Indonesia: Flores Island

Flores is small by island standards, just about 360 kilometers end to end. It is in the Indonesian archipelago, between Sumbawa and Timor islands. The name is an abbreviation of Cabo da Flores which was used by Portuguese sailor in the 17th century to identify the cape on the eastern end of the islands because of its underwater gardens. Divided by mountain chains and volcanoes, the island populated by ethnic groups with their own traditions and languages. Predominantly Catholic, the have retained several aspects of the Portuguese culture such as the Easter parade held annually at Larantuka on the eastern part of the island and the Royal Regalia of the former King of Sikka. The coffee areas are higher altitude compared to other Indonesian origins, but the highest peak is just 1736 meters. The milling tradition is wet-process, so this coffee bears resemblence to the coffees of Timor-Leste, New Guinea and Java more than to the semi-washed coffees of Sumatra and Sulawesi. It is sweet, floral (appropriately since Flores means Flowers), with good syrupy body, and a clean cup overall. It has uses in espresso, it is worthy to note.

Indonesia Flores "Jade"

Flores is a small island (360 km from tip to tip) in the Indonesian archipelago around 200 nautical miles East of Bali.

Flores was known as Pulau Nipa (Snake Island) before the Portuguese arrived and they renamed it Flores (Flower Island).

A very long thin Mountainous land with incredibly diverse terrain, and numerous active and inactive volcanic peaks.

The Bajawa Highlands are one of the most traditional areas of Flores.

Bajawa is a small town nestled in the hills and is the centre for the Ngada people of this high, fertile plateau.

The coffee is grown between 1150 and 1400 meters, which is actually quite respectable altitude for Indonesian coffee farming.

This is not the first time I have cupped coffee from Flores, but this is quite different from the brighter, sweeter, cleaner Flores

we have offered.

That coffee is good in its own right, but here we have a much more intense cup, something along the lines of a great, agressive

Sumatra flavor profile.

The reason is that this lot is traditional Indonesia process, not wet-processed.

Ripe cherry is picked from the tree, pulped with a small hand-crank machine to remove the skin (but all the fruit stays on the green coffee,

which is still inside its parchment), and laid out to dry in the sun.

If this drying is done on patios, it is a bit slower than "raised bed" or screen-drying, and the result is a much more rustic cup.

The coffee is then collected and transported to the dry mill to be hulled out of parchment and graded.

With a traditional Indonesia, this happens before the coffee has been fully dried down to 11% moisture.

And they don't let the coffee "rest" in parchment that long ... it happens largely in the shipping container on the way over to the US!

Hence the coffee has a dark, opal-jade color. Okay, all that backstory is fine, but what about the cup?

You know right away from the dry fragrance this is an earthy, full-body, intense cup. There are woody notes in the aroma too,

wet forest bark, cocoa-chocolate. In the cup there is a syrupy, heavy body, low acidity; a thick, tenor-to-bass range flavor profile.

There's a dark cocoa powder flavor from start to finish. It's not that complex, and might strike those who like bright, clean coffee as "wrong."

But for some this is the bullseye for deep, thick, intense flavor profiles.

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Indonesia: Flores Island

Northeast of the State of Sao Paulo in Brazil

Preparation &

Cupping Character: Nutty, sweet, medium body, medium to low acidity

Altitude: 1000 Meters above sea level

Harvest &

Exportation Time: Harvest May-August Exports-all year round

Bird Friendly: Not certified