How Do You Like Your Coffee?

A quick look at the different coffee culture waves and how they are today.

Jun 03, 2024

I hadn’t had any cups of coffee when I clicked ‘send’ this morning, but happy Monday! Before I start, I wanted to say hi to some of the new names here — welcome to Kepayang. Kepayang is a newsletter and (now) a community on food, sustainability, and culture. I’m Fabi, and I write essays and tell stories every Monday on a biweekly basis, today is that Monday when I’ll be sending you a new letter!

Today’s newsletter is a fun one as I’ll be talking about the thing that keeps me going daily: coffee. You will read about:

👨‍👩‍👦 The different ways my family drinks coffee (Spoiler: each of us has a specific way of drinking our coffee)

⏳ How the coffee drinking cultures evolved, from the first, second, to third waves.

☕️ The rise of the third coffee culture wave, with many slow bars popping up in Jogja and Jakarta.

💬 A quick chat with Apin, a slow coffee bar owner, and Randy, an avid coffee drinker to understand what the hell is happening in today’s coffee scene.

I’m going to have my first cup of coffee now, so enjoy reading!

Kepayang is free for now, so any engagements mean so much to support the platform’s growth. You can subscribe to get the newsletter sent directly to your email, like, comment, and share if you resonate with what I write.

Alternatively, you can buy me a coffee through my PayPal here: https://paypal.me/chalafabia - or if you’re based in Indonesia, you can send your donation through QRIS here (under the name Tamanan). Any amounts are welcomed and will directly contribute to sustaining this platform to cover expenses related to operations, research, writing, and marketing. ☕️

If there is one thing my parents and I could agree on, it will be coffee. Well, sort of. Each of us has a specific way to drink it. So even though we’re all drinking coffee, it would be prepared differently.

I’d say that Ibu (my mother) is the most conventional. She likes her coffee black and specifically prepared tubruk style - that’s an Indonesian style of preparing coffee where you put the coffee grounds in your cup, dump a full cup of hot water into it, and wait until all the grounds sink to the bottom. It’s truly giving #nofilter. This preparation results in a very thick cup of coffee with bits of coffee bean grounds nearing the end of the cup, which, somehow Ibu likes to chew.

Bapak (my father) is also a manual brew coffee drinker, but unlike Ibu, he likes to experiment with a new tool every six months or so. I think he has five plus tools on his rotation now - from Vietnamese drip, V60, to Syphon. He also likes to try new coffee beans, which I understand, because certain coffee beans react differently when prepared using certain tools. So if Ibu bought the normal, house-brand coffee grounds from the supermarket, Bapak will try different beans every time he finishes with his current 1kg coffee bean bag.

Me, on the other hand, I relate more to Bapak. I often use his tools depending on my mood, and if you know me, my mood changes a lot. This also applies to the coffee beans that I use. You won’t find me buying a kilogram of the same coffee bean in one go, because one, that shit’s exxy, two, it got stale even before I could finish them, and three, I got bored easily. I usually buy coffee beans in 250g bags, and it’s very fun to try different types of beans from different regions and coffee roasteries. Like that one time, when I had banana-scented coffee beans from Jawa Barat, or that light but winy-tasting coffee from Aceh.

The way we drink coffee in my home somewhat describes how coffee culture evolved throughout time. Quoting from Eater (2016), the third wave of coffee culture is here.

But what do these waves exactly mean?

The first wave of coffee culture will be the typical coffee beans that you would find in the supermarket. This wave marks the start of mass coffee production and commercialisation, where coffee producers are prioritising convenience over quality. Even though this made coffee greatly accessible (slay), it sometimes also compromises on taste and quality - which is why you may find a lot of instant coffees extremely bitter, and less enjoyable.
The second wave is where people started demanding better-tasting coffee. Like, this might sound crazy, but when you pay attention to the quality of the coffee beans, how they’re grown, and the specific tools and techniques you use to prepare, it surprisingly, makes your coffee taste better. Shocking right? This era, together with Sabrina Carpenter, introduced consumers to espresso-based drinks, such as lattes and cappuccinos, which are now a staple in most coffee shops and chains. An example of this in Indonesia would be the trusty Kopi Kenangan and J.CO with their great coffees, tasty food and snacks, and a cosy place.
The third wave began in the early 2000s and treats coffee as a craft beverage, something similar to craft beers and wine. It focuses on small-scale and independent coffee roasteries with unique bean characteristics, paving the way for the rise of single-origin beans, experimental roasteries, and micro coffee shops like a slow coffee bar. Think of the second wave, but hyper-experiment the hell out of everything.

Slow coffee bars are popping up in Jogja, Jakarta, and many other parts of Indonesia.

One of the ways the third coffee culture manifests in Indonesia is through slow coffee bars. If a chain fast food restaurant is your usual coffee shop, a slow coffee bar will be the antithesis of that. They are coffee shops that specialise in manually brewing their coffee without an automated espresso machine. Most of the time, they will have different coffee beans rotating on a monthly or even weekly basis.

To the untrained eyes (my eyes), this seems very unnecessarily extra. Like - why would anyone go back to manually brewing their coffee, and go through the hassle of changing coffee beans every time? So to dig deeper into what goes on behind the bar, I chatted with Apin, an owner of a slow coffee bar in Jakarta Selatan called Toko Kopi Tjaraka.

Toko Kopi Tjaraka first opened their door early last year, tucked swiftly in Apin’s family home’s front porch. Serving manually brewed black and white coffee, and several snacks from a traditional Kue Kamir, to a more casual Banana Bread.

manualjakarta

A post shared by @manualjakarta

Running an independent slow coffee bar means that Apin has full control over what coffee he’s serving – rotating the selection to adapt to the local bean availability, and simply to keep things interestings.

“I usually looked for coffee beans from small farmers or producers. Sometimes, the farmers even offered me directly with their green beans. If that’s the case, I usually buy a small quantity first to test. I roast them in a shared coffee-roasting machine with my friends”, Apin explained.

While this may sound simple and typical, you’d be surprised to learn that most coffee shops don’t have this direct and intimate relationship with their suppliers, let alone the farmers who grow the beans.

Sourcing coffee beans from small local farmers and producers allows coffee shop owners like Apin to access rare and unique beans that you won’t usually find in larger coffee shops. Put yourself in the farmer’s shoes. As a farmer, there are many barriers for one to be able to supply to a coffee shop, especially the larger ones. There are certain standard checks that you must pass, a large Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ) you must fulfil, and simply, a connection to the decision-maker.

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Independent coffee shops like Toko Kopi Tjaraka not only helped to adopt these beans from the farmers but also gained a competitive advantage by being flexible with their bean selection, offering a variety of beans with unique and interesting tasting notes.

“I serve coffee that I like. But also, I like to introduce them (guests who came to Toko Kopi Tjaraka) to new coffee beans. I’ll ask what they usually like, for sure. Do they like something light? Fruity? Or something bold? Some guests are also unfamiliar with the slow bar concept, and for those, I always took the time to understand their preferences” Apin answered when asked about how he came up with his coffee beans selection and how his guests reacted.

The third-wave coffee culture reemphasises coffee as an agricultural product and embraces its diverse characteristics – which proves to be rewarding for both coffee shop owners and consumers.

“I like to try new coffee places that I haven’t tried before especially if they have interesting coffee beans” – that’s Randy, one of Kepayang’s readers who is an avid coffee enjoyer. I met him the day I visited Toko Kopi Tjaraka, where we swapped coffee adventure stories around Jakarta.

“Whenever I went to a coffee shop, I always went back with a long list of new recommended places. I don’t mind the location. One time, I even went to Tangerang Selatan (a city, 30km from Jakarta) for a coffee omakase experience”, Randy said. “But on a daily basis, I still drink whatever coffee that is there around my office. Like those from Family Mart”, he added.

I relate to him. Coffee is truly a unique concoction, either for it to be taken solely for its function or to be enjoyed and savoured. For me and Randy, I think we can both agree that we prioritise experience, bean novelty, and reliability when it comes to choosing our next coffee places to visit. But realistically, bro still needs his caffeine. And during those desperate times, we’ll settle with anything even if it’s a minimarket coffee.

This made me realize that even though the third wave of coffee culture is on the rise, the first and second waves aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

We all have our preferences for our coffee. Some like it black, some like it white. Some don’t really care about the taste, some can be very critical even to the brewing time. The rise of third-wave coffee cultures brings many rewarding benefits. From closing the gap between farmers and consumers, and allowing us to appreciate coffee more than just an energy drink. As someone who campaigns on mindful consumption, I am all for it.

If you’re visiting Indonesia sometime soon, here are some of the coffee places that I and my friends have tried. If you have any other recommendations, feel free to jump in the comments!

Toko Kopi Tjaraka, Jakarta: Slow coffee bar, manual brew, home cafe, communal
Tenun Coffee, Jakarta: Local coffee, great espresso blends, grab-and-go
J68 Coffee, Jakarta: Micro roastery, single origin coffees, Australian style
Tadasih, Jogja: Slow coffee bar, exotic coffee beans, one on one session
Klinik Kopi, Jogja: Slow coffee bar, local coffee, one on one session
Space Roastery, Jogja: Roastery, filter coffee, experimental beans