"It's amazing how the world begins to change through a cup of coffee." - Donna A. Favors
What is the first thing you think of when you see a cup of coffee in front of your eyes? is it as a warm drink that is drunk in the morning to increase enthusiasm and concentration? or as a friend at dusk? maybe for you a cup of coffee is just an ordinary drink, but for me a cup of coffee is an adventure.
Introduction to A Cup of Coffee
Me and coffee have an emotional attachment, i am a coffee drinker since childhood. In those days, every afternoon, i always drank coffee (perhaps stolen) that my grandmother made for my grandfather. I still remember the taste of that cup of coffee, it was bitter and sweet but still delicious. As an adult i discovered the fact that the coffee i drank since childhood was not pure coffee but a mixture of coffee and corn. That's why as a child after drinking coffee i became full.
My journey continues when i go to college and work on a chicken farm. The routine at that time made me often drink instant coffee. I consume many variants of instant coffee, ranging from black coffee, white coffee, or instant cappuccino. However, i was admitted to the hospital, probably due to a poor diet and the excessive consumption of coffee made me suffer from stomach acid.
I haven't drank coffee for a long time, until finally in early 2016 my friend invited me while working at a non-government organization to meet at a coffee shop. At first i wanted to order cold lemon tea, i avoided drinking coffee because i was afraid that my stomach acid would relapse. However, the barista at the coffee shop had a discussion with me and offered me a cup of coffee which he guaranteed would not give him stomach acid. I agreed, and he brewed arabica coffee using the manual brew method, and when i took a sip of the coffee. My adventure has started.
Coffee and Travel
After that first experience, my paradigm about coffee changed. I started to learn brewing and also often visited various coffee shops ranging from traditional coffee shops to modern coffee shops. My question is simple, what makes each cup of coffee has a different taste.
Finally, i decided to stop working as a supervisor at a chicken farm and rejoin the non-government organization where i used to work, to help local farmers in sipirok-north sumatra. Coffee took me to several places in my country, various coffee shops and many coffee plantations i visited. I once brought some coffee farmers in sipirok, for a comparative study at the gayo coffee plantation in takengon, central aceh.
Because of coffee, I once arrived in a remote village at the foot of Mount Kerinci. Ranah Pemetik Village, a village where the majority of the community initially worked as illegal logging actors, turned into a successful coffee farmer. I learned a lot about coffee and life while there.
Because of my love for coffee, I have also explored the first coffee plantations in North Sumatra, the province where I live. And found some coffee plants that have a lifespan of up to 100 years.
Coffee and Business
I don't just enjoy trips to coffee plantations. I also get a lot of financial benefits from coffee. As one of the people who assist coffee farmers in Sipirok, I also regularly promote and sell Arabica Sipirok coffee to several coffee shops and direct coffee drinkers.
In addition to making a profit, helping coffee sales can increase the income of coffee farmers in Sipirok, because we sell the final product, not raw materials. I have also held various exhibitions and bazaars about coffee to make a cup of coffee more enjoyable for everyone.
It's not always a happy thing that happens between coffee and me, the Covid-19 pandemic has made me and many people who make coffee a business commodity have to suffer a lot of losses. The lockdown and social restrictions have prevented people from drinking coffee in coffee shops and I once had no money to pay my mortgage because my business wasn't running.
Coffee Shop and Friendship
Many meetings and friendships happen over a cup of coffee. Coffee shops began to change, there were those who considered coffee shops to be places for meeting and hangouts, there were some who considered coffee shops to be sacred places where the drink of heaven was born.
Many friendships and memories I got from the coffee shop. For me a coffee shop is not just a place for social gatherings. But it becomes a place for us to express, a place where we can talk, read books, discuss or discuss the latest news, or just take time to take a break from work activities.
Many people think, nowadays coffee shops in Indonesia have almost the same function as coffee shops in France during the Enlightenment. At that time discussions of liberté, egalite, fraternité blossomed from the corners of coffee shops in France, and made King Louis XVI's head beheaded and marked the beginning of the French revolution. In Indonesia, coffee shops are also used as a wild discussion about bad government policies towards society and the environment. Will the revolution in Indonesia happen along with the increase in coffee shops? Only time and government policy will tell.
That's my moment with a cup of coffee. Maybe, for you coffee is an ordinary drink, but the cup of coffee I drank in the past, brought a fundamental change to my life and career. All my moments about coffee are things I can never forget right. Sweet, bitter, sour taste of coffee like that is what happened in my life.
Call me Isdarmady, because I have a full name that is very long, namely Isdarmady Syahputra Ritonga. I am a head of the family who work as Farmers Vegetables Hydroponic and Consultant Hydroponics, sometimes I also sell coffee from various regions in Indonesia.
I have expertise dispensing coffee with a variety of techniques and tools brewing, because I have the desire to make a coffee shop with hydroponics as centerpieces. Help me realize that dream.
Thanks for read, vote, re-blog and support me in Hive. Maybe god will reward the kindness, let’s success together.