Green Coffee Offerings : Indonesia : Flores

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We carried a Flores coffee back in early 2006, but then the samples seemed to go flat, and often baggy (old) tasting. It's a very small origin in the scheme of things (perhaps more importantly, the area for true high grown coffee is very limited). But then I found a good cup in the offering that arrived late 2008 - fruited sweetness, rustic notes, body. It had the wet-hulled preparation common to Sumatra and Sulawesi - but sweeter than Sumatras, less aggressive. 2011 yielded nothing special, so we passed.

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.

Before the horrible Asian Tsunami of Dec. 2004, there was a smaller but no less devastating one off Flores. An earthquake of magnitude 7.8 occurred on the just off the north coast of the eastern part of Flores Island, on December 12, 1992. This shock was felt on the island of Bali, 700 km to the west. It set off a series of tsunamis, which arrived on the shores of Flores as shortly as two minutes after the initial shock, and which reached every part of the north shore within five minutes. The epicenter was located approximately 35 km NW of Maumere, which is the largest city on the island. 1690 people were killed and 18,000 homes were destroyed. Here is an image of the damage at Wuhring, a small village 5km of Maumere.