We Bought a Mill

Tiga Raja Mill, in northern Sumatra’s Simalungun region, has steadily evolved since we purchased it in 2013. Through long-term partnerships, shared ownership and agronomy support, coffee is growing again — anchored by a strong local community and a focus on quality at every step.

The Story So Far ...

2025 - Strengthening Coffee Farming

JULY 2024

After years of volatility forcing many Simalungun farmers to turn to other crops, coffee trees are once again returning to the landscape — but many farmers have been facing low yields despite healthy trees. To help turn this around, we’ve launched the Tiga Raja Improvement Plan with our friends at@floespresso, investing in 30,000 high‑quality seedlings, hands‑on support from a local agronomist, and a model farm at our mill to share best‑practice techniques.

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2024 - 10,000 Seedlings

DECEMBER 2024

With the support of our friends at Flo Espresso, the mill has been able to grow 5000 little coffee trees. Our most recent trip was to witness the distribution of the first 5000 seedlings. Now, another 5000 seedlings are flourishing at the mill, ready for distribution in a few months from now.

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2024 - We Bought a Mill: The Sequel

FEBRUARY 2024

Those who have followed our journey may remember that a very long time ago, we announced with a modest amount of fanfare that we bought a coffee mill in the Simalungun region in North Sumatra. That was way back in 2013. More announcements will be made in due course as the first harvest gets closer to landing on our shores. If ever there was a high-quality coffee that you bought for reasons of impacting people positively, this would be it!

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2023 - The Mill is Back Operating

August 2023

We've woken up our mill with the help of Septy and Erwin along with our old friends from Talenta and readied it for production, making it even better than before. Our partnership group have been visiting farmers who were part of the old supply chain, buying the small amount of coffee still being produced and promising our support to farmers to encourage them to get back into it. Better still, our beloved Tiga Raja mill is back processing coffee!

2017 - Field Report: Sumatra Origin Trip

DECEMBER 2017

These origin trips are an incredible chance to get up and close with the processing and relationships that make up our coffee supply. As a team we were able to witness the layers of production and difficulties often faced at the producing end of the supply chain. Some of the most enjoyable yet difficult times of these trips is understanding and talking through the hardships faced by the incredible people of Sumatra that supply to our Tiga Raja Mill partnership.

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2015 - A report card on Tiga Raja

NOVEMBER 2015

On this trip, I focussed on a study that is part of a research project funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), being implemented by a research team at the University of Sydney (led by Dr Jeff Neilson) in conjunction with the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute. This survey is a welcome “report card” on the social and economic impact of owning a mill in Sumatra, a report card which will focus on the farmer’s perspective and hopefully, yield tangible and objective data for the improvement of the relationship.

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2015 - Lima Putri Natural from Sumatra is almost here!

FEBRUARY 2015

This year’s Sumatran season marks the production of the first ever natural micro lot to come from the Tiga Raja mill. This micro lot truly is a collaborative effort between the mill, Common Man Coffee, Five Senses and our ‘Limu Putri’ farm in Sidamanik!

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2014 - A Natural Progression

OCTOBER 2014

A great opportunity has emerged that will allow us to engage directly with a small farm to not only produce a special and rare product, but also to invest in the farmer in a holistic and long term kind of way. Working directly with this farm is only possible thanks to the fact that we have a small, specialty-focused mill on the ground in North Sumatra.

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2014 - Introducing Tiga Raja coffee from Simalungun

MAY 2014

The wait is over, after many months of planning and hard work on the ground, our new Sumatran from our Tiga Raja mill partnership in Silimakuta, Simalungun is ready for release. Being able to receive any coffee from this year’s harvest has been nothing short of a miracle…

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2014 - It’s All Systems Go at Tiga Raja Mill!

FEBRUARY 2014

The harvest isn’t in full flight yet, but on Wednesday last week our truck rolled in with its first four metric tons of super parchment. There isn’t much more for us to do at this end other than to wait eagerly for the arrival of our first container. The Tiga Raja Mill on the other hand — well, they are going to be very busy.

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2013 - We Bought a Mill

DECEMBER 2013

For those of you who follow the Five Senses blog, you’ll know it’s been a while since I posted anything in the bloggersphere, so it might surprise you that I’ve popped up again. Well, I’m back because I’ve got something really exciting to tell you.

I’d like to announce that… We bought a mill. Yes, WE BOUGHT A MILL!

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Delicious coffees with positive impact.

Kerinci, Natural

A fledgling local importer is adding to the region's rich traditions with innovative processing. Smallholder growers have long produced distinctive coffees from the rich, volcanic soils of Indonesia's largest island, Sumatra. Founded in only 2018, Trijaya Agro Lestari has built strong bonds with smallholders across Sumatra to ensure consistency and quality. These growers live and farm on a plateau that sits at the foot of Mount Kerinci, one of the many active volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire, a 40,000-kilometer horseshoe-shaped series of 452 volcanoes. Mount Kerinci’s historic eruptions have ensured the surrounding area is lush and verdant thanks to the deep supply of fertile volcanic soil, resulting in a unique, flavour-packed coffee from our close neighbours.

Tiga Raja, Wet Hulled

Choc orange, vanilla cola & evergreen.