Indonesian Coffee Goes Global Through World of Coffee 2026
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANGKOK – It all began in 2016. Hendra Susanto started his coffee business from scratch through Beskabean Coffee. Beginning with a plantation, he then opened a roastery, and eventually launched a coffee shop with 14 branches.
His journey was not short. He started alone with a daily turnover of Rp 50,000. Now, he has 85 employees with turnover that is certainly far different from when he first started the business.
The journey of building the coffee business over the past 10 years has been undertaken alongside Bank Indonesia (BI). Since 2017, he has been selected as a Bank Indonesia Outstanding Entrepreneur (WUBI).
WUBI is Bank Indonesia’s annual programme to assist and develop potential UMKM so that they can advance, become independent, and competitive internationally. Through this channel, Hendra has climbed up and begun to penetrate international markets.
“Coached by BI. Like business and management training, all that from BI. BI gives us the fishing rod rather than the fish. In the end, we can stand on our own thanks to BI,” said Hendra in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday (7/5/2026).
While speaking with Republika and several other media outlets, Hendra was standing at the Indonesian pavilion at World of Coffee 2026. After being held in Indonesia in 2025, it is now Thailand’s turn to host.
Not far from Hendra, Gusti Iwan Darmawan was busy brewing authentic Indonesian liberica coffee while chatting with visitors. His Kojal Coffee is also a BI-selected UMKM to attend World of Coffee.
Gusti started his coffee business just with his wife in 2017. They source the best coffee beans from local farmers in West Kalimantan.
“So our coffee is only from West Kalimantan for our coffee shop. And our programme also provides direct assistance to farmers in West Kalimantan since 2017,” said Gusti.
From initially assisting 20 farmers, Gusti now supports up to 300 farmers. This capacity building was done with BI’s help since 2019.
“I made a proposal to Bank Indonesia, Bank Indonesia also came to us. We discussed together to find solutions to the problems,” he said.
After discussion, the real issues related to coffee in West Kalimantan were at the farmer level. One of them was post-harvest facilities and infrastructure.
“That’s what I asked for help with from BI, and alhamdulillah BI prepared everything. Starting from 2019, then in 2022 helped again. But not all at once,” explained the long-haired man.
According to him, assistance is provided in stages to see the development from each assistance given. Gusti also avoids asking for full direct assistance so that the farmers he supports can continue to develop gradually.
“Step by step, we prove with this alone we’re already good. Then ask for help again, so it gets even better,” explained Gusti.