Andre Hamboer

“We always want to improve what we have, because we believe that coffee is not only a form of bitter and black, it should be something more than that.”

Ruteng is home to Tuang Coffee, a forerunner of specialty coffee production and ethical sourcing on Flores. Tuang was founded by Andre Hamboer, who grew up there surrounded by his father’s extended family in Indonesia’s capital of Jakarta. Deciding that the life of a corporate lawyer in Singapore wasn’t for him, Andre established Tuang in 2014 with a vision to elevate Manggarai coffee in ways that deliver higher incomes for coffee farmers. 

The dominant variety in the region is Kartika, a portmanteau of Kopi Arabika Tipe Katai, which is a localized version of Catuai. Other varieties are present in smaller volumes throughout the area, including Yellow Bourbon and Juria, an old typica variety that was planted in an earlier era of coffee production in Flores, with a few hearty trees remaining.  The coffee plants on the farm are primarily surrounded by yum yum trees, taro, and banana trees.

Tuang’s anaerobic natural coffee starts with selective picking of ripe red cherry by smallholder farmers, which they then deliver to a collection point where additional sorting is performed. The collector then brings the cherry to Tuang’s mill in Ruteng, where ripeness is checked and then loaded into water tanks that have been repurposed for fermentation. The tank is sealed and the coffee is left to ferment for up to 10 days. As the fruit breaks down a liquid is produced, which is pulled from the tank and its pH tested. When the liquid reaches a pH of 3.8 the coffee is removed from the tanks and spread on raised beds for drying down to 12 percent moisture content over the course of 25-45 days, at which point it is moved to the warehouse for storage. Lots are maintained separately by village and date received throughout the process to maintain the highest levels of quality control.

Andre says “We ask them to work together to unleash diamonds inside a simple product named coffee.” By partnering with Tuang Coffee, the farmers can get a fair price on every coffee that they pick, because we ultimately give them an access to serve their valuable product to the specialty coffee market.