{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1828668,
        "msgid": "from-simple-experiment-cokelatin-elevates-authentic-indonesian-cocoa-flavour-to-the-global-market-1782651053",
        "date": "2026-06-28 19:06:00",
        "title": "From Simple Experiment, Cokelatin Elevates Authentic Indonesian Cocoa Flavour to the Global Market",
        "author": "Putri Yuliani",
        "source": "MEDIA_INDONESIA",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Business",
        "summary": "Cokelatin Indonesia, an artisan chocolate beverage brand, has successfully penetrated international markets by focusing on the authentic taste of Indonesian cocoa. Founded by Irena Surosoputra after a personal quest for a less sweet, more genuine chocolate drink, the business sources its beans from South Sulawesi and East Java. With support from BRI's mentorship programmes and exhibitions, the company has expanded exports to the US, Taiwan, China, and Saudi Arabia, and is now eyeing the Japanese market.",
        "content": "<p>The desire to enjoy a cup of chocolate with an authentic cocoa\nflavour was the starting point for the birth of Cokelatin Indonesia.\nBeginning with a simple concoction in a home kitchen, the artisan\nchocolate beverage product has successfully penetrated the international\nmarket. Cokelatin founder Irena Surosoputra recounted that the business\nshe pioneered stemmed from unease with her daily lifestyle. Before\nbuilding her business, she was an office worker accustomed to consuming\ninstant coffee to support her activities. However, she began to realise\nthis habit was not good if sustained long-term. Armed with her fondness\nfor chocolate, Irena then switched to consuming chocolate drinks. \u201cSo\neventually I decided to shift my consumption from instant coffee to\nchocolate drinks,\u201d Irena said when met in Jakarta recently. When trying\nvarious chocolate drinks on the market, Irena felt she had not found a\nproduct capable of delivering a strong cocoa flavour. According to her,\nmost of the chocolate products consumed were too dominated by sweetness.\nIrena then began experimenting with mixing pure cocoa powder with\nvarious compositions of sugar and non-dairy creamer until she produced a\ntaste that suited her palate. From these experiments, a belief emerged\nthat the concoction had business potential. In 2015, Irena began\nconducting deeper research into the cocoa industry and discovered that\nIndonesia is one of the world\u2019s largest cocoa producers, yet it is not\nknown as a producer of premium chocolate products. \u201cBut we are not known\nas a producer of quality chocolate products. From that concern,\nCokelatin was born,\u201d she explained. Stemming from this, Cokelatin was\nofficially established in 2016. Irena chose to use cocoa beans from\nSouth Sulawesi and East Java as the main raw materials. All products are\nmade without added artificial flavours so that the original character of\nIndonesian cocoa is preserved. To date, Cokelatin only has four main\nvariants: Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Creamy Latte, and Java\nCriollo. \u201cBecause our mission is to introduce the authentic taste of\nIndonesian chocolate,\u201d said Irena. The name Cokelatin was born from a\ncombination of the words chocolate, Irena, and her husband\u2019s name,\nNugroho. Before venturing into business, Irena worked as an event\norganiser, while her husband had a career in the fast-moving consumer\ngoods (FMCG) industry. Irena began marketing her chocolate drink\nconcoctions to office colleagues. Every day, she brought a tumbler\nfilled with her chocolate concoction, which attracted the attention of\nher friends. \u201cEventually, many friends placed orders with me,\u201d she\nrecalled. After six months of serving orders from her office colleagues,\nthe income earned was already equivalent to her monthly salary as an\nemployee. Seeing this opportunity, Irena dared to build Cokelatin more\nseriously with initial capital of around Rp20 million. Cokelatin\u2019s\njourney further developed after joining the Rumah BUMN BRI in Jakarta in\n2018. At that time, Irena admitted she still had minimal knowledge about\nbusiness development. Through various training sessions provided by\nRumah BUMN, she began to understand the importance of product\ncertification, packaging, digital marketing, and strategies for building\na sustainable business. \u201cThe training from Rumah BUMN BRI really helped\nus grow. Both from the digital training for packaging and the\ncertification training,\u201d Irena explained. In addition to training,\nCokelatin was also regularly involved in various exhibitions facilitated\nby BRI. A key moment came in 2021 when Cokelatin won first place as UMKM\nSi Idola at the Pesta Rakyat Simpedes (PRS) BRI event. This award opened\nthe opportunity to participate in an international exhibition in Boston,\nUnited States, in 2022. \u201cThat was our first export,\u201d Irena said. As an\nMSME fostered by BRI, Cokelatin also regularly participates in the UMKM\nEXPO(RT) BRILIANPRENEUR. Irena believes that participation in various\nexhibitions facilitated by BRI has opened many opportunities for her\nbusiness\u2019s development. \u201cThanks to BRI, we have been able to open up\nfurther market penetration,\u201d she stated. Since its first export to the\nUnited States, Cokelatin has expanded its market to Taiwan, China,\nSingapore, and Saudi Arabia, and is currently exploring the Japanese\nmarket. Although export volumes have not yet reached one container\nbecause the products marketed are value-added retail products, the\nmarket response has been considered very positive. One of the most\nsought-after products is Java Criollo, a chocolate drink made from\nCriollo cocoa originating from Jember, East Java. The Criollo variety is\nknown as one of the rarest types of cocoa in the world, contributing\nless than 2% to global cocoa production. \u201cAlhamdulillah, this variant is\nin high demand in the overseas market,\u201d said Irena. In the domestic\nmarket, Cokelatin has also supplied products to several five-star hotels\nsuch as Grand Hyatt Jakarta, Pullman Jakarta, and DoubleTree. According\nto Irena, many foreign tourists enjoy the natural flavour character of\nJava Criollo. Thanks to the various market accesses facilitated by BRI,\nincluding to export markets, Cokelatin\u2019s business has also grown. Irena\nrevealed that exports have helped boost the company\u2019s turnover. \u201cAround\na 5% increase in turnover, that is quite significant,\u201d she said. Looking\nahead, Japan is one of the countries being targeted as a potential\nmarket for Cokelatin. Besides having participated in exhibitions in the\ncountry twice, Irena sees the Japanese government\u2019s support for quality\nproducts as providing a considerable opportunity. Currently, Cokelatin\nhas a production capacity of around six tonnes per month.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/from-simple-experiment-cokelatin-elevates-authentic-indonesian-cocoa-flavour-to-the-global-market-1782651053",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}