Cups of Smiles for Everyone
Coffee can improve people’s living standards, as proven by coffee businesspeople in Bandung, Garut and Lampung through their empowerment initiatives.
Coffee can improve people’s living standards, as proven by coffee businesspeople in Bandung, Garut and Lampung through their empowerment initiatives involving less fortunate farmers and teenagers.
The falling rain added to the cold air in Bandung, West Java, on one day in mid-February. However, Ryan Setiawan, 23, remained spirited. He had a wide smile on his face as he breathed in the invigorating aroma of 25 kilograms of Arabica coffee beans in one of the classrooms in Kezia School and Learning Center.
He could not wait to put the coffee beans from Mt. Papandayan, Garut, into 1-kilogram paper bags. It only took nine scoops to fill each bag.
The filled bags would then be weighed on a digital scale by Felita Christianti, 24. As one paper bag weighed 33 grams, she needed to make sure one bag of coffee beans weighed exactly 1,033 grams – making the coffee exactly one kilogram.
After weighing, Herdianto, 19, would take care of the packaging. His foot stepped on a pedal on the packaging machine and he made precise calculations.
“Step on the pedal hard and count to five,” Kezia School trainer Louis Manuputty, 40, said. Herdianto smiled when he succeeded.
Ryan, Felita and Herdianto are students at Kezia School for people with special needs. All three have Down syndrome.
They have worked with coffee along with seven of their friends for the past year. The coffee beans belong to Bandung-based coffee shop Morning Glory (MG). MG founder Nathanael Charis, used the coffee packaging process as part of his shop’s One Cup One Smile (OCOS) program.
OCOS is an empowerment initiative for less fortunate teenagers and young adults. Through training their skills, it is hoped that they can obtain better jobs in the future. A portion of the coffee shop’s sales revenue is set aside to fund the program.
Kezia School coordinator Christine Jeli Hartono, 38, said that people like Ryan and Felita could learn many things in the coffee packaging process. By scooping coffee beans into bags, Ryan can sharpen his fine motor skills. Meanwhile, Felita learns to increase her counting skill.
“Our students learn and grow their self-confidence, including as entrepreneurs,” Christine said.
Sharing
“The idea just came up to me one day,” said Nael, as Nathanael is often called, on his inspiration behind the establishment of the OCOS program in 2008.
OCOS does not dabble in coffee packaging. It has many other projects with local farmers in a number of regions across West Java. The unifying goal of all projects is to increase coffee quality from planting to post-harvest processing. “Results have been positive. Many farmers in West Java are getting smarter, including in determining the space between trees and processing coffee beans after harvest,” Nael said.
The smiles of coffee farmers are displayed on MG’s coffee packs.
Nael said that OCOS does not give farmers money. Instead, it gives them skills they can use for life. The program’s operational fund is covered by 12 MG franchise owners spread in Indonesian and Australia.
In Garut, coffee has brought new hopes for Limbungan resident Angga Abdul Rosyid, 20. Six months ago, he left his old job as fried tofu seller. He said that his life changed for the better after he learnt how to brew coffee from Pasirwangi district farmer Aries Sontani, owner of D’Arffi coffee brand.
Angga said that Anggacinno was his own special coffee blend. He chose full-wash Arabica beans, for its strong character of sweet, sour and a little bit bitter taste. He mixes the beans with a little bit of milk and sugar.
“In the future, I want to open a café with Eka,” Angga said, pointing at Eka Predipa, 20, who was preparing a cup of coffee.
Eka also has his own special blend: Ekacinno. Seemingly in line with Eka’s calm demeanors, the Ekacinno is honey-processed coffee with milk. It tastes smoother than Anggacinno.
“I spent one kilogram of Pak Aries’ coffee beans to perfect my blend. It was free,” Eka said.
Hundreds of coffee farmers in West Java know Aries as someone they can always talk to about all coffee-related matters.
He distributed thousands of coffee seedlings for local farmers for free. His only message is to take care of the coffee with their hearts. “My main requirement is that the farmers harvest red beans,” Aries said.
Bandar Lampung-based Dr Coffee coffee shop owner Alghazali Qurtubi, 28, said that he gave similar message to local farmers. He said that he would purchase Robusta beans at between Rp 40,000 (US$2.92) and Rp 45,000 as long as farmers harvest only red beans.
This is twice the selling price of rainbow coffee (kopi pelangi) beans in Lampung. Rainbow coffee beans are of poor quality as red beans are mixed with green beans and rotten black beans.
Baking bread
As I was listening to stories about OCOS, the alarm of a huge bread oven behind the cashier at the MG outlet in Setrasari Mall rang. The oven door is opened and the sweet aroma of baked bread filled the air.
“This is the bread that I was making,” Rusman Nur Robi, 19, said proudly.
An hour before, Rusman had mixed the bread’s dough in front of me. His hands deftly worked on the dough.
Apart from coffee, croissant is another special item on MG’s menu. The bread makers also obtain trainings in the OCOS program.
Rusman said that, six months ago, he was working as a cleaner at MG. The high school graduate from Garut said that he had no other skills when he first came to Bandung. His life changed when Nael offered him to learn how to make bread.
“I want to open my own bakery in Garut one day. I will teach my unemployed friend in Garut how to bake bread,” Rusman said.
There is also Bertha Raiman, 18, from Tasikmalaya. The teenager started out as a waiter and now works as MG’s mainstay baker.
Last year, a Belgian butter supplier came to MG’s office and fell in love with Bertha’s bread. The supplier said that Bertha’s bread was more delicious than breads in Belgium. The supplier then offered Bertha to work in Belgium.
“I refused. I want to work here,” Bertha said.
In July, Nael and his wife will fly to Thailand and meet with the managers of Steps with Theera coffee shop that has a program to develop employees with disabilities.
Nael said that he hoped his coffee could bring smiles to his customers and for OCOS beneficiaries.