Cowbright: Aroma Kopi

antique Aroma Coffee case

Kopi (Indonesian) Koffie (Dutch) Coffee (English)

Yesterday my friend Helen and I visited Aroma Kopi, a coffee roasting plant that has been operating in central Bandung since the 1930’s. This many years later, Tan Houw Sian’s son is still roasting coffee in the same way he did and even using the same roasting machines! Aroma Kopi, located in an historical old (read “run down”) Dutch building in central Bandung, does a bustling business. You'll find plain good coffee. Don't bother asking for decaf and don’t look for flavored blends. You have 2 choices - Arabika or Robusta.


unassuming old Dutch building - home to Aroma Kopi

bags are labeled by type and date

antique coffee jars on display


beans wait up to 8 years in store room before roasting

roaster is still fired with rubber wood

As soon as you walk through the door, you feel as if you’ve stepped back in time. The antique coffee jars, framed advertising prints and German-made Probat machines used for roasting are proudly displayed in the sales area. The only thing that has changed since the 30’s is the management. Son Widyapratama (now 60) succeeded his father in 1971 and continues to run the business just as his father before him did.

owner tending beans as they roast

more beans wait their turn to be dumped into roaster

worker bags coffee with reflection in scales

weighing and packaging

from front counter into bagging room

In addition to a "step back in time" experience, one is greeted by the smell of freshly ground coffee beans and Aroma Kopi's friendly second-generation owner. I had practiced my line beforehand “Saya mau lihat kopi” (I want to see the coffee) in hopes of being treated to a tour of the warehouse. But before we even knew who to ask, a man who turned out to be the owner motioned us past the sales counter and immediately began the tour, showing us first examples of what the beans look like at different ages.

"to remind the third generation where it all started"

Then he began to explain the coffee roasting process. Amazingly, the German made coffee roasters are still doing their job, just as they did when Widyapratama’s father began roasting 70+ years ago. On the wall in the main roasting room, high above the equipment are the coffee dust covered bicycles that his father rode to work. They are there “to remind the third generation where it all started” he said.

more beans waiting to roast

Everything in the factory is still done exactly as from the beginning. The Arabica beans are imported from Aceh, Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, Java and Medan; the Robusta beans are grown in Central Java and Lampung. The farmers dry the beans for about a week before they are brought to the factory in Bandung. They are then spread out on large tarps to sun dry for about 24 hours before they are bagged, marked and stacked in huge piles in the warehouse. There the Robusta beans will dry for 5 years and the Arabica beans will dry for 8 years!

second generation owner roasts the beans

The longer drying periods reduce the acidity in the beans as they age which Widyapratama claims is better for health. He recommends the Arabica beans (milder) for people with high blood pressure and the Robusta beans (stronger) for people with low blood pressure. He also made some other claims for which I'm not sure there is any scientific basis. The 3 extra years for the Robusta beans are necessary to get rid of the somewhat sour taste of this type of beans. He also boasts that there are no chemicals or pesticides used in growing the beans he roasts.


original advertising

original framed advertising print

After the required storage time, the beans are roasted for about 2 hours in a huge, rusty oven fired by rubber wood. After cooling, another machine is used to separate the different size beans. The cooled beans are then taken to the front area of the shop where they are bagged as whole beans, ground (in our case for a drip coffee maker) or ground into a fine powder as most Indonesians drink their coffee. They are packaged in approximately half pound packages - Arabica or Robusta for about $3US. No advertising, no website, just coffee that is appreciated by generations of Indonesians.

The owner candidly admits to running his business by Christian principles, quite surprising in a country whose population is almost 95% Muslim.