Kopi Aroma - Bandung's Coffee Heritage

For a city whose past glory was intimately linked with tea and coffee plantations, Bandung is well known for its cafes and tea and coffee processing plants. One such places that has survived the time and is considered to be a heritage coffee institution is Paberik Kopi Aroma (lit. Aroma Coffee Plant).



Located on 51 Banceuy Street, Paberik Kopi Aroma was established in 1930 by Tan Houw Sian who ran it until 1971 when it was passed to his son Pak Widya Pratama, a friendly guy who would gladly give you a tour of his coffee processing plant, warehouse, and shop and explain the entire process of coffee bean processing.



The whole process begins with the select coffee beans that his shop acquired from local farmers as well as those from many other parts of Indonesia. (He says that he bought his Arabica beans from Aceh, Medan, Tana Toraja, East Nusatenggara, and Java; and Robusta from Central Java and Lampung.)



The already dry beans will be sun-dried for at least one day. They will then be stored in the warehouse for five to eight years depending on the type of the bean. (Robusta coffee beans need longer storage time to get rid of their acidity.)




The 'mature' bean will then be roasted traditional way. Here, Paberik Kopi Aroma only uses red warm fire produced by old rubber tree woods. Pak Widya says that red warm fire is essential in the production process because if the temperature is too high, the beans will get burned and it will destroy the aroma of the coffee.



When the processing is complete, the beans are ready for sale. You can buy them in the form of coffee beans or powder. The store will gladly grind the beans in front of you with its old coffee grinding machines (some of them dated back from the 1900),



And here is a tip about coffee storage that you'll find on Kopi Aroma the packaging:

Wilt U heerlijke Koffei drinken?
aroma en smaak blijven goed, indien U de Koffei van de zak direct in een gesloten stopfles of blik overplaatst.

Niet it de zak laten staan!


Maoe minoem Koffie selamanja enak?
Aromanja dan rasanja tinggal tetep, kaloe ini Koffei soeda di boeka dari kantongnja harep di pindahkeun di stopfles atawa di blik jang tertoetoep rapet.

Djangan tinggal di kantong!

(The top paragraph is in Dutch, the bottom is in old or colonial style Indonesian.)

Translation:
You want to keep/preserve the taste of your coffee?
To preserve the aroma of your coffee, put the coffee in a tightly sealed container once you open the package.

Do not leave it in the package!

Pictures by Myke Jeanneta, a Bandung Daily Photo regular contributor.