The smell of turmeric wafted mildly from the Kertaniaga building in Kota Tua in West Jakarta. The smell came from a café in the building named Acaraki. Warm yellow light from small lamps hanging from the ceiling illuminated the room, where wooden chairs and tables stood as well as a counter in the corner.

A coffee grinder, a manual espresso machine, french-press mugs and other coffee-making equipment packed the counter’s surface. However, Acaraki does not sell coffee but jamu (traditional herb beverage).

The jamu house serves two kinds of jamu, kunyit asem (turmeric and tamarind) and beras kencur (rice and galangal), the way coffee shops serve coffee. The word acaraki itself is derived from a Sanskrit word that means jamu-maker — or as the shop owner Jony Yuwono called acaraki, barista in the world of jamu.

“Coffee is bitter. Jamu is bitter. But why do we drink more coffee than jamu even though jamu is healthier?” Acaraki owner Jony Yuwono told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

“If coffee can be part of urbanites’ lifestyle, so can jamu,” he added optimistically.

Just like a coffeehouse owner, Jony dries out the jamu materials, places them in jars and puts them on the shop counter so that customers can learn about them. The customers then can place customized orders with the acaraki, such as in what method they want the jamu be processed.

“The pour over method creates a strong smell and light taste. French-press gives a bolder taste, although the smell may not be as strong. The best one is the concentrated jamu, bold and strong just like espresso,” Jony
explained.

Even though a cup of jamu only costs Rp 20,000 (US$1.40), Jony strives to offer the best quality of jamu to his customers. He uses only organic materials sourced from numerous places across the country — galangal from Magelang in Central Java, rice from Jatiluwih in Bali, tamarind and turmeric from Flores in East Nusa Tenggara.

Indonesia reportedly has more than 30,000 medicinal plants and herbs, while the jamu and pharmacy industry only use 300 of them for health purposes.

Health Ministry research on medicinal plants and herbs in 2015 revealed that our ancestors created more than 15,000 traditional medicine recipes using more than 1,700 medicinal plants and herbs.

“Kunyit asem and beras kencur are two of the most popular kinds of jamu,” Jony said.

“Imagine if youngsters no longer recognized these beverages. There’d be no one drink them and slowly farmers would plant less turmeric, galangal and other herbs. Not only would the cultural legacy become extinct, the existence of the herbs would also be in danger.”

Jony said one of his main challenges in running the jamu house was to create jamu recipes with precise measurements so that the coffee-making equipment could do its job well. He admitted that coffee beans and dried herbs had different characteristics that sometimes hindered his production process.

“The dried turmeric, for example, absorbs hot water easily. Our acaraki have to be careful and work fast to be able to extract the jamu concentrate once the turmeric touches the water,” he said.

A group of middle-aged men came in as well as a young man and placed their orders. One of them was Hendri, the young man’s father, who said he was glad to know about a jamu house like Acaraki, even though the taste was rather different from the jamu he drank when he was a child.

“Maybe it’s the production technique and the way they serve the beverage that make the jamu taste different. But I’m happy that some people care enough to preserve this and adapt it to the younger generation’s lifestyle,” he said.

Nineteen-year-old Joshua, meanwhile, had his first cup of kunyit asem that afternoon. As a coffee drinker, he said he was amazed that he could enjoy jamu the way he usually did his coffee despite the pungent smell of
the herb.

“I think I’ll come here again and bring my friends,” he said.

Popular

Indonesia not affected by Southeast Asia-wide heat wave: BMKG

Residents fear for safety as Mount Ruang volcano erupts

In defense of Indonesian democracy