New Passion for Nusantara Coffee

When coffee drinking has become a “prima donna” trend, some young people do not want to merely enjoy the aroma and taste. There are those who go to plantations to work as farmers and agricultural extension workers; others become baristas.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Customers and a server appear on Sunday (27/5/2018) behind a window bearing the Aroma Nusantara logo at the cafe in Mall Ambassador, South Jakarta.

When coffee drinking has become a “prima donna” trend, some young people do not want to merely enjoy the aroma and taste. They jump into the deep end. There are those who go to plantations to work as farmers and agricultural extension workers; others become baristas. In their hands, the coffee industry is finding renewed hope and passion.

The Gedung Sate compound in Bandung city, West Java, was crowded on Saturday (11/5/2018). Hundreds of coffee industry representatives, from farmers to agricultural extension workers, from baristas to traders and exporters, gathered to enjoy the Ngopi Saraosna Vol. 5 event.

The regular event, which has been held every 3-4 months since last year, presented a quiz for the second time. If only farmers from West Java participated in the first edition, extension workers from all over Indonesia joined the second edition. The extension workers are part of the Master Trainer education and training program run by the Sustainable Coffee Platform of Indonesia Institution in Bandung.

Most of the participants are young, but they are not youths wanting to look like celebrities enjoying coffee in cafes: They want to be involved directly and seriously engage in training and learning with farmers to produce the best coffee.

One such example is John Arnoldus Yansen, 27, a participant from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). He joined the quiz with two friends, and although they did not win the quiz, they were not disappointed. There were more important things to gain from the activity, such as knowledge on planting, tending and harvesting coffee that they intended to distribute among the coffee farmers in their home region of Bajawa.

Yansen\'s interest in empowering coffee farmers began in 2013. He saw then that many coffee plantations in Ngada Regency, Flores Island, were unproductive because of the farmers’ limited knowledge. He jumped at the chance to join a coffee training in NTT. He even had the opportunity late last year to study coffee farmers in Wamena, Papua.

From his experience, Yansen concluded that many farmers were not enjoying benefits in line with the growing popularity of their coffee. Most farmers did not possess the proper techniques for planting, maintaining, nurturing and drying coffee. As a result, their productivity was low and the price of coffee was extremely low, not more than Rp 4,000 per kilogram.

Now, after they were exposed to a variety of skills and knowhow, Yansen saw that several Bajawa farmers had started planting and harvesting coffee in the proper way. Their results had also increased. They also learned to sort, peel and dry the harvested coffee, so their prices improved.

Coffee is no longer a second-class commodity. Farmers sell their harvests in the form of pre-dried beans. This helps the farmers\' welfare, because the selling price skyrockets to Rp 75,000-Rp 80,000 per kg.

"I\'m sure the future of the coffee business will be bright. Young people should continue to be involved. Regeneration is absolutely necessary, either as farmers, extension workers, traders or other actors," said Yansen.

Yansen\'s confidence is not nonsense. In line with the growing coffee trend, coffee consumption in Indonesia is now increasing annually at an average 8 percent. According to the International Coffee Organization, world coffee consumption will grow by 25 percent in the next five years. Nusantara coffee can be victorious in the hands of the young people.

Ideal coffee

The youthful spirit is not only seen at the booming coffee plantations, cafes and coffee bars, but is also focused in a variety of education and training programs about coffee.

Look at the Cipete area of South Jakarta: 14 bars and cafes on Jl. Cipete Raya alone provide a variety of coffee beverages on their menus. At the end of 2017, the area hosted the Nusantara Coffee Festival. The coffee bars are generally operated by young people.

Ego Prayogo, 29, is one of them. He runs the Guyon Coffee Shop on Jl. Fatmawati. Through coffee, he wants to offer a taste of the archipelago to his customers at low prices, but with quality flavor.

These young people are also educating their customers. Erwin Fernando, 26, the founder of the Cipete Newspaper Coffee, introduces the pure flavor of the original coffee to his customers, especially to new coffee enthusiasts. He deliberately does not mix sugar into the coffee he serves, as he fears that sugar will detract from the original flavor of the coffee.

This enthusiasm is also being transmitted to children in Malang and Bandung, where coffee shops have mushroomed. Malang now has at least 600 coffee shops, most of whose owners are young people. And they are not afraid to compete.

Deni Pradana, 28, who owns Remboeg Kopi, said competition provided an opportunity to cultivate creativity. Remboeg Kopi, for example, has 27 different concoctions to present 20 Indonesian coffee varieties.

Remboeg Pawon is also open to anyone who wants to learn about coffee. Deni welcomes all who want to learn, practice and test the coffee drinks. Everything is for the sake of creating the best coffee that will be enjoyed by many people.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

Workers load a truck with sacks of coffee intended for export from Frinsa Coffee, Pangalengan, Bandung, West Java, in this Nov. 29, 2017 file photograph.

Sharing knowledge

Coffee communities are also strengthening the youth movement in the industry. In East Java, the Kedai Nusantara Network and the coffee communities of Malang have formed strong ties with local farmers. They have shared their knowledge with the farmers so that the quality and quantity of their crops have improved. However, they visit the farmers mostly during the post-harvest season. In fact, they need the support of more experienced parties to handle the pre-harvest activities.

"Farmers should know about and get access to seeds and the proper way to fertilize. Without such knowledge, their agricultural products will not move forward," said Deni.

In the downstream, the coffee community of young entrepreneurs also campaign actively for the local coffee. For example, they run stalls to provide free coffee at the annual Ngopi Sepuluh Ewu Festival in Banyuwangi. "Of course, it takes capital, but one thing that drives us to work like this is because we are proud of our delicious local coffee and everyone deserves to enjoy it," said Reza Habib, a barista in Banyuwangi.

Yellow Truck, a Bandung cafe, also engages in “mutual sharing” by holding frequent events with various communities, from musicians to hairdressers. Yellow Truck area manager Andre Yudiaswara said the science, which was initiated by many young people, was shared with those who wanted to grow together. "Many of our baristas start from scratch and are trained to become professionals. Several of them are still with us, but others are already independent," he said.

One of these is Yoyos, 23, who has been part of Yellow Truck for the last three years. Starting out as a waiter, he is now one of the top baristas at the cafe. Learning to brew coffee has made appreciate the process. Delicious coffee comes from a long process. People stop by Yellow Truck not only for the coffee, but also to join a discussion on coffee. Farmers, for example, obtain knowledge on how to plant, care for, harvest and dry the harvested coffee. The baristas also share their experiences on blending and serving coffee to customers.

Aldo Nurjaman, 22, a barista from Garut, West Java, said that exchanging their experience was critical to helping them learn about the best coffee blends that meet the diverse tastes of their customers.

Aldo, who only finished up to junior high school, has been a barista for 2.5 years and currently works at a hotel in Garut. Before that, he worked as a waiter in Jakarta. His salary has increased from Rp 1 million per month to Rp 3.5 million per month, in line with his growing experience and expertise.

The government also provides opportunities through the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) for young people to learn more about coffee. The coffee classes are held not only in city centers, but also remote villages like Banyuwangi. The banking industry is also increasing its support for the new coffee movement. Bank Indonesia, for example, along with the Bondowoso regency administration, has created a special cluster plantation for coffee on 14,000 hectares of land.

Bekraf research, education and development director Poppy Savitri said the division supported SMEs in Banyuwangi, including coffee product manufacturing businesses that were run by young people. Coffee is now among the souvenirs from Banyuwangi, along with the kranggi traditional baskets of the area.

Nusantara coffee’s downstream sector is starting to shine as a result of the young people who want to increase the value of the commodity. A similar movement is expected to spread to the upstream sector, where it will face other challenges and expectations of coffee exist.

(BKY/DEA/WER/TAM/CHE/GER)