In the fast-paced era that we live in today, technology helps us keep up with the latest and instills efficiency into our everyday endeavors. This is a point to which Aston Utan, the owner of St. Ali Jakarta and Common Grounds Coffee, agrees.

However, Aston also acknowledges the bad effects of technology.

“I do agree that there are a lot of downsides to technology, like the lack of human connection, and I feel like if you don’t limit yourself the right way, things can get pretty out of hand,” he said.

“Still, technology has definitely helped me a lot in the world of coffee because it’s all about precision,” the entrepreneur and coffee enthusiast added.

Therefore, Aston hopes that people can start utilizing technology to encourage lifestyle sustainability and efficient resource management.

“Okay, necessity is the mother of creation, but we can direct our focus on technology that will actually help us improve as a race in terms of reducing waste, environmental damage and using resources more efficiently. So, one day we won’t end up with synthetic trees or something,” he said.

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Acaia Scale

If you make an espresso, the amount of coffee, the milk and water require precision. So one of the things that helps me is a scale that can both weigh and time because the time to brew and extract the coffee matters a lot. Osmosis takes place when you pour water over the grounds and if you extract the coffee too quickly or wait too long, the taste will be either too bitter or sour. Without technology, it would be quite difficult, so this scale is a number one thing for me throughout my professional life as a coffee maker because there’s a lot of variables when it comes to making coffee.

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Mahlkonig EKK43 Grinder

Besides a scale, there are also grinders to help me maintain my consistency. This grinder is really good for coffee filters since the blades are so sharp that when the coffee is all ground out, the grounds are very equal. When water passes through the coffee, you will get an even extraction. Before it was popularly used for coffee, the EK was actually used to grind grains. It’s a classic design; it has been made for coffee for the last few years thanks to Matt Perger, who is also our partner.

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Leica X

The camera is amazing since Leica is super well-known for its top-class lenses, but really the Leica X is designed for the casual user, just like me. I don’t do photography to be honest; I’m not a photographer in any way although I do appreciate good photos. Yet, this one is light and easy in its ability to focus and the pictures are very sharp. It also reflects the colors in a coffee shop because there’s something so handcrafted about coffee, the machines, the latte art, the aprons that we use. It’s all very detail-oriented and the camera captures all of that really well. The result, too, is dramatic and I was pretty surprised.

— The writer is an intern at The Jakarta Post.

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