Can you imagine a world without coffee? A world where the fragrant scent of complex aromas no longer fill the air of countless homes, cafes, and offices every morning, afternoon, and night? A world where approximately 2.25 billion cups are no longer enjoyed daily?

Well, Suradi can't. In fact he actually made his own world of coffee. Not in the literal sense of course, but that is the name he gave to his shop, Dunia Kopi (Coffee World) located in South Jakarta, Indonesia. But before I go into more details about what makes Suradi's Dunia Kopi special, it's worth knowing who this 52-year-old man is.

Sitting down with Suradi near the hustle bustle of where his shop lays, the endless sound of several coffee grinders at work preparing customers orders queing up on a busy weekend becomes the ambient tone of my interview. The fragrant scent of espresso made from a new house blend of arabica beans they've come up with called Jackfruit, consisting half parts of Sidikalang honey, 30% Puntang natural and 20% Gayo wine, just prepared by the barista for me fills the air, enticing me to try it. Suradi notices and encourages me to have a go. He says the Jackfruit has notes of sweet, tangy, tropical fruits, with a high acidic and medium body profile. Without hesitation, I politely took a sip, but found myself unable to resist downing it. He smiles and tells me this year's harvest has been good. Last year, Indonesia suffered harvest failure in many regions due to climate change, causing production to shrink to its lowest in 6 years.

Suradi, who hails from Grobogan, near Semarang, the capital of Central Java Province, moved to Jakarta in 1987, at the age of 18. Only completing the 6th grade, or Primary School in Indonesia, he found a job at the Santa wet market, in Kebayoran Baru, one of the earliest satellite cities developed in Jakarta post independence, that's become one of the metropolis' hippest spots combining residential areas, business districts, and commercial centres with large green spaces, in the nation's first garden city designed by Mohammad Soesilo, a student of renowned Dutch Indies architect, Thomas Karsten, who previously designed the cities of Bandung, Bogor, and Malang during colonial times.

The name of the market itself is believed to originate from a catholic church nearby, Gereja Santa Perawan Maria Ratu (Church of the Queen Saint Mary the Virgin), that is also used to call the area surrounding it. Suradi worked tending to a stall that sold essential goods, such as rice, cooking oil, eggs, and sugar. This became the place where he learned the trade. "I attended college at Santa for 13 years," he joked.

In the early 2000's, Suradi had saved enough money to buy a stall of his own at Santa Market. At the time, a friend he calls Koh (Koh is a Betawi, the local ethnicity of Jakarta term, taken from the Hokkien word Koko or 哥哥, meaning elder brother) Alung, a coffee retailer who was planning to go to the United States. His business never took off, so he agreed to sell it to Suradi. Buying a failed business might seem like a bad idea, especially in a country where at the time almost exclusively drank premixed instant coffee, packed in one cup sachets, but Suradi had a hunch things were about to change in Jakarta, or Indonesia for that matter. Everyone drank coffee. It was just a matter of time before people started to seek higher quality products, and thus Suradi was convinced the second wave of coffee which started around the 60's in the western world would eventually catch on.

In the beginning, selling coffee was not as easy as Suradi thought it would be. "At the start, it was very difficult to find good quality coffee," he says.

At the time, Indonesia's arabica production only accounted for 7% of the total output (it's now reached 14%). Most farmers were focused on growing robusta for industrial scale factories and didn't pay too much attention to the flavour profiles of their coffee. "That's why it was so hard to get (arabica coffee). I had customers from Aceh and Java tell me they knew people who grew it back where they came from, and I told them to bring it over, but the quality was really bad," Suradi continues.

Despite only being able to sell around 20 kilograms of coffee a good month, which was hardly enough to sustain his business, Suradi never gave up. He decided to diversify his merchandise by selling plastic goods to make up for the shortcomings. It was enough to make ends meet and keep his coffee retail a float—until he finally met someone who opened his eyes on coffee production. The person worked at a coffee factory and helped Suradi understand the importance of quality control. Suradi later took courses and after being certified started working together with farmers to improve their crop. He realised he had to take matters into his own hands to make the product he wanted instead of waiting for it to come to him. "We have a very wide variety of coffee in Indonesia, so many types of beans, various post harvest processes, and if we educate the farmers, in the end this will help increase their income, and thus contribute to developing Indonesia's economy," Suradi explains.

Today, Suradi sells coffee from all over Indonesia. You can find Arabica, robusta, liberica, and excelsa beans, that have been processed using various methods such as naturally dried, full wash, semi washed, wine, black honey, red honey, yellow honey, anaerobic fermentation, and even wild luwak (digested coffee cherries eaten by the asian palm civet that goes through a fermentation process in the intestines, that's then collected when defecated, later washed and dried) all with its distinctive flavours. Customers can choose up to more than 110 coffee varieties at Dunia Kopi, not including the various green beans they also provide.

Looking to try something from Sumatra? No problem. Java? They've got you covered. Sulawesi? Look no further. How about Bali and the Nusa Tenggara? All good. Even Papua? Absolutely, and if you're looking for something internationally acclaimed, you can get the Puntang Black Honey, grown by Ayi Suteja, whose beans were crowned 'best taste' at the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Expo Awards in Atlanta, 2016. It received the highest score of 86.25 from 17 other specialty coffees from Indonesia that was chosen to be auctioned at the event, selling out in around three hours for a price of $55 U.S. dollar per kilogram. Apart from locally grown beans, customers can also purchase coffee from Brazil, Columbia, Guatemala, Ethiopia, and many other countries as well, which Suradi jokes is meant for comparative studies.

This after all is what Suradi envisioned when he started out—a place where people can try all the different kinds of coffee made in Indonesia, a country with diverse geography that houses 400 volcanoes (130 of them active), all with their own unique microclimates, that spread out onto thousands of islands. A place where people can get a taste of what Indonesia has to offer to the world in a cup. Suradi even provides free coffee, not just to his customers, but to anyone who wants to have some, often going through 10 kilograms of coffee beans a day. This in a way is one of his ways of giving back for what he believes God has given him because despite being the fourth largest coffee producer in the world, many Indonesians cannot afford to enjoy a good cup of joe made from the best beans grown in their own country.

Talking to Suradi, I can sense his sincerity. He's a man that went through difficult periods in his life, knows how hard it is to get by, and is now trying to help out others with the thing he loves and has become his life: coffee. Suradi setup courses for people who want to learn to become a barista for a very reasonable price. He even provides free courses to orphans and underprivileged people so that they have the required skills to work in Indonesia's growing coffee industry. Suradi also sells equipment for people looking to start a coffee shop at a low cut price in hopes that they might be able to make it out for themselves.

Seeing how far his business has grown over the years, I was curious as to why Suradi hasn't opted to relocate to a bigger and maybe better location. He simply says because the rent is super cheap. Joking aside, Suradi tells me the thought never crossed his mind. For him, Santa Market has in a way become his home. He's spent 37 years working there, and thus feels attached to it. This sentiment towards Santa Market is why Suradi hopes Dunia Kopi can become a tourist destination that will not only attract people looking for good quality coffee but also drive the economy of the market and everyone that works there, from the people who sell fresh produce, general items, and clothes, to food hawkers, tailors, and barbers.

Not wanting to take too much time from this busy man, I concluded the interview, but asked if it would be alright to talk to him again when it was less hectic, which he obliged. It was two hours from closing time after all, and people were still coming to make orders. I decided to talk to a few customers that caught my eye.

The first person I talked to was Nils, a Swiss expat, who has been working in Indonesia for two years. He told me he found out about Dunia Kopi from a friend of a friend when he asked them where he could get good coffee and not get ripped off by supermarket prices. Nils tells me he's been coming back ever since, once every couple of months to stock up. The wide variety of coffee can be a little overwhelming for customers, but Nils appreciates the staff that are very helpful. He usually tells them the general profile of what kind of coffee he's in the mood to get, like how strong he wants it, if it's an arabica or robusta, and basically lets them surprise him, which he says never disappoints. He believes it's best to hand it over to the experts to give him recommendations. Nils later tells me his visit on this occasion was to get some coffee to bring back home for the holidays. "This time, I'm just grabbing some coffee for family back home so that they can get a little taste of Indonesia."

Walking around Dunia Kopi, I later stumble upon Keiko, a Japanese national, who's been in Indonesia with her husband for three years. Keiko tells me she discovered this place through social media. For her, drinking coffee in the morning is a daily ritual she enjoys together with her husband. It's a refreshing routine to start the day, but something she avoids in the afternoon to stay clear of sleepless nights. Keiko tells me they usually get the Toraja arabica and something new to try every time she stops by. "The coffee is very cheap, and the variety they have gives me an opportunity to try coffee from all around Indonesia," she says when I asked what her reason for coming back every two to three weeks was.

As I waited to continue my conversation with Suradi (he was still busy at the cash register, taking orders), I thought it would be a good idea to get some more free coffee. All this talk about it certainly did make me crave seconds.

At the coffee bar, I stumble upon an old man, waiting for his order. I decided to strike up a conversation as he did look friendly, wearing a sharp outfit, consisting of an indigo blue batik shirt paired with grey trousers and leather dress shoes, definitely not the typical attire seen at a market on a weekend. I asked him if he had just come back from an event, to which he politely responded that he just got out of the house and just wanted to get some coffee here. I complimented him on how he dressed, as I can appreciate a person who makes an effort when out in public. He replies by thanking me and invites me to sit with him nearby to enjoy our Americanos.

After formally introducing ourselves, I asked Syahrizal, who's retired and lives in Depok, a satellite city in the outskirts of South Jakarta around 20 kilometres away, how he found out about this place. He tells me his brother's friend who happens to be a coffee aficionado recommended it to him. It turns out Syahrizal just got into coffee about a year ago after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He tells me before getting coffee here, he only drank instant premix coffee laced with too much refined sugar. It took a while for him to get accustomed to the taste of black coffee, occasionally mixing sugar, but it was just a matter of time until he found the right beans that tasted perfect for him just as it is. Ever since, Syahrizal has been coming back every month to get a bag of Mandailing Specialty arabica, which he says has a balanced taste and low acidity that makes it fine for him due to having GERD. "I drink coffee to eat less," he tells me.

"As you can see I'm overweight, but I've managed to go down a bit, so for me I feel its benefits. I used to snack a lot, but not anymore. I guess I drink coffee for health reasons because of diabetes, so I have to cut back on carbohydrates, which I've read can lower blood sugar," Syahrizal explains.

As he was leaving I wished him all the best in his health journey. It's a problem that's gaining more concern in Indonesia. As of 2023, 1 out of 3 of the adult population is overweight or obese, with higher figures seen in urban areas and among people with higher socioeconomic status. It's great to see people like Syahrizal making more cautious choices in the time of Indonesia's growing coffee industry where a large portion of the beverages sold contain high calories. In a survey done in 2023, 78% of 4,538 respondents said they drink coffee daily, and a large portion drank their coffee with sugar or creamer, where only 21% of men and 16% of women drank their coffee black.

As I was waiting for Suradi to finish up work, he introduced me to his roaster, Karwoto, to have a chat with him about how the roasting process is done at Dunia Kopi. Karwoto, who met Suradi in 2010 when he was still a roaster at a renowned coffee shop in Jakarta, was asked to help out. At the time, Suradi didn't have a roasting machine and realised that he had to roast his own beans to ensure a better quality product. After agreeing to work together, Karwoto bought a roasting machine and started roasting beans for Suradi at his home. As sales grew, Suradi decided to buy his own roasting machine, and Karwoto trained Suradi's employees to become roasters, to keep up with demands. Duni Kopi now roasts around one ton of coffee every day done on site.

For Karwoto, roasting beans is about consistency. For him, it's important to maintain a standard of excellence to ensure customer satisfaction every time they get their choice of beans—a skill he's honed over the years, which he credits Suradi for. When he started his career, Karwoto lacked passion for his job—it was a job he landed by chance, seen merely as a way to pay the bills. In fact, he initially had no interest in gourmet coffee. Over the years, his love for coffee grew and escalated when he began working with Suradi. He gained a substantial increase of income through his side hustle of roasting beans for Dunia Kopi. It provided financial security for him and his family, and thus he started taking his craft more seriously.

"For me, Suradi is like an angel," he says. "Seriously. When I was at a low point, when I was down, I was able to stand up and run again because of him. I did have a job, but if I only depended on my salary from being a roaster at a coffee shop, it simply just wasn't enough to get by. He gave me an opportunity to help me get to where I am now. For me, he's an angel."

It's 5:30 pm, and things have finally calmed down at Dunia Kopi. This has been a typical day for Suradi. Opening shop at 6:00 in morning, tending to customers, making sure the freshly roasted coffee is ready to be sold—it's a life he never thought he'd be living, but now in a way has become sort of a mission for him—to provide good quality coffee at affordable prices, to be enjoyed by the masses. I ask him, "What's next?" Suradi says he wants Indonesian coffee to be enjoyed all over the world. So far, he's received orders from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and Bulgaria, but he hopes to expand his sales to more countries.

From humble beginnings to legendary status in Indonesia's coffee industry, Suradi believes the most important thing in life is to be a good person—to live a life that benefits others, which will eventually come back to us. I conclude my interview by asking him what coffee meant to him. In a rather philosophical way, he says coffee to him is like a black pearl. "For me, coffee is very unique—its black colour, bitter taste. It can be enjoyed by everyone, it makes people happy. For me, that's really unique. So what is it with coffee?" he says. "That's why for me it's like a black pearl. Back then, good coffee was so hard to get—just like a black pearl," Suradi wraps up.

As a person who loves coffee, I'm thankful for what Suradi has done. Before coming here three years ago, my selection of coffee was limited to what my local supermarket sold. I'm pretty sure I managed to try all the coffee at Dunia Kopi, but they do still manage to put out something new that reignites the excitement of trying out something you've never had before. So the next time you're in Jakarta, Indonesia, don't forget to stop by Santa Market and get some coffee from Dunia Kopi to experience Suradi's world of coffee. Wherever you are in the world, I raise my cup of roast and propose a toast.