Alain Scialoja, founder of Koro Roasters, opens up about his journey from building robots to roasting Indonesian coffee and why Indonesia is leading the specialty coffee revolution.
Ten years ago, I was hosting back-to-back online meetings, building tech products that impressed corporate boards but never touched real lives. Today, I'm sitting cross-legged on woven mats with farmers in Indonesia, creating something that brings joy to people's mornings worldwide - and discovering that Indonesia isn't just growing great coffee, it's growing the future of coffee itself.
This isn't just another tech-to-passion career pivot story. It's about recognizing that the most advanced coffee culture in the world isn't in Melbourne's laneways or Berlin's third-wave cafés. It's happening right here in Indonesia, where farmers and roasters sit at the same table, creating a feedback loop that's revolutionizing what specialty coffee can be.
The Italian Village Kid Who Thought He Knew Coffee
I grew up in a small Italian village where espresso wasn't just a drink - it was a habit. Morning coffee with nonna, espresso after lunch, and an afternoon break with friends. Coffee was ritual, community, identity. I thought I knew everything about coffee just because I was Italian.
Siena, Alain's hometown
But now I see things differently, and I've learned one important thing: coffee is culture, not just a commodity.
The Corporate Years: When Coffee Was Just Fuel
My first job was in Brussels, developing software in an office, working alone with instant coffee that tasted... blah. That's where my coffee journey began - not in a café, but in my small apartment kitchen, trying to perfect espresso with the moka pot I'd brought from home.
Those long nights debugging code, fuelled by good coffee, taught me something: good coffee makes everything better. I started taking home brewing seriously, bought equipment, learned about extraction. My colleagues said I was obsessed with coffee - and in a way, they were right.
When work took me to Melbourne, everything changed. My first long black at Seven Seeds shattered my Italian coffee certainties. Wait, coffee could taste like berries? Espresso didn't have to be bitter? I became that friend dragging everyone to Market Lane and Duke's Coffee, evangelizing about extraction times and origin characteristics.
Melbourne also birthed my remote work life. While building my digital nomad career, I was discovering that coffee could be craftsmanship, not just tradition. The two journeys seemed separate then. They weren't.
The Precision Years: Stockholm & Berlin
Running a tech startup in Stockholm, I discovered Nordic coffee culture at Drop Coffee. Sweden taught me something crucial: precision matters, but so does pause. Fika, their afternoon coffee tradition, showed me coffee could be both scientific and soulful.
Infarm vertical farms in BerlinBerlin completed the puzzle. When I joined Infarm as employee number two, there were only four of us with a crazy vision: growing fresh produce right inside stores, even in winter. We built an automated vertical farming system with AI that managed nutrients, constantly learning, constantly improving.
Instore farms
Watching customers harvest their own basil and post about it on social media - that was the moment technology truly touched people's lives.
Lunch at Infarm
The most fascinating challenge was bringing together biology, agriculture, operations, and technology - getting feedback from people with completely different backgrounds and building something useful for everyone. We were using data-driven approaches to improve food production almost a decade ago, showing how technology could increase yields and quality in agriculture.
For the first time in tech, I could literally taste the results of my work.
What I loved most was the human element. Our team came from all over the world, swapping stories while cooking with ingredients we'd grown ourselves. Technology could improve harvest yields and quality, but only now could I directly taste the results of my own work.
But in between, I'd often sneak off to Five Elephant or The Barn, Berlin's best specialty cafés. The coffee was exceptional, but I started wondering: where were the stories of the farmers who grew it?
The Wanderer: Coffee as Universal Language
My passport is filled with stamps from Nepal, India, Iran, Lebanon, across South America and more. Remote work let me explore the world, and everywhere I went I sought out coffee - from traditional qahwa in Beirut to manual brews in the mountains of Peru.
Alain Scialoja in Macchu Picchu, Peru
Coffee is a universal language. Wherever I went, it reflected local culture and values. But one thing stayed the same: the farmers who grew it were rarely seen by the people who enjoyed it.
Indonesia: Where Everything Converged
Indonesia was at first just another stop on my journey. But after visiting farms in Flores and Java, joining cupping workshops, and learning coffee economics from the ground up, I realized this wasn't just a stopover.
Cherry selection in Flores
Picture this: sitting in a circle with farmers after a full day of cupping, the afternoon sun filtering through the window. They weren't just listening - they were teaching. Farmers explained their anaerobic fermentation processes, unique drying techniques, innovations I hadn't even seen in Berlin's most progressive cafés.
Here, producers and consumers aren't separated by continents. They sit at the same table, sharing knowledge, growing together.
My Infarm experience suddenly felt relevant. I knew how technology could improve farming and harvests. Those skills had finally found their purpose.
Finding Home (and Love)
Indonesia gave me more than a coffee revelation. I found love here - my wife, who understood both my tech background and my growing coffee obsession. The nomadic life no longer felt as appealing as building something rooted, something that mattered.
Alain Scialoja and his wife in Jakarta
Every cupping session, every farm visit, every conversation with passionate coffee people here convinced me further: the future of coffee is being written in Indonesia.
Why Indonesian Coffee is Different
Here's what doesn't get told enough: while the world's specialty coffee capitals fuss over the perfect flat white, Indonesian farmers are revolutionizing processing at the source.
Indonesia isn't following global coffee trends - it's setting them. Just look at the evidence: Indonesian baristas becoming world champions, Indonesian farmers winning Cup of Excellence, Indonesia hosting World of Coffee 2025. The innovation happening here, from wet-hulling techniques to Cup of Excellence winners, shows Indonesia leading, not following.
The feedback loop here is fast. A farmer experiments with a new fermentation technique. Two weeks later, we're roasting samples together, cupping, discussing. We adjust our roasting based on their input; they refine their process based on our feedback. This isn't supply chain - it's collaboration.
The Birth of Koro
All those years building systems, analyzing data, creating platforms - they weren't wasted. They were preparing. At Koro, we use data-driven quality control not to replace tradition but to amplify it. We track what matters - moisture, development, consistency - because it helps us translate each farmer's vision into your cup.
Public cupping at Koro Roasters
When I sit with farmers now, sharing roasting data and cupping notes, I see the same excitement I felt when our Infarm systems finally worked perfectly. Except this time, the output isn't vegetables in a supermarket. It's coffee that makes people pause their morning rush, close their eyes, and smile.
The Real Innovation
This collaborative approach is creating something that's never existed before. Every bag of Koro coffee carries a story: Italian heritage meets Melbourne's coffee education, Stockholm's precision, Berlin's innovation, and Indonesia's revolutionary spirit of collaboration.
Technology is central at Koro Roasters
The tech world talks endlessly about disruption. Indonesian coffee is quietly doing it, one bean at a time. And I'm honored to be part of this story, translating innovation into every roast.
What's Coming Next
We're not stopping here. Something big is coming - a "Made in Indonesia" innovation that will surprise the coffee world. We're developing technology that will help roasters and farmers collaborate even more effectively, sharing data and insights in real-time.
Indonesia isn't just producing great coffee - Indonesia is producing the tools to make coffee better, everywhere.
This is Indonesia's moment. The world is finally recognizing what we've known all along - that the most advanced coffee culture isn't in the West. It's right here, where tradition meets innovation, where farmers and roasters work as partners, where every cup tells a story of collaboration.
And it tastes incredible.