Wonosobo's Purwaceng coffee selling well

By Bambang M.

WONOSOBO, Central Java (JP): It looks just like any other coffee: Black powder in small packs. But you will experience a difference as soon as you mix it with hot water, stir and drink it. It has a ginger flavor.

It is a specialty that visitors to this chilly town should not miss. It is Purwaceng coffee and you will not find it anywhere else in the world.

"This coffee is very special. It warms the body, improves blood circulation, refreshes the body and nerves and boosts sex drive," says Purwaceng coffee maker Ibu Salim.

She said that Purwaceng coffee has 17 ingredients, making it "very special". She refused, however, to mention them on the grounds that the secret recipe would become public. But she revealed that the main ingredient was purwaceng.

Purwaceng is a kind of ginseng that only grows in Dieng Plateau, some 20 kilometers north of here. Local people usually use it to make traditional drinks to keep them warm. At night, the temperature in Dieng can reach as low as 2 degrees Celsius -- one of the reasons why such a drink as this has become a basic need.

She said the other ingredients were mostly imported from different countries. Yahfaron, for example, is a type of grass that comes from India. Others come from the Middle East.

"Most of the ingredients come from India and Arab countries. Sometimes, you can find them in Chinese medicine shops, but they are very expensive," said Salim, a mother of three.

Salim, whose husband is of Arabic descent, says it is not difficult to get all the ingredients because she maintains close relations with her relatives of Arabic origin. Fortunately, many of the family members are married to people of Indian descent. "It's from them that I get all the ingredients I need to make Purwaceng coffee," she said.

Salim lives on Jl. Sidomulya in an area where foreign tourists usually stay in Wonosobo. She has been making Purwaceng coffee since the early 1980s. Starting off in business as a cement supplier, the business she ran with her husband was not profitable and they turned to coffee.

She learned how to make the coffee from her husband's relatives, who came from Saudi Arabia in 1979. According to Salim, in Saudi Arabia, coffee is usually served at weddings.

She said the process of making Purwaceng coffee was simple. Firstly, all the ingredients are washed, dried in the sun and then fried, without oil. The next step is grinding all the ingredients and blending them into proper proportions.

Salim doesn't make Purwaceng coffee every day, but once every three months. She will make 150 kilograms of it. Then, she packs them into small plastic bags and sells them for Rp 1,250 a pack. "If the packs do not break, the coffee remains drinkable for years," said Salim.

Now, after 20 years, many people look for her "magical" coffee. Every month, she can sell up to 10,000 packs of Purwaceng coffee. "Thank God, with this business I can support my family," Salim said.

Purwaceng coffee lovers are not only Indonesians. Many foreign tourists who visit Wonosobo like it. In Dieng, Purwaceng coffee is served in restaurants. "I think they like my coffee because it can keep them warm," said Salim.

She added that Japanese and Korean tourists particularly liked it. She recalled an order to send 2,000 packs of her coffee to Japan in 1986.

Although demand keeps rising, she cannot produce more, due to capital and technical constraints.

"My product is not registered at the health ministry," said Salim, who also has an art gallery at her house.