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Sip your way to herbal health
Relaxing rub: As well as herbal remedies, the House of Raminten has a spa room for treatments
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Relaxing rub: As well as herbal remedies, the House of Raminten has a spa room for treatments. JP/Tarko Sudiarno
A woman dressed in a blouse and long sarong, carrying a basket filled with bottles of herbal mixtures, made her way through the village.
In her right hand, she carried a bag that also contained bottles of herbs. In her left hand, she carried a small bucket of water.
The woman went from house to house, or to wherever people were gathered, to offer her herbal remedies. The various herbs she offered included beras kencur (a medicinal drink made from rice and herbs), kunyit asam (tamarind turmeric), daun pepaya (papaya leaves) and brotowali (Tinospora crispa or heartleaf moonseed). The prices for her glasses of herbs ranged from Rp 1,000 to Rp 3,500, depending on the types of herbs used.
The history of the wandering herb sellers goes back a long time. They work now not only in the village kampungs but also in big cities such as Jakarta where the herb hawkers, carrying their goods on their back, ply their trade on the streets, their customers mainly construction workers, bus drivers and other traders.
Because traditional herbs are usually sold by women who carry their stock-in-trade with them, the business has traditionally been associated with the lifestyle of people in the lower classes of society.
Those in the middle and upper classes, especially younger Indonesians, tend to feel there is no prestige in imbibing herbal drinks.
There is also a widespread belief that herbal drinks taste bitter, which means that, despite an equally widespread belief that consuming herbs is good for the health and can cure diseases using natural ingredients, they generally prefer to go without.
But with the growth of the back-to-nature movement and the popularity of natural remedies, all sorts of interested groups have been trying to boost the reputation of traditional herbs. One of these activists is Hamzah Hendro Sutikno, who has set up the House of Raminten, a herb café, which opened in December 2008 in Yogyakarta’s Kotabaru area.
Hendro has created a herb stall using the concept of an exclusive café. The herb café, open 24 hours a day, has 43 staff members who work in shifts to serve the customers. All the female workers are required to wear a bodice with their shoulders left bare, like the high-ranking palace servants in Central Java. The male workers wear batik combined with a white T-shirt.
The duty of four of the women who wear the bodices is to greet customers who come to the door.
When the guests arrive, they are escorted into the cafe and led to a seat. Shortly afterward, other staff members come to give the customers a menu listing the various herbs provided.
“All the traditional herbs are available here,” said Lisa, the manager of the House of Raminten. “We also serve many types of herbs to cure diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, late menstruation and so on.”
Apart from these products, the herb café also offers various types of vegetable juices, such as red
spinach, green spinach and basil juice. There are also various types of coffee served, including Curcuma xanthorhiza coffee, Curcuma domestic coffee and Morinda citrifolia coffee.
Although it is a herb cafe, the House of Raminten also serves meals. Dishes on the menu include the cafe favorite of cat rice, or rice in a wrapper, which is almost a trademark of Yogyakarta, where it is sold from stalls carried in hampers strung from either end of a long pole.
And price is not about to undo the relaxing work of the herbs and meals, as they all come relatively cheaply. One wrap of cat rice is only Rp 1,000, while the various herbs and juices are priced from Rp 2,000; the most expensive is Rp 8,500.
While waiting for their orders to arrive, the guests are entertained with Javanese gamelan music. They can also watch two women working on making batik; they come every day and work from morning through to the afternoon. Guests with more modern interests can bring their laptops and browse the Internet while waiting.
It seems that the Hamzah’s herb café concept has become an attraction for patrons from various sectors of society, with customers including both those young people who might have thought it wasn’t “cool” to drink herbs, and older people who aren’t made to feel they are out of date. But it’s certain that all the guests come to enjoy the benefit of herbs, the heritage of our ancestors, in a relaxed and comfortable setting.
What has made Hamzah proud is that most of the customers are university students and young professionals who are reputed to disdain herbal drinks. Most popular among these groups are kunyit asam, beras kencur and pajimatan.
He explained that empon-empon (a medicinal plant in the family that includes galangal and turmeric, among others) is bought from various sources in Yogyakarta.
The House of Raminten works together with CV Oyot Godhong, a cottage industry in Yogyakarta
that specializes in producing empon-empon and blends of various proper ingredients made from traditional herbs.
The herb café has now provided people with an alternative place to hang out. Retnowati, 34, who works at an insurance company in Yogyakarta, said she goes to the House of Raminten to drink herbs at least once every two days.
“When we drink herbs from the curbside hawkers it’s difficult to enjoy the drink. I get the impression that they are always in a hurry because after we drink, the seller moves on straight away. But in here we can drink while we sit and relax,” she said.
Apart from beras kencur, Retno usually orders a body slimming herb so she can reduce her body weight. “The slimming herbs actually taste rather bitter. But when we drink it, sip by sip, after a little while we are relaxed like this, and can no longer taste the bitterness,” she said.
Doni Haryanto, a young executive working for a private radio station in Yogyakarta, also said he was a regular customer at the House of Raminten. Apart from tamarind and turmeric herbs, which have become his favorite, Doni usually orders herbs to relieve stiffness and rheumatic pain.
“I know that herbs are different from conventional medicines. Many medicines can get rid of the disease quickly because they are using chemical substances. But the herbs help us to maintain our health, and not to eliminate disease in a short time,” said Doni.
Although the herb café House of Raminten has been open for only six months, it is already well known. Even late at night, there are always guests who come just to take a rest and get their bodies warm while drinking purwaceng coffee or a glass of ginger coffee.
“So far in our journey we’re optimistic that the herb café will find a place in the heart of the community. An advantage is that the culture of Yogyakarta society traditionally includes the practice of drinking herbs,” said Lisa, who wears one of the bodices at all times.
“Our hopes are that herbs will no longer be considered part of the lifestyle of the lower class, but that herbs will be seen as part of a healthy lifestyle.”
