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C Photo / Bayu Prawiro

The first coffee company Jasin started was So So From farming to barista consulting and creative
Good Coffee Company in 2020. The initial mission of coffee serving, Jasin tries to participate in every section
the start-up was to help improve the Indonesian coffee of the local coffee chain. For him, all this work is not
industry through education. When the fourth coffee only about making ends meet but, more importantly, his
wave happened in Indonesia, So So Good Coffee Com- businesses that spread across the industry also showcase
pany began to focus more on working with more coffee who he is as one of the top influencers from the Indone-
brands, including coffee machines, syrup companies, sian coffee community. It confirmed the “ikigai” mind
milk labels, and more, to produce whatever they needed, map he wrote down when he first stepped into the coffee
from content generation to creative recipes. Then came field. He loves coffee. He can earn a living from it. More-
the Catur Coffee Company in 2021. “I personally like to over, he can use coffee to make the world a better place.
be on the coffee farms, so I decided to start a new chap- Coffee is his reason to live. “It is something that I didn’t
ter with a few of my business partners.” Jasin told me. realize straight away, but eventually, I found coffee to be
The new coffee company is involved in post-harvest pro- very powerful in a way that it is an agent of change. It
cessing with a few coffee farming groups in Indonesia. can change lives. It can be as simple as feeling energized
They ferment how they want to, then sell the coffee to for the day because of a cup of coffee, but it can also help
local business consumers. As the company grows more many people get better livelihoods, especially the coffee
prominent, it aims to present local coffee globally. “We farmers here.” Jasin told me in the interview.
not only process our own coffee, but we also help other
local farms to trade coffee beans to different places in Serving Coffee
the world.” Said Jasin.
Despite running two successful businesses, Jasin While busy with his business and using Indonesian
still wasn’t satisfied. Growing up as a down-to-earth coffee as an agent of change for the local community, Ja-
barista, Jasin always looked for a connection with the sin always remembered his passion as a barista and knew
actual customers. He said: “The insights that come from he would be one of the best in the world. In 2015 and
customers are important because, at the end of the day, 2016, he was the runner-up for the Australian Coffee in
they are the end user.” Last year, Omakafe opened to the Good Spirits two years in a row. In 2018, he won second
public. Like its name, the coffee shop brings a whole new place in the Indonesia Barista Championship. He then
omakase coffee experience for the local customers. Peo- moved on to the world-level competition with a trium-
ple will not be served a cup of latte or a flat white there. phant return, placing fourth in 2019 in Boston and then
Instead, guests can order course sets just like in a fine seventh in 2021 in Milan. However, for Jasin, it is all
dining restaurant and taste three or four special drinks bittersweet, as he was at every corner near the top, but
of Indonesian coffee made in different creative ways to he never reached it. Especially after the WBC in Milan,
showcase their uniqueness. he confessed he felt burnt out and lost. In the interview,
he said, “I really put everything in Milan—time, energy,
money, and resources. I truly believe in the message I
was representing. As a competitor, I was fulfilled because
I knew I could be one of the best in the world, but the
result meant I was not the best in the world. I wanted to
achieve more, but I was just very tired.”

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