Exquisite High-Quality Indonesian Coffee with Floral Notes: Flavor Profile from the Toraja Coffee Region in Sulawesi, Indonesia

Indonesian coffee is beloved by coffee connoisseurs for its herbaceous, spicy, and rich low-acid flavor profile. But are all Indonesian coffee beans like this? Not quite! Coffee beans from Indonesia's Sulawesi Island, compared to those produced in Sumatra, have bright acidity and more distinct layers of flavor.

Sulawesi Island

Sulawesi Island was formerly known as Celebes. It is one of the oldest islands in the archipelago, with exposed rocks dating back over millions of years. Yellow-red podzolic soils are found in the coffee-producing regions. These soils often contain several layers of clay beneath the surface, rich in iron. The most famous producing region is Toraja, located in the highlands of South Sulawesi.

Toraja

Toraja is not a place name, city name, or variety name, but rather an ethnic group skilled in coffee cultivation living in the central mountainous region of Sulawesi, and also the name of the island's specialty beans. The Toraja people are an ethnic minority residing in the TANAH TORAJA region of central Sulawesi Island. The Toraja people are a highly distinctive ethnic group who still maintain many original customs and traditions: boat houses and hanging coffins. It is said they are descendants of an invading people who assimilated or eliminated the original inhabitants when they ruled the island. Later they were driven away by Muslim Indonesians, leaving the coast to settle in the highland mountains. They are fierce and warlike, and to avoid disturbances from other ethnic groups, they built their villages in easily defensible highlands.

Coffee beans produced in Toraja are also among the world's rarest specialty beans, with an annual production of about 1,000 metric tons, distributed in the rugged slopes of central and southwestern Sulawesi Island at altitudes of about 1,200m. Planting and harvesting are not easy, with an average annual yield of only 300 kg per hectare. Semi-washed processing is the common processing method for Sulawesi Island. The region also produces many Robusta beans, and this place name is most commonly used to represent Sulawesi coffee. The specialty coffee beans produced in Sulawesi Toraja have bright acidity, distinct layers, rich caramel sweetness, while the herbaceous, spicy and rich flavors are much more restrained, with a slight floral note.

Toraja has three famous estates: Pt kapal Api, which has 2,000 hectares of coffee gardens; CSR, which has 1,100 hectares of coffee fields; and the Japanese Key Coffee company's estate Toarco Jaya, which has 700 hectares of coffee gardens. In other words, Toraja-produced coffee is even more precious than Gold Mandheling.

Semi-Washed Processing Method

Due to the extremely inconvenient transportation in the highlands, most Toraja coffee beans are processed by farmers who use hand-cranked depulpers to remove the coffee pulp from harvested coffee cherries, then put the depulped coffee cherries into water basins for soaking, then pack them in plastic bags for fermentation, and finally dry them with parchment.

After drying (with moisture content between 11-13%), they are transported from the mountainous production areas to Kalosi downhill, then sold to intermediaries or processing plants for further processing and refinement, so the Kalosi region has become an important coffee distribution center. This is also why some people call Toraja coffee Kalosi coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee Roasting Recommendations

In addition to the visible dark green appearance of Toraja raw beans, the flavor profile presents low acidity, thick body, and gentle, lingering fruit flavors that highlight the unique characteristics of Sulawesi Toraja coffee, distinguishing it from Sumatra Mandheling.

In the gentle acidity, there is a charm of ripened grapes, with a clean yet solid mouthfeel, and an overwhelming caramel sweetness that lingers in the mouth. FrontStreet Coffee's barista recommends medium roasting Sulawesi coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Filter: V60#01
Water temperature: 90-91°C
Coffee dose: 15g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Grind size: Medium-fine grind (80% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve)

FrontStreet Coffee's three-stage extraction method: Use 30g of water for a 30-second bloom, then continue pouring with a small water flow in a circular motion to 125g for segmentation (timer at approximately 1'00"), and when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, continue pouring to 225g and stop pouring (timer at approximately 1'50"), when the water level drops and is about to expose the coffee bed, remove the filter cup (timing starts from the bloom), extraction time is 2'00"-2'10".

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