CAFE IMPORTS + FLORES

Cafe Imports last sourced coffee from Flores around 2010, and the Indonesian coffee industry has changed dramatically since then. Flores has always produced less coffee than other islands within the Indonesian chain, sending most of its harvest to Java or Sumatra for export throughout the 1900s and earlier. The result is a product that’s lesser known to the specialty consumer than it probably should be.

As new markets, easier communication, and shared knowledge have emerged, producers, cooperatives, and mills of lesser-known origins have made it their mission to bring their country’s coffees to the specialty market. Cafe Imports believes Indonesia is a notable example of this change.

Processors in Flores collect coffee in cherry or wet parchment from surrounding smallholder communities, particularly in the Manggarai region. With excellent processing and preparation, these coffees reveal the unique flavor experiences from this 5,500-square-mile island. We are excited to continue connecting with producers, discovering and cupping Flores coffee.

HISTORY

Flores is a long, narrow island within the eastern half of the Indonesian chain. It’s mountainous landscape is made up of active and inactive volcanoes surrounded by plains of rice fields. Portuguese traders and missionaries were the first Europeans to come to Flores in the early 16th century, naming the island Cabo de Flores, or Cape of Flowers. The Portuguese left their imprint on the people, who came to speak Portuguese and practice Catholicism to this day, but many still hold to traditional animist religions. in 1854, Portugal ceded its historical claims on Flores, and the island became part of the Dutch East Indies territory. The Dutch dispersed coffee throughout Indonesia, discovering where it could grow commercially. Other islands were far more productive, making Flores one of the newest Indonesian origins to export coffee.

The highest peak in Flores is just over 1700 masl, and most coffee production is concentrated in the 1000-1300 masl range by intercropping smallholder producers. Wet-hulled processing, like Sumatra, is common practice, but a rising number of cooperatives and producers are applying higher-quality processes to their coffees. Flores’ specialty coffee is predominantly grown above 1400 meters in the Manggarai region, with varieties like Kartika, Yellow Bourbon, and Juria.