Segara Coffee Brings Flores Specialty Beans to America—Straight from the Source
Dr. Esther Singer rode a scooter along unpaved roads into the volcanic highlands of Flores, a sliver of an island in Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara province. She stayed in farmers’ homes, shared their meals, walked their land. What she found convinced her to leave her career in environmental science.
“I found the most amazing qualitative coffee in Southeast Asia that I’ve never seen in the United States,” Singer says.
That discovery became Segara Coffee, launched in November 2025 and now roasting in Reno, Nevada. The name means “ocean” in Indonesian—a nod to Singer’s background studying marine ecosystems and the vast distance these beans travel to reach American cups.
Flores: The Origin You’ve Never Heard Of
Indonesia produces roughly a third of the world’s coffee, yet Southeast Asian beans remain largely absent from American specialty shops. Sumatran Mandheling and Java have their devotees, but Flores? Ask ten specialty roasters and most will draw a blank.
The island sits east of Bali in the Lesser Sunda chain, its highlands shaped by volcanic peaks like Mount Inerie and Ebulobo. Coffee grows between 1,200 and 1,800 metres elevation in the Ngada and Manggarai regencies—the towns of Bajawa and Ruteng serve as informal capitals of the region’s coffee culture.
The volcanic soil produces beans with a distinctive profile: chocolate and caramel sweetness, low acidity, full body. Farmers here have cultivated coffee for generations, often intercropped under candlenut, avocado, and banana canopy in what amounts to forest agriculture.
“These coffees have been grown in agroforestry systems under shade trees within biodiverse ecosystems,” Singer notes. “The farmers understand their land in ways that take decades to learn.”
Bypassing the Middle
Most Indonesian coffee reaches the U.S. through a chain of exporters, importers, and brokers—each adding cost and removing connection to origin. Singer skips all of it. She buys green beans directly from multigenerational farmers, imports exclusively, and roasts everything herself in Reno.
The model reflects her scientific background. Singer holds a PhD in Environmental Science, with previous work at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory studying ecosystem health from ocean depths to highland soils. She applies that analytical lens to sourcing: soil health, sustainability practices, the long-term viability of a farm’s approach.
“Sourcing guided by soil health and long-term sustainability,” she describes it. “Roasting with restraint to preserve balance and clarity.”
Partner Marc Matsuo frames the opportunity in market terms. Southeast Asia’s specialty coffee scene is gaining recognition, and emerging regions like Flores are finally getting attention. “Smaller areas like Flores and Kintamani are coming around,” he says—a reference to the Balinese origin gaining traction alongside Flores.
What This Means for Coffee Lovers
Segara releases coffees selectively. Rather than offering a constant lineup, Singer waits for beans that meet her standards—a reflection of fourth-wave thinking that prioritises transparency and traceability over convenience.
For drinkers curious about Indonesian coffee beyond the familiar Sumatra profiles, Flores offers something genuinely different. The volcanic terroir produces cups that balance body and sweetness without the heavy earthiness sometimes associated with wet-hulled Indonesian beans. Many Flores lots are fully washed, bringing brightness alongside that characteristic Indonesian depth.
Singer’s approach represents a broader shift in specialty coffee: the emergence of scientist-founders who treat sourcing with the rigour they’d apply to research. It’s direct trade with a PhD—the kind of granular attention to place and practice that produces coffees most Americans have never encountered.
“What’s built with patience and purpose will endure,” Singer says. If Segara is any indication, Flores might finally get the recognition its farmers have earned.