In this interview with Adi Taroepratjeka of 5758 Coffee Lab, Adi and I discuss several parts of the coffee value chain, enjoying a good robusta, and the reputation of Indonesian coffee.
Some quotes from the discussion:
Regarding Indonsian coffee and how the world perceives it:
What's interesting is; everything is Sumatra—everything is labeled as Sumatra. When we talk to the barista, they can tell a good story of Sumatra coffee, but when we ask them whether they have coffee from other regions, they have this blank face.
On social media and how we share information:
[S]ometimes we get blindfolded by the information we get. We can get them really fast, really easy. And a lot of time we don't spend some time to try to digest that information.
The full audio and transcript is available or you can watch the interview on my YouTube channel:
The links below will take you directly to the chapter in YouTube:
4:41 Why Adi became a Q Instructor
5:40 Why they strive to keep class prices low
7:43 Recent expansion of the coffee lab
8:50 Adi’s recent article and the conflation of all Indonesian coffee as Sumatran coffee
17:12 The paradox of Indonesian coffee at the two ends of the value chain
19:00 Coffee prices in Indonesia
23:00 About that ‘helpful advice’ to improve quality and chasing trends
26:49 Generational take-over of coffee farms
29:35 Let’s talk robusta!
32:27 More information doesn’t mean we’re getting smarter (more on that ‘helpful adivce’)
35:47 The Twitter outrage machine, mob mentality, etc.
38:31 Communities in coffee
42:12 Roasting classes at 5758