The Evolution of Coffee Brewing in Indonesia

INDUSTRY.co.id - Lately coffee has become a growing trend in Indonesia. In ancient times, coffee was a drink that was usually consumed by elder and men alone, which tasted bitter. At that time, the coffee consumed was roasted until it was very dark, and the quality of the coffee beans had also not been noticed. That is very reasonable because in the past coffee was only regarded as a commodity where quantity was far more important than quality. Poor coffee quality can be disguised if the roasting level gets darker.

Things have changed, in the last 5 years, coffee is a drink that can be favoured by all genders and all ages. This phenomena happens because the spread of knowledge where it turns out that coffee has a different taste from one coffee to another, now coffee is appreciated very highly by the people of Indonesia. Based on International Coffee Organization (ICO), 2018 Indonesia is among the top 10 countries that consume the most coffee in the world. Kementerian Pertanian, 2018 also state that in 2021, Indonesia's coffee consumption is predicted to reach 370 thousand tons of coffee beans. Coffee is now seen as a work of art, so coffee producers often label themselves with coffee artisan. Coffee shop businesses are mushrooming everywhere, and almost every month, there is a new coffee shop in an area.

Even though coffee shops are mushrooming everywhere, there are still people who enjoy coffee brewed by themselves, usually they call themselves home brewers. Home brewers have their own tools for brewing coffee, from scales to measuring coffee weights and water, thermometers to measure water temperature, special kettle that can issue very low water discharge, to the coffee filter tool in various shapes. With these tools, home brewers can look for coffee characteristics that they like to use by changing existing parameters such as the ratio of coffee to water, temperature, and brewing time. This interesting hobby can be a problem when the home brewer is traveling, there is a possibility that one of the equipment is left behind, or if all the equipment is brought, it will cause luggage to be heavy. On the one hand, the search for delicious coffee in a new area is an adventure or gambling for coffee lovers.

When all coffee shops competing to make coffee shops with a good place design, unique taste and experience, as well as relying on advertising with endorsement, there is one party that makes another innovation from another. “CARA Instant Coffee” create innovation by combining elements of pleasure with practicality. CARA Instant Coffee responds to the needs of coffee lovers who want to taste specialty coffee but do not have home brewing equipment. Unlike instant coffee in general that we usually find in supermarkets, where it tastes bitter, or has been served with sugar or milk powder. Not only in terms of taste, in terms of practicality also CARA Instant Coffee has the advantage that this coffee can be brewed using cold water so that it directly becomes iced coffee drinks, or directly mixed with liquid milk. In terms of price, indeed CARA Instant Coffee has a fairly high price when compared to instant coffee in general, which is IDR 20,000/ cup, but keep in mind that the competitor of CARA Instant Coffee is actually a coffee shop that usually costs a glass of coffee ranging from IDR 15,000 – IDR 40,000/ cup.

The challenge that still needs to be faced by CARA Instant Coffee in order to advance its products is to increase production capacity and promotion on social media. There are still many coffee connoisseurs who are not aware of the existence of instant coffee that has characteristics like specialty coffee in general. Last but not least, continuing to innovate is the only solution for coffee businesses to continue to survive in this red ocean market condition.