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Famous Indonesian Coffee Brands - The Cultivation History of Toraja Coffee Beans from Sulawesi

Published: 2026-01-28 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/28, Professional coffee knowledge exchange. For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (official WeChat account: cafe_style). Famous Indonesian Coffee Brands - The Cultivation History of Toraja Coffee Beans from Sulawesi? How to Brew Sulawesi Coffee Beans? Sulawesi is the fourth largest island in Indonesia, shaped like an orchid with a very twisted form, also resembling the English letter K, so Indonesians

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For more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

Indonesia's Excellent Coffee Brands - The Cultivation History of Sulawesi Coffee Beans Toraja and How to Brew Sulawesi Coffee Beans

Sulawesi is the fourth largest island in Indonesia, shaped like an orchid with a very twisted form, also resembling the letter K of the English alphabet, which is why Indonesians commonly refer to it as K Island. In the 13th century, two kingdoms emerged in Sulawesi: the Bugis people, who primarily followed Islam, were mainly based in the south, while the central and northern regions were the territory of the Toraja people, who practiced Catholicism. The two kingdoms were sworn enemies for centuries, but in the 15th century, Portuguese and Spanish sailors arrived one after another in search of spice trade. In the early 17th century, both kingdoms surrendered to the advanced naval power of the Dutch for 300 years.

The Bugis people of the south possess natural seafaring talents, with their fleet having a history spanning several hundred years. To this day, they still possess the world's only remaining fleet of sailing ships. Their provincial capital and main commercial port, Makassar (Ujung Pandang), remains the gateway to eastern Indonesia. Traveling north, passing through rugged mountainous areas, brings one to what locals call "Land of the Heavenly Kings" - Tana Toraja.

Compared to Sumatra, Toraja farmers have a strong sense of quality, selecting only fully ripe coffee cherries for harvest, which extends the harvest season considerably. Toraja coffee in Sulawesi is also processed using the Giling Basah method, combined with Sulawesi Island's rich iron ore deposits and high iron content in the soil, both of which contribute to the unique flavor profile of Toraja coffee.

Like many indigenous peoples throughout Indonesia, the Torajas originally sustained themselves through hunting and conducted periodic raids on various villages. Therefore, their ethnic groups were mostly located on mountain peaks with strict defenses. Dutch colonizers pacified the Torajas, allowing them to establish their own villages in valleys, thereby changing their livelihood pattern to focus primarily on agriculture and raising pigs and water buffalo. The original Toraja religion worshipped megaliths and practiced animism, in which various celebrations and funeral rites still involved large-scale animal sacrifices. In the 19th century, Dutch missionaries, backed by colonial power, changed local beliefs and native languages. Today, 60% of Toraja people are Christian, only 10% are Muslim, while the remainder still follow indigenous religions.

In recent years, some traders have gradually begun importing Toraja coffee to Taiwan, and Toraja Coffee has gradually gained recognition in the market.

However, knowledge about Toraja is mostly limited to the terms Toraja Kalosi Celebes, which has led to some confusion among shops using Toraja green coffee beans regarding price and quality definitions.

Are you actually buying Toraja, Kalosi, Toraja Kalosi, or Celebes?

Here's a simple explanation: People commonly referred to it as Toraja Kalosi in the past because after Toraja coffee was harvested by farmers, it was sold to local middlemen, who then sent it to so-called coffee processing facilities in the Kalosi region. Therefore, Toraja coffee was often associated with Kalosi. In reality, Kalosi was primarily a distribution center for green coffee beans rather than famous for coffee cultivation.

Therefore, it's nearly impossible to determine from which high-altitude coffee mountainous region the commonly purchased Toraja green beans actually originate. Besides the 50-hectare scale plantation cooperation between the Forestry Bureau and Toarco Jaya Company that began in 2009, most Toraja region consists of small-scale farmers who grow their own coffee and sell it to middlemen, without developing so-called large estate models. In recent years, Toraja coffee's fame has greatly increased while production is quite limited, so some green bean purchasers go directly to Toraja's mountainous regions to buy coffee beans, and Toraja has gradually established its own reputation. A young man from Taiwan, after several months of data collection and testing in the deep mountains of Toraja, finally decided to select the Toraja - Sapan mountainous region in central Sulawesi to begin purchasing coffee beans. The Sapan coffee growing area is at an altitude of 1,300-1,500 meters, which is also the most suitable height for growing high-quality Indonesian Arabica coffee. The average annual temperature is approximately 22-28 degrees Celsius.

This area possesses optimal soil quality, with a humus layer exceeding 30 centimeters in thickness, consisting entirely of black soil. The coffee here not only has sufficient nutrients to grow large, but the flavor is absolutely excellent!! Furthermore, unlike the Toraja sold by other traders, we maintain complete control starting from when coffee farmers harvest cherries, cooperating with farmers through semi-contractual arrangements, requiring the harvesting of absolutely ripe cherries. The general coffee processing method used in Toraja mountainous areas is quite primitive: after pulp removal, the coffee undergoes a simple washing process to remove pulp, while simultaneously skimming off unripe or diseased coffee beans, followed by direct sun-drying for 2 to 3 days. However, sunlight in the mountains is scarce, so most coffee is simply shade-dried before being bagged to await middlemen's purchase. Consequently, most Toraja coffee beans (in parchment) seen on the market are still extremely moist, and the coffee beans often become moldy. To avoid such situations, after removing the coffee parchment, we immediately bag it and send it directly to a dehulling factory in Rantepao for sun-drying for two to three days before removing the parchment, then send it to Makassar for sun-drying (as Makassar's sun-drying temperature is very high) and hand-sorting for grading.