Coffee, a hot new lifestyle

Kurniawan Hari and Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

More and more young people are drinking coffee instead of alcohol or soft drinks at malls, cafes and hotels. Has this trend translated into an increase in the nation's coffee production and a better life for coffee farmers? The Jakarta Post looks into the issue.

Zafa, 22, rarely drinks coffee at home. He usually has water with his meals and maybe a cup of tea while watching TV.

However, he has gotten into the habit of drinking coffee with his friends from university at cafes. They usually go to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Cilandak Town Square (Citos).

"We like the place. The coffee is affordable. And most importantly there are lots of pretty girls there," Zafa, a student at Pancasila University in South Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

He and his friends often drop by the cafe after class at about 4 p.m. or on Friday evening.

He says drinking coffee helps keep him awake as he and his friends talk about the news of the day or school.

Tarrying over their coffee and food, the friends spend hours in the cafe talking and listening to the music.

Indra, 24, drinks coffee with his friends while playing cards or PlayStation at a security post near their house. At home, he drinks milk or tea, never coffee.

"I only drink coffee with milk or cream. Black coffee is too strong," he said, adding that he usually bought his instant coffee from a nearby minimart.

Neither Zafa or Indra are real coffee lovers, but enjoy a cup now and then as they socialize with friends.

Indra says he drinks coffee because it gives him energy and brightens his moods as he spends time with friends.

As far as Zafa is concerned, he is driven to drink coffee not because of the taste, but because of the lifestyle aspect of hanging out in cafes.

Coffee is a major agricultural product in Indonesia. Coffee plantations in the country date back to the Dutch colonial era, when Indonesia first became a major coffee producer.

With so much coffee being grown in the country, it is no surprise that it has become a traditional drink for many Indonesians, who regularly have a cup or two in the morning at home or at a warung kopi (coffee stall), which can be found on almost every street corner in the country.

Until recently most young people considered coffee a drink for old people or people in the countryside. That has all changed as coffee has increasingly become a lifestyle trend for urban youths and as more cafes have opened in posh malls and star-rated hotels.

When the Post visited Citos recently, two lovebirds were seen chatting intimately in Starbucks. They were drinking iced cafe mochas and cheese brownies.

Unlike lovebirds in the 1990s, who would stare into each other's eyes over cans of soda, coffee is now the drink that lovers tell their romantic stories over.