kali ini, kopi specialty Indonesia unjuk gigi di pameran Global Specialty Coffee Expo (GSCE) 2019 yang berlangsung di Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, Massachusetts, Amerika Serikat . Saat pameran berlangsung, Indonesia berhasil membukukan transaksi potensial sebesar USD 26,3 juta dan nilai tersebut diprediksi akan terus bertambah, mengingat masih terdapat transaksi yang ditindaklanjuti.

Keikutsertaan Indonesia kali ini merupakan hasil kerja sama Kedutaan Besar RI di Washington DC melalui Atase Perdagangan dan Atase Pertanian dengan Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) Chicago dan ITPC Los Angeles.

“Nilai transaksi pada pameran tahun ini menunjukkan kualitas kopi Indonesia sudah mendapatkan tempat bagi pencinta kopi dunia. Selain itu, citra Indonesia juga harus terus dikembangkan, tidak hanya sebagai produsen dan eksportir biji kopi, namun juga nilai tambah dari kopi itu sendiri,” ujar Atase Perdagangan Washington DC Reza Pahlevi.

Lebih dari seratus peserta dari berbagai negara berpartisipasi dalam ajang bergengsi “World Coffee Championship” yang diadakan di Activities Hall. Kompetisi ini terbagi menjadi dua bagian yaitu World Barista Championship dan World Brewers Cup. Pada the World Barista Championship, setiap kontestan harus menyiapkan empat kopi espreso, empat minuman berbahan dasar susu, dan empat minuman asli khusus dalam waktu 15 menit. Pada ajang ini, kontestan asal Indonesia yaitu Mikael Jasin dari Common Grounds Coffee Roaster Jakarta berhasil masuk ke putaran final dan meraih juara ke-4.

Sementara ajang World Brewers Cup lebih memusatkan pada seni penyeduhan kopi secara manual. Dalam ajang ini, rasa dan penyajian menjadi penilaian utama para juri. Pada ajang ini, Indonesia diwakili Muhammad Fakhri brewer independen yang merupakan juara Indonesia Brewers Cup 2019.

“Keberhasilan kontestan Indonesia dalam World Coffee Championship menunjukkan penggiat kopi nasional semakin dikenal dan diakui dunia. Diharapkan hal ini dapat mengangkat citra positif kopi Indonesia,” kata Reza.

Saat ini Amerika Serikat merupakan pangsa pasar yang atraktif bagi eksportir kopi dari seluruh dunia. Menurut laporan National Coffee Data Trends tahun 2019 yang dirilis National Coffee Association (NCA), kopi merupakan minuman yang paling digemari di AS dengan tren konsumen yang semakin memperhatikan aspek kesehatan dan keberlanjutan.

Unjuk Gigi di AS, Kopi RI Raup Potensi Ekspor USD 26 Juta

Liputan6.com, Jakarta Produk kopi khas dan premium (specialty) Indonesia kembali tampil pada pameran Internasional. Kali ini, kopi specialty Indonesia unjuk gigi di pameran Global Specialty Coffee Expo (GSCE) 2019 yang berlangsung di Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, Massachusetts, Amerika Serikat pada 11-14 April 2019. 

Atase Perdagangan Washington DC Reza Pahlevi mengatakan,‎ saat pameran berlangsung, Indonesia berhasil membukukan transaksi potensial sebesar USD 26,3 juta dan nilai tersebut diprediksi akan terus bertambah, mengingat masih terdapat transaksi yang ditindaklanjuti. 

"Nilai transaksi pada pameran tahun ini menunjukkan kualitas kopi Indonesia sudah mendapatkan tempat bagi pencinta kopi dunia. Selain itu, citra Indonesia juga harus terus dikembangkan, tidak hanya sebagai produsen dan eksportir biji kopi, namun juga nilai tambah dari kopi itu sendiri,” ujar dia dalam keterangan tertulis di Jakarta, Jumat (19/4/2019).

Pameran GSCE merupakan tempat berkumpulnya buyer premium kopi specialty di kawasan Amerika Utara dan menjadi acuan bagi tren kopi dunia. Pameran yang diikuti 515 peserta dari 41 negara ini dikunjungi lebih dari 14 ribu pengunjung dan hampir setengahnya merupakan buyerinternasional. 

Tahun sebelumnya, tercatat 79 persen buyer yang datang merupakan buyer yang memiliki otoritas pengambilan keputusan atau yang berwenang dalam memberikan rekomendasi pembelian di perusahaannya, sehingga pameran kopi ini menjadi sangat prospektif.  

Kopi Indonesia Raih Transaksi US$ 26 Juta di Pameran Kopi Global di AS

Jakarta, Beritasatu.com - Produk kopi khas dan premium Indonesia kembali tampil di pameran internasional Global Speciality Coffee Expo 2019 yang berlangsung di Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston Massachusetts, Amerika Serikat pada 11-14 April 2019. Indonesia berhasil meraih transaksi potensial sebesar US$ 26 juta dan diprediksi akan terus naik karena masih terdapat transaksi yang dihitung. Partisipasi Indonesia dalam pameran ini merupakan hasil kerjasama Kedutaan Besar Indonesia di Washington melalui Atase Perdagangan dan Indonesian Trade Promotion Center Chicago.

Atase Perdagangan Washington DC Reza Pahlevi mengatakan Pameran Global Speciality Coffee Expo merupakan tempat berkumpulnya para buyer premium kopi speciality di kawasan Amerika Utara dan menjadi acuan bagi tren kopi dunia. Pameran yang diikuti 515 peserta dari 41 negara dikunjungi lebih dari 14.000 pengunjung dan hampir setengahnya buyer internasional. Tahun sebelumnya, tercatat 79 persen buyer yang datang merupakan buyer yang potensial. Pada tahun ini, Paviliun Indonesia menghadirkan kopi speciality yang ditampilkan Asosiasi Kopi Spesialiti Indonesia, CV Gayo Mandiri, PT Santiang Exports, PT Perkebunan Nusantara, PT. Gayo Bedetak Nusantara dan Upnormal Coffee Roaster.

Buyer yang bertransaksi di Paviliun Indonesia berasal dari Belanda, Rusia, Tiongkok, Swiss, Peru dan Paraguay. "Indonesia juga diwakili peserta independen PT Jaya Abadi (Kapal Api Grup) yang menampilkan biji kopi hijau dan produk turunan kopi," ujar Reza dalam siaran persnya yang diterima Investor Daily, di Jakarta, Minggu (21/4).

Incredible Pop-Up Cafes of SCA Expo 2019

For those convening upon Boston this past weekend, there was no shortage of great coffee at mini-cafes popping up outside, over, around, and through the 2019 Specialty Coffee Expo. But of course, when you get right down to it, there will always be those superstars of the pop, those who pop a little EXTRA with the best coffee or the longest lines or biggest buzz or deepest DJ grooves. Here’s what our team on the ground spotted on the scene of see and be seen coffee pop-ups.

Miir

Seattle-based Miir is an “it” vessel manufacturer these days, whose sustainability mission as a reuseable cup company walks the walk with a giving program that contributes grant money to philosophically aligned projects like providing clean water to the Asian subcontinent, or bicycles to help Zambian students (and teachers) get to school. The B Corp’s Seattle flagship is LEED-certified, and let’s be honest—the cups are also stylish af, which is why all the coffee brands you love already use them.

And which is also why fans of the brand—and free stuff—lined up for times upwards of one hourFriday and Saturday mornings to get some of the most coveted swag of the convention: SCA Expo-exclusive Miir mugs, which of course you could have topped up with Verve coffee brewed in Miir’s ingenious fold-flat pop-out travel drippers, or with the same roaster’s Nitro Flash Brew coffee. Once in hand, the Miir Expo cup proved to be the perfect fashionable accessory to flash while lounging around the modern furnishings of the Miir booth flipping through Verve’s latest Farmlevel journal, or admiring numerous displays of other Miir designs out of which one was not currently drinking. And if you so happened to be sucked out of the calming Miir oasis and back into the vortex of the show floor, that same cup proved perfect for sustainably sampling coffee from all the other great pop-ups out there.

Atlas Coffee

If there’s an importer with a stealth reputation for fun it might just be Atlas Coffee, which doubled down on its Expo presence with both a high traffic coffee pop-up on the main show floor as well as a coffee bar in the World Coffee Championships Roaster Village. At either location you were likely to find pro baristas alongside traders alongside coffee producers, sharing both coffee and stories.

On the exhibition floor, Atlas’ bright, sort of picnic-chic cafe stall cranked out guest roasts all through the day surrounded by those who’d brought the same coffees to this (highly!) drinkable point from their origins as green. And while it might be a little easier to impress the masses roaming glassy-eyed up and down aisles of de-gassing valve technologists and water wizards, Atlas held its own in the Roaster Village alongside the likes of full-time, full-on retailers like ST. ALi, Stumptown, locals Broadsheet, and many more. When we visited, Sumatra’s Ketiara Cooperative was the featured origin, the kiosk graciously hosted not just by Atlas’ own staffers but by the co-op’s leader, Ramah, who also offered woven Ketiara wristbands to visitors. You can’t drink a coffee under much more origin-storybook conditions than these, folks.

How a Million-Dollar Deal Helped These Coffee Entrepreneurs Partner With Walmart

owners of Denver-based Boyer's Coffee, recently launched an exclusive line for the retail giant.

When Walmart wanted to launch its own version of packaged third-wave coffee, it sought out the Denver-based Boyer's Coffee, run by brothers Douglass and Jason Barrow. The brothers traced this win back to a success it had more than 10 years prior that laid the groundwork for the partnership.

In 2005, both brothers worked for corporations -- Jason for General Electric and Douglass for ING -- and then got the entrepreneurial itch. With their mutual love of coffee, they purchased a roastery called Luna. Their first big success would come soon, but it wasn't under their brand's name -- rather, they got a deal for a private label with Schwan's, the frozen food giant.

"We basically took our brand story of ethically sourced, socially responsible, roast order coffees and we applied it to a Schwan's private label," Jason said. "What that ended up doing for us was it brought our first million dollars of revenue in very early. Our strategy has always been to get into the C suite and influence top down."

With that infusion, the Barrows were able to invest significantly into their business.

"We literally built upon that deal every day of the week, because that big deal required us to get certifications that only Starbucks and Folgers would hold, like USDA organic certifications and safety and handling certifications," Jason said. "It required us to get investors to put in millions of dollars into infrastructure that we needed."

Mash-Up Coffee blends coffee beans from two countries, such as Colombia and Sumatra. Each bag features a QR code that customers can scan to learn ideal food pairings and preparation methods. That's part of an effort, Douglass said, to make quality coffee more approachable for the average consumer. The brothers also want to educate customers about the origins of their cup of joe.

Asia Coffee-Vietnam domestic prices rebound; Indonesian premium expands

HANOI/BANDAR LAMPUNG, April 4 (Reuters) - Domestic coffee prices in Vietnam bounced back on Thursday, tracking a recovery in London, after hitting their lowest level in three years earlier this week, while Indonesian premium expanded from last week. Farmers in Vietnam’s Central Highlands sold coffee at 31,600-32,500 ($1.36-$1.40) per kg COFVN-DAK on Thursday, down from a range of 32,000-33,100 dong last week. Prices fell to as low as 30,700 earlier this week.

“Prices in Vietnam are moving in tandem with London prices, which also hit a multi-year low on Tuesday,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said. May robusta coffee settled up $44, or 3.1 percent, at $1,457 per tonne on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, premium expanded this week to compensate for the recent drop in the benchmark London prices. Premium for the grade 4 defect 80 robusta COFID-G4-USD rose to $100-$110 to the May contract on Thursday from $70-$80 a week ago, a trader in Sumatra’s Lampung province said.

“Transaction remain light in volume as supplies from an ongoing mini harvest in some areas in southern Sumatra remain limited,” the trader said. He said trade won’t pick up significantly until next month. The main robusta harvest in Indonesia typically starts from mid-year. Indonesia’s exports of Sumatra robusta in March totalled 6,563 tonnes, up 53 percent from a year earlier but down 19 percent from February. ($1 = 23,198 dong).

Paying Fair Prices for Quality Coffee

Emilio Garcia, a fourth-generation Honduran coffee farmer, acutely understands the current coffee pricing crisis. He and his family produce as much as 75,000 pounds of green coffee each year and they need to get the best possible price for their crop. The current economic climate, however, does not favor Garcia and other specialty coffee farmers around the world. The C-market price – the benchmark for coffee commodity trading – hovers near $1 per pound, a figure so low that farmers struggle to sell their beans at prices high enough to cover their operating costs.

The situation is so severe that the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) established the Coffee Price Crisis Response Initiative. Headed by former SCA executive director Ric Rhinehart. The initiative is structured to better understand and identify solutions involving price discovery for the specialty coffee industry. “We’re also looking to fully understand where we can apply efforts to change,” Rhinehart told STiR coffee and tea magazine. “We want [to create] a menu of things that coffee buyers might do to change the current dynamic. I personally anticipate the solutions will be divergent between the specialty coffee sector and [the] regular coffee [sector].”

While called a price crisis, it is not strictly an issue of dollars, Rhinehart said. “It’s not a problem of low price. It’s a problem fundamental to the market mechanism. Buying power outstrips selling power in every occasion. ”The solutions may lie in transparency and what Rhinehart calls price discovery mechanisms. If roasting companies know how their green bean dollars are distributed between the importer, the middlemen, and the farmer, they can make more informed purchasing decisions.

“Where does the money go? How much goes to the farmer? It’s not only OK for a roaster to ask,” he said. “It’s imperative.” Rhinehart stressed transparency. “It’s incumbent on the roaster to know how much of the price they pay gets to the farmer. They must insist to vendors that the vendors show the price.”

Brewing the Coffee Dream: Bajawa, Flores, Indonesia

As a prelude to the conference, I had the opportunity to visit Flores, a large island about 300 miles east of Bali that is a source of high-quality Arabica coffee. Flores is less well known than some other Indonesian origins; however, it is beginning to make a name for itself.

On this field trip, I joined Kim Elena Ionescu, Chief Sustainability Officer of the Specialty Coffee Association, and colleagues from Lutheran World Relief (LWR). Our destination on Flores was Bajawa, a town at 1,100 MAMSL located near Ngada communities, many of which are sandwiched between active volcanoes.

As we emerged from the small Komodo Airport on Flores, we were met by an SUV that whisked us to a small café minutes away called Revinco Kedai Kopi (Revinco Coffee Shop). It is in a small residential area of Labuan Bajo, where we had about 90 minutes to relax before our flight to Bajawa.

Labuan Bajo is the tourist gateway to the Komodo dragons: because of this attraction, rent is high in the community. As we sipped delicious cups of coffee from Bajawa – good acidity, medium body, and hints of plum, brewed either with a French Press or V60 – we also enjoyed incredibly sumptuous banana pancakes, drizzled with honey. While there, we learned that the café was conceived of and opened by Vivi Pane from LWR, and a former colleague of hers who offered his garage to house the café. It was very comfortable and the perfect place to catch our breath between flights.

When we landed in Bajawa, we were met by Vivi, who shared that her vision for Revinco Kedai Kopi is for the café to serve high-quality Arabica coffee only from Bajawa. As her parents farm coffee, Vivi’s hope is that the café will help visiting coffee lovers develop a finer appreciation for the work involved in producing high-quality coffee from Bajawa, while also providing a space to link visiting coffee professionals with high-quality green coffee.

10 Best Coffee Shops in Bali

Bali has built up a reputation for its flourishing food scene, and this level of discernment has infiltrated into the local coffee culture too. This can partly be attributed to the Australian influence on the island, with entrepreneurs and expats who’ve created a demand for a quality cup of joe. But it doesn’t stop there—the wellness element has also seeped through to this scene, with vegan lattes crafted with homemade nut milks offered at nearly every cafe, alongside other drinks such as invigorating detox booster shots. The food at these cafes is a good as the coffee (especially the breakfasts!), with most dishes on the menu using local, organic produce sourced from the volcanic soil of Bali.

Alchemy

Alchemy is a tranquil mecca for wellness lovers who flock to Ubud, and it's one of the finest vegan establishments you'll ever find. In addition to vegan lattes with homemade nut milks, Alchemy does a strong cold-pressed juice game. Sample seasonal drinks such as Hearty Heart, with beetroot, watermelon, tomato, carrot, and spinach, or the love-it-or-hate-it Cocobiotic, which is made with fermented coconut. Far from uniformly hippie-ish, the crowd here is a mix of folks from all walks of life.

Baby Revolver Espresso

Baby Rev's, as Baby Revolver is known, is an intimate hole-in-the-wall spot with only eight seats. The interior is styled like a cozy cabin, with dark wood-paneled walls and Navajo-patterned cushions. Baby Rev's is part of the Revolver Espresso brand, which was one of the first to bring Australian-style coffee to Bali. The company roasts and blends its beans in its own roastery using a retro Diedrich roaster as well as a new Giesen machine.

The Shady Shack

The Shady Shack is a whitewashed cafe with bohemian chairs and benches with cozy cushions on the veranda, as well as a lush, leafy outdoor area. With its big wooden tables and alfresco setting, this is a great place to meet and catch up with friends, perhaps after a yoga class at one of the nearby studios. The coffee here is great, but don't miss smoothies such as Berry Bliss, with blueberry, coconut yogurt, and bee pollen.

Starbucks Opens One-of-a-Kind Coffee Sanctuary in Bali, Indonesia

BALI, Indonesia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 12, 2019--Today, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) celebrates the journey of coffee from seed-to-cup by opening its largest destination in Southeast Asia – the Starbucks Dewata Coffee Sanctuary. The one-of-a-kind Coffee Sanctuary demonstrates Starbucks Indonesia’s coffee leadership in partnership with licensee PT Sari Coffee Indonesia, building upon 16 years of innovation in design, customer experience and community impact. The store pays tribute to the important role that Indonesia, the fourth largest Arabica coffee growing region in the world, plays in bringing Starbucks customers the highest quality coffees, including the popular single-origin coffee from Sumatra. Sumatra coffee has been a staple offering at Starbucks since 1971.

Located in Bali’s up-and-coming premium retail district on Sunset Road, the more than 20,000 square feet Coffee Sanctuary is the largest Starbucks destination in Southeast Asia. Starbucks Dewata Coffee Sanctuary is a one-of-a-kind hands-on coffee experience, inviting customers to embark on the seed-to-cup journey in one of coffee’s most extraordinary origin regions and one of Asia’s top travel destinations. (Photo: Business Wire)

“We began sourcing Indonesian coffees more than four decades ago and have always been struck by the sense of community and care for the coffee journey at every step,” said Kevin Johnson, ceo, Starbucks Coffee Company. “The Starbucks Dewata Coffee Sanctuary amplifies our passion for the coffee journey, our ongoing commitment to Indonesia’s rich coffee culture, and our tireless pursuit of fostering moments of connection between our partners and customers. The Coffee Sanctuary marks the tenth Starbucks Reserve Bar store in Indonesia, one of 185 stores around the world, with the majority in Asia. This is Starbucks at its best, and we are proud to open the doors of this unique experience in one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic markets.”

Theresa Giudice, Real Housewives of Orange County, Has Her Own Coffee Brand!

Sourced from a Fair Trade and women-run cooperative in Sumatra, Indonesia

So, you already know that Teresa Giudice has authored a few cookbooks in her day. Perhaps you've even made her Flank Steak alla Sala Consilina for a Real Housewives of New Jersey viewing party, or wowed the crowd at a cookout with her Parmesan and Paprika Corn on the Cob. And perhaps, after reading this, you'll also sip Teresa Giudice coffee in the morning. Because, oh yeah — didn't you know? She also has her own coffee! 

On October 30, Teresa's Instagram Stories delivered all kinds of information that had us wildly swiping up. First, she showed off her coffee maker getting ready to brew up a cup, with a casual hashtag for "mycoffee." Next to the machine, a bag of beans had the label Caffe Roma, and featured a photo of Teresa and her mother and daughter. 

We swiped up to land on a site devoted to Teresa's merch, and read more about the coffee there. Fair-traded from a women-run cooperative, the artisan-roasted Sumatra coffee beans are inspired by a cafe in Rome. But wait, there's more!

Trader Joe’s Does It Again With Fudge Coffee Brownies. Here’s How to Make Your Own!

A lot of great desserts have come from the masterminds at Trader Joe’s, including a deep dish chocolate chip cookie and a birthday cake candy bar.

But TJ’s knows their most buzzed-about treats come from combining coffee and chocolate, as is evident in their uber-popular Brownie Ice Cream Sandwiches. Most recently, they released Sumatra Coffee Brownies, and we're giddy just thinking about them (or maybe that's the caffeine kicking in). 

The brownies are made with ground Sumatra coffee beans (known for its full-bodied character and bold flavors) and coffee extract—so you might not want to eat these right before bed. Trader Joe’s suggests serving the brownies with their Coffee Bean Blast Ice Cream and Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce, or eating it alongside an affogato. We’ll alternate between the two ideas until we run out of brownies (they’re sold in bags of four for just $3).

What makes their mocha treats so addictive? A splash of brewed coffee, a shot of espresso, or a spoonful of espresso powder enhances the chocolate flavor in desserts. That's why we have an entire collection of them.

Coffee Beer: Sumatra Mountain Brown By Founders Brewing Co.

Grand Rapids, Michigan based brewery Founders Brewing Company have a way with coffee beers—the brand’s Kentucky Breakfast Stout (KBS) is highly sought after in the craft beer community, and Founders’ new Sumatra Mountain Brown is a worthy addition to that lineage in this, the 20th-anniversary year of the storied brewery.

A collaboration between Founders and Ferris Coffee, also of Grand Rapids, the Sumatra Mountain Brown clocks in at 9% ABV. It’s a slow-drinking, deeply complex coffee beer, perfect for dessert or in a bottle share setting. Best of all, unlike many of the coffee beers we’ve featured this year on Sprudge, Sumatra Mountain Brown enjoys wide distribution across the United States—if you’re reading this in America, chances are you can find this near you.

To learn more about the Sumatra Mountain Brown we spoke with Sam Mirto, Director of Coffee at Ferris and Jeremy Kosmicki, Brewmaster at Founders.

Always an exception: inside the rising tide of indonesian coffee

My love affair with Indonesian coffee began early, while I was new to the coffee industry, and still coming down from the seething iconoclastic urges of my teenage years. My fellow baristas loved Ethiopian, Colombian, and Brazilian coffees, but something pushed me towards the bracing earthy and herbal notes that took the foreground in coffees from the Indonesian archipelago. That same something later pushed me towards things like Laphroaig whisky, chili-addled delicacies, and Kretek clove cigarette lung torpedoes. But those are stories for another time.

Like anyone, I began to appreciate the more nuanced flavors of coffee only after tasting coffee day after day. Victrola’s Bolivia Juan De Dios Blanco and later 49th Parallel’s Ethiopia Beloya Micro-Lot #3 opened my eyes to the breadth of flavors that can be present in coffee, and I always looked forward to tasting a new coffee with my coworkers and friends. Thomas Surprenant and Samuel Lewontin were my consistent tasting companions, and together we spent a fair amount of time staring blankly out of windows in awe of the sweet emulsions that had just graced our papillae. They were good days, but it was rare indeed that all three of us agreed that an Indonesian coffee was blowing our mind.

Some Indonesian coffees continued to pull at my tongue-strings, however. In particular, Lake Tawar, Blue Batak, and Toarco Jaya coffees were consistently good from year to year. To a younger me, these coffees vindicated my positive view of Indonesian coffee in general. Later, I realized that I would need to take a more critical stance to understand what it was about these coffees that drew me in, and to provide me with material for starting a true dialogue with my peers. All this eventually led me to Indonesia to seek out answers for myself.

Indonesia Wakes Up And Smells Its Own Coffee — Then Drinks It

The Indonesian island of Java has long been synonymous with coffee. But it's only in the past decade or so that Indonesians have begun to wake up and smell the coffee — their own, that is.

Big changes are brewing in the country's coffee industry, as demand from a rising middle class fuels entrepreneurship and connoisseurship.

The trend is clear at places like the Anomali Coffee shop in South Jakarta. It roasts its coffee just inside the entrance on the ground floor.

If you walk into the roasting room at just the right moment, as the heat caramelizes the sugars in the coffee beans, it smells like someone is baking cookies. Get close to the roasting machine, and you can hear the beans snap and pop.

"It is the bean expanding because of the heat of the core," explains Anomali's founder Irvan Helmi. Anomali Coffee includes a trading company that wholesales to hotels and other businesses. It also has a barista training academy.

And upstairs from the roasting ovens is one of its seven cafes. On a table, bags of beans from a half-dozen single origins are on sale. A blackboard ranks the beans in terms of their acidity and body. "In Toraja, you also have a medium body, chocolaty and caramel, herbs," Irvan says, picking up a bag of beans from Sulawesi Island.

Indonesia's more than 17,000 islands teem with cultural diversity, and more plant and animal species than researchers can catalog. Little wonder, then, that from Aceh in the west to Papua in the east, the archipelago has more coffees than Irvan's tasters can get around to tasting.

Sorry, coffee friends, prepare to pay more for your java

J.M. Smucker’s (SJM) move this week to boost the price of its Folger’s and Dunkin’ Donuts brand coffees is a financial jolt for java junkies. After all, U.S. consumers have enjoyed falling prices in recent years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price for a pound of coffee as of November was $4.31, down from $5.04 in 2013.  

That was then. Now, the price of coffee futures is around $1.49 per pound, up more than 15 percent from a year ago. And bean costs are rising. FocusEconomics expects prices to average $1.65 by year-end, with the price increase driven by lackluster supply and growing consumption in the U.S., China and India. 

Indeed, commodities broker Shawn Hackett thinks coffee futures could hit as much as $3 a pound at some point during 2017. “They certainly are going to go up a lot, possibly even more than last year,” he said, adding that the “danger zone” for the coffee market is between now and the spring harvest.   

According to the International Coffee Organization, economists have found that when the price of coffee futures go up, consumers usually see a price increase; but when futures prices fall, retail prices don’t typically fall at the same rate.

One key factor pushing up prices: weather. Several years ago, coffee production fell when the weather pattern known as El Nino, tied to above-average temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, lead to a multi-year drought in Brazil and Vietnam, the world’s top two producers. During the most recent growing season, meanwhile, Vietnamese coffee growers were pummeled during harvest seasons by floods. 

How Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz likes his coffee

Many people like to start their days with a cup of coffee. And some of those people can be extremely particular about how they take their coffee.

One of the people is Howard Schultz, the outgoing CEO of Starbucks (SBUX). The billionaire coffee magnate’s go-to is a cup of Sumatra, brewed his favorite way — in a French press.

“For me, the best way to brew coffee has always been in a French press. That was how I’d brewed it at home for 25 years. Unlike the drip method, where water passes over coffee grounds and drips through a filter, the coffee grounds in a press pot are continually steeped in water; the full immersion brings out a taste that just cannot be achieved by a drip brewer,” Schultz wrote in his 2011 bestseller “Onward.”

He described his first time drinking a cup of Sumatra while visiting the original Starbucks store in the Pike Place Market district in 1981. At the time, he was a general manager for Swedish drip coffee maker, Hammarplast. Starbucks, then a single-store roaster and retailer of whole bean and ground coffee, was a client.

“As we spoke, the counterman scooped out some Sumatra coffee beans, ground them, put the grounds in a filter in the cone and poured hot water over them. Although the task took only a few minutes, he approached the work almost reverently, like an artisan,” Schultz wrote in his first book, “Pour You Heart Into It.”

“When he handed me a porcelain mug filled with the freshly brewed coffee, the steam and the aroma seemed to envelop my entire face,” Schultz continued. “There was no question of adding milk or sugar. I took a small, tentative sip. Woah. I threw my head back, and my eyes shot wide open. Even from a single sip, I could tell it was stronger than any coffee I had ever tasted.”

Three sips in, Schultz was hooked.

After visiting the original store that day, Schultz went to the Starbucks roasting plant to meet the owners of the company, Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker. Baldwin brewed him a cup of coffee in a French press for the first time, showing him the way coffee should be brewed.

Schultz would eventually buy Starbucks and expand it into the coffeehouse empire it is today, with more than 24,000 locations worldwide.

Last week, Schultz announced his resignation as CEO, effective April 2017. He’ll assume the role of executive chairman, while Kevin Johnson, the company’s president and COO, will take over as CEO.