Coffee Bean Prices Rise as Titik Temu Maintains Quality and Accelerates Expansion

JAKARTA, Jakartaweekly.com — Rising coffee bean prices have become one of the challenges facing the café business. Titik Temu is also feeling the impact, particularly because the company roasts its own coffee and uses both locally sourced and imported beans for its products.

Titik Temu Director of Coffee Angeline Lauwrence said coffee bean prices have risen for both local and imported varieties. She said the increase was particularly noticeable when Titik Temu had to renew its coffee bean supply contracts.

“We may be fortunate in that our positioning is not aimed at a market that is highly price-sensitive. Our prices are relatively premium, and our locations are also premium, so perhaps the price increases are not felt as much by our customers,” Angeline said.

According to Angeline, Titik Temu has chosen to maintain the quality of its coffee despite rising raw material costs. The company has not opted to switch to lower-grade beans as a way to reduce expenses.

“Local beans have also seen fairly significant increases, including those from West Java and Gayo. But what can we do? We want to maintain quality, so we have no choice but to absorb it for now. We cannot move down to a lower grade,” she said.

Titik Temu uses an espresso blend made from beans sourced from West Java, Gayo and Colombia across all of its outlets. The blend is designed to retain fruity notes and tropical fruit aromas from Gayo, chocolate notes from Colombia, as well as hints of brown sugar and citrus.

Coffee prices are not affected by market conditions alone. Angeline said weather conditions can also affect bean availability, particularly when high rainfall reduces supply from certain growing regions.

To maintain supply, Titik Temu works with around five to six local suppliers. For imported coffee, the company purchases beans through importers licensed to bring coffee in from overseas.

Despite using imported beans, Angeline said local coffee beans remain in high demand. She said locally sourced beans with natural processing and pronounced fruity and aromatic characteristics remain among the favorites.

Imported beans, meanwhile, are also used to introduce customers to coffee profiles from different origins, including Colombia and Panama.

Using Data to Tailor Each Outlet

Against this backdrop, Titik Temu’s business strategy goes beyond products and pricing. The company also tailors its promotional activities to the characteristics of each outlet.

Angeline said promotions are not applied uniformly across all locations. Titik Temu uses sales data and customer behavior at each outlet to determine which promotional strategies are most appropriate.

“We look at the data very closely. We study the sales data from each outlet and create promotions that are relevant to the customers there,” Angeline said.

If an outlet sees lower traffic during certain hours, for example, the company may introduce a happy hour promotion. Other outlets may offer food-and-beverage bundles based on customers’ purchasing patterns.

Differences in customer profiles also mean that strategies vary from one outlet to another. Angeline said the Citos and Mbloc outlets attract many Gen Z customers, while Sarinah and SCBD tend to draw more office workers and millennials.

These differences also influence food offerings and pricing. While the beverage menu is generally similar across outlets, food selections can be adjusted according to each location’s concept and customers’ price sensitivity.

From Collaborations to Expansion

Alongside its data-driven approach, Titik Temu is also using collaborations to navigate an increasingly crowded coffee market.

According to Angeline, the coffee market has become highly saturated, prompting the company to seek ways to differentiate itself. One approach is to collaborate with different brands to tap into new customer segments.

“The coffee market is already very saturated. So how can we differentiate ourselves? One way is through collaborations like these,” she said.

Titik Temu is also continuing to expand its outlet network. Angeline said opening new outlets has contributed to sales, with the company planning to open one more location by the end of the year.

Sales performance so far has also been better than last year. Angeline said the end of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026 were relatively challenging, but sales subsequently improved alongside the opening of new outlets.

“Better than last year,” she said.

She also attributed part of the sales performance to Titik Temu’s positioning as an affordable luxury brand. Amid ongoing economic uncertainty, consumers can still choose the café experience as a more affordable form of leisure spending.

Beyond outlet expansion, Titik Temu has also begun developing its bakery business. The bakery offering is currently available only at its Citos outlet. Although its contribution to overall sales is not yet significant, Angeline said customer response has been better than expected.

The Citos outlet itself is smaller than Titik Temu’s other locations. However, Angeline said the outlet has continued to record a positive sales response.