The Art of Master Roasting Indonesian Coffee

By: Art Hardie

Indonesian coffee is perhaps one of the most miscategorized and misunderstood coffee origins out there.

People debate the quality. The methods of farming. Whether all Indonesian coffee is robusta, and if they grow any arabica at all. Also, most people only think Indonesian coffee comes from Sumatra, the region famous for Java, which of course is where the term comes from.



But at Toraja Mountain Coffee, we strongly believe that the best Indonesian coffee comes from the wild-grown, hand-farmed mountaintop jungles of Tana Toraja, South Sulawesi, Indonesia.

That’s where our coffee beans grow and our farmers live. We import the beans directly from the farm in state-of-the-art, mold-resistant, air-tight bags designed specifically for prolonging the quality of Indonesian coffee green beans.

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Once here in the US, the beans don’t travel far at all. After arriving at the Port of Tampa, they travel only an hour and a half south to our facility in Sarasota. There they fall under the care of our Master Roaster, Terry Davis. Terry is a legend in coffee roasting and has authored more than 40 articles for well-renowned publications like Roast Magazine.



In this facility, our coffee undergoes rigorous cuppings and tastings. And yes, recently all of our roast profiles have been super refined and our coffee is better than ever. Why? Because quite simply, the bigger the roaster, the more consistency across the board. That’s why we are currently roasting Toraja Mountain Coffee in a 50-kilo, custom engineered and designed roaster - all created by Terry himself. The design is almost entirely German, with some Vietnamese influence as well. And how much is 50-kilos? Well it’s an entire jute bag, that’s one of those familiar canvas bags. Each weighing 110-pounds.

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The results is that each full jute bag of our Indonesian coffee gets an even roast that’s been curated by a real master of his craft. And when you roast at that level, you need to take in every consideration such as ambient temperature, humidity, wind, bean density, etc.

It’s a real art. And at the master level, it’s an art of production and love for great coffee. That’s why at Toraja Mountain Coffee, we encourage you to order our new stuff, which we can confidently say is the best Indonesian coffee available in the United States today.

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