We first travelled to the Lake Toba region of Sumatra in 2017, and on this trip we had the pleasure of meeting Mama Frankie.  Her farm is nestled on top of Dolok Motung, a small plateau on the edge of Lake Toba in the northern mountains of Sumatra, Indonesia. Mama Frankie and her partner “Papa Frankie” are both in their sixties and have been farming coffee for the past 16 years.

Whilst visiting, we identified her farm as having good potential for high-quality coffee. It is at a slightly higher altitude, there is an abundance of shade trees, and the relatively small scale of her farm (1 hectare) makes it easier to maintain and manage.

We loved her incredible energy, infectious laugh and joie de vivre during our visit – something that definitively expresses itself in her coffee.

Mama Frankie is one of the producers of our Blue Toba (a current component of our flagship Daily Blend espresso). Blue Toba is a regional blend from the district of Sipanganbolon, which represents over 475 coffee farmers and their families. 

Separating coffee by farm or farmer is not common in Indonesia, where collectively combing groups or regions of farmers is the norm.

We’re proud to continue working with Mama Frankie since first successfully securing her coffee as a single producer lot.

BREWING GUIDE

We’ve been brewing this coffee with a classic French press. Pre-heating the carafe and discarding the rinse water, we add 45g of medium-coarse ground coffee and 750g of soft, filtered water just off the boil, allowing it to steep for 4-5 minutes before stirring to break the crust, skimming the foam and plunging softly.