JAKARTA, Indonesia — Bicycles roam the streets of Indonesia’s capital with dozens of plastic sachets of coffee and other packaged drinks dangling from their handlebars. Tied in the back are large thermos bottles with hot water, an ice box and equipment for making coffee.
The bicycle coffee sellers are known as Starlings, an abbreviation of Starbucks Keliling, or mobile Starbucks, although they have no connection to the giant global coffee company. They sell coffee on sidewalks, in parks and at construction sites. From dawn to midnight, Starlings are always available, making them one of the most popular coffee suppliers in the country.
Starbucks Indonesia did not respond to a request for comment on the use of its name.
Indonesia, the world’s third-largest coffee producer, has a coffee culture that is unevenly distributed, with richer customers purchasing their brews from upscale coffee shops and poorer residents buying instant coffee from Starlings for less than half the price. Overall, 79% of Indonesians are coffee drinkers, and most have at least one cup a day, according to Snapcart, an Indonesian research agency.
From his small room in a settlement known as Starling Village because of the large number of Starling riders living there, Syaiful, a coffee supplier, can sell more than 1,000 sachets of coffee and other packaged drinks per day to hundreds of Starling riders. Continuing his father’s legacy, he also equips sellers with bicycles and equipment.
One vendor, 50-year-old Sander from East Java, has been selling beverages for a decade. He has witnessed how Jakarta’s coffee culture has evolved 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 the instant coffee and rent the bicycle and other equipment.
