Indonesia Promotes Local Coffee and Barista

Nusa Dua, InfoPublik - The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the lobby of Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) building. A number of Indonesian looking baristas were enthusiastically making orders of coffee made by participants of the IMF-WBG 2018 Annual Meetings, while putting their friendly faces.

Coffee is one of the hospitality treats offered by Indonesia in this international celebration. Bank Indonesia (BI) hopes that the coffee would leave all delegations and media a favorable impression of Indonesia.

BI's Head of Task Force for the IMF-WBG 2018 Annual Meetings Peter Jacobs said coffee was chosen to color the event in Nusa Dua Bali, because it has very high added value. "The added value of coffee from beans to ready to drink reaches 1,000%," he said on the sidelines of the IMF-WBG 2018 AM.

The event does not only promote Indonesian coffee but also Indonesian baristas' ability to prepare and serve coffee. "Indonesian Baristas are on par with foreign baristas, thus, let's drink authentic Indonesian coffee from Indonesian local coffee outlets," he said. He also expected that through the promotion of Indonesian coffee through this event, the added value of coffee can be enjoyed by the people of Indonesia

BI has been intensively promoting Indonesian coffee in various major international events. According to Peter, prior to the IMF-WBG 2018 Annual Meetings Bali, BI had brought Indonesian coffee to the IMF-WBG 2017 Annual Meetings in Washington D.C. And the result, "Everybody loves coffee from Indonesia," he said.

In the IMF-WBG 2018 Annual Meetings, the coffee promotion was more special. During the Bali Annual Meetings, BI carried out a Cup for Solidarity program, where every coffee of coffee served to participants would be valued at Rp100,000 per cup by BRI to donate to victims of natural disasters in Central Sulawesi and Lombok.

With the cup of solidarity program, participants will be able not to enjoy delicious free coffee, but at the same time also help disaster victims in Palu and Lombok. The program received enormous enthusiasm from Annual Meetings participants, that the IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde was also seen enjoying the coffee.

For the record, many say that Indonesia's coffee and barista promotion is part of Indonesian coffee diplomacy. BI collaborates with Indonesian state-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) to open three coffee stalls at the IMF-WBG 2018 Annual Meeting venues. These stalls are located at the Westin, BNDCC, and BICC at Bali Nusa Dua resort area. The program started from 8 October 2018, and will end on 14 October. An estimated of 10,500 cups will be given out with a value of funds to be be donated at Rp1.05 billion.

That amount of fund is expected to rise, because the demand continues to rise. On the first day, only 500 cups were served, while the second day it reached 850 cups. "That's from one stall," Peter said.

In this event, six baristas were invited to present the best and most delicious coffee. The baristas include Evelyn Yamin, Muhammad Aga, Robby Firlian, Fauzan Ambadar, Rendy Anugrah, and Muhammad Fakhri.

BRI Director of Compliance Achmad Solichin Lutfiyanto said no other country has coffee with varied natures like Indonesia's coffee. "From Aceh to Papua, we have coffee, each of which has its own characteristics," Solichin said.

The promotion of Indonesian coffee at this Annual Meetings is expected to further introduce more variety of domestic coffee to the international world, which will result in rising demand for coffee exports from Indonesia. (Uji Agung Santosa/Gusti Andry/ Translator: Penni Patmawati)