Starlings, Indonesia's Mobile Coffee Peddlers – CoffeeTalk

Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, is home to the popular Starlings, bicycle coffee sellers who sell coffee on sidewalks, parks, and construction sites. Despite not being connected to Starbucks Keliling, these sellers sell instant coffee for less than half the price of upscale coffee shops. Indonesia, the world’s third-largest coffee producer, has an uneven coffee culture, with 79% of the population drinking at least one cup a day. A coffee supplier named Syaiful can sell over 1,000 sachets of coffee and other packaged drinks per day to hundreds of Starling riders from his small room in Starling Village. He also equips sellers with bicycles and equipment. One vendor, 50-year-old Sander, has been selling beverages for a decade and has witnessed the evolution of Jakarta’s coffee culture with mobile sellers replacing traditional kiosks. Despite competition, Sander sells about 65 cups of drinks a day, earning 4,000 rupiah ($0.25) per cup. Becoming a Starling coffee seller requires only a small amount of money to buy instant coffee and rent the bicycle and other equipment.

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