We work with 14 partners worldwide, from who we source our coffee. In Indonesia, we work together with Rende Nao. On this page you can find everything you need to know about this collaboration.

THE

COUNTRY.

Indonesia is one of the oldest coffee producing countries outside of true origin countries on the African continent. Indonesia is made up of more than 17.000 islands and Indonesian coffee is grown on at least 7 of the major islands like Sulawesi, Java, Sumatra. It is best known for arabica but is also third on the list of biggest robusta growing countries just behind Brazil, and happens to be the source of our first fine robusta.We buy our Indonesian coffee from the island of Flores. The island has the reputation of being one of the fairest in the archipelago. Steep, lush, green hills cover the island. These hills are the home of the Rende Nao farmers who produce our coffee.

THE

COFFEE.

The spicy robusta from Rende Nao was our first robusta love and the starting point of an adventure to get robusta on the menu for specialty lovers. Robusta is the black sheep in the coffee family. The specialty coffee world has focused on arabica and all the exciting flavours that can be found in coffee from three continents for the last decades - thrilling but only scratching the surface of what coffee has to offer.

SPECIALTY

ROBUSTA.

Robusta is historically cheaper than arabica and apart from its high caffeine content and bitter notes, it has gotten little attention for its distinct character and quality. It is used as a “filler” in blends, especially when the market price of arabica increases. Most of us would have stuck up our nose for robusta until a few years ago when fine robusta became a thing: the robusta equivalent of specialty arabica. But even now most specialty lovers won’t consider robusta, which is pretty unfair. Even though diversity of flavor is more nuanced it is just as present as in arabica. And this dark, more traditional flavor matches with the preferences of coffee drinkers who don’t enjoy fruity, funky profiles of specialty arabica. If you love your coffee to stand out in a cappuccino, think specialty coffee tastes sour or just miss an Italian-style espresso, robusta works for you!

OUR

PARTNERSHIP.

We have been working with the robusta farmers from the Rende Nao village since 2019. Since 2016 they have been on a mission to move towards high quality, fine robusta - a mission that is super challenging due to climate change and lack of infrastructure, amongst the wider market limitations. There has been a clear, steady improvement since our journey began 4 years ago, and every year new steps are taken to improve the quality even further. We work closely with our partners to assess the quality, share insights on how they can better position their robusta in the market, and advise on next steps for processing improvement: sorting, lot selection, tunnel dry beds. The price we pay enables farmers to make small investments in realising the full potential of this already great coffee.

THE

CHANGEMAKER.

Through our friends at This Side Up we have connected with Adri, founder and partner at Ontosoroh. He is a genuine changemaker, on a mission to make specialty coffee from Indonesia more widely appreciated. He works with producer groups throughout Indonesia and is a true expert on Indonesian coffee. He is the one who works directly with producers on Flores, who are organised into the cooperative group Asnikom. Read a full interview with Adri published in the 2022 Impact Report.

SOME NUMBERS.

251

Farmers

2019

Partnership since

19.680

Total KGs sourced since start of partnership

OUR INDONESIAN COFFEE

Our robusta from Indonesia is available year round in our Spicy robusta pods and as whole beans in our 225 gram and 1 kg pouches. Both are available in our stores as well as online in our coffee subscription offer.