Nola Wonga

Nola Wonga farmers group was created in 2014 by Mr Felix Soba in order to preserve the cultivation of its renowned organic Arabica coffee from Bajawa, on the island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggaru. A number of coffee farmers converted their plants to short term vegetable crops such as cabbages, cucumbers and mustard greens, which are seen as more profitable, leading to a shrinking of the coffee plantation area. Mr Soba acts as a patron to the farmers of Nola Wonga as well as other farmers groups, providing financial support, distributing free seedlings and teaching them how to continue growing coffee alongside horticultural crops, rather than as a replacement.

The success of this work has seen the profits from coffee cultivation increase exponentially, with increasing demand for these coffees creating more job opportunities for local people and facilitating the transfer of knowledge and processing of specialty coffee having a long term positive impact on Nola Wonga farmers group and the biodiversity and productivity of their plantations.

Cherries are hand-picked, collected in traditional woven baskets, and delivered to be pulped on-site within 24 hours of being harvested. The cherries are placed in water, floaters removed and then pulped and fermented in concrete tanks before washing. The drying process, on raised beds, takes up to 7 to 10 days.