Indonesia hosts prestigious specialty coffee event for first time

This is World of Coffee Jakarta, where coffee becomes an experience.

Crowds of specialty coffee professionals, producers, machine and tool makers, and passionate coffee lovers are here to sample some of the best coffees in the world.

The Specialty Coffee Association, the largest coffee trade association in the globe, launched the World of Coffee (WOC) event in 1999 in the United States and has since then become a global traveling trade show and venue for prestigious international coffee competitions.

"I think what we're trying to do is to excite consumers in consuming coffee. Coffee is moving away from being a functional beverage to becoming more of an indulgement. And what we want to do is to get consumers through a journey that they find coffee exciting as food or wine, so that people can actually enjoy coffee and maybe understand the value that they bring to the value chain and to the people that are producing coffee all around the world,” says Yannis Apostolopoulos, Chief Executive Officer of the Specialty Coffee Association.

Mikael Jasin has been in the industry for over 10 years.

He was crowned World Barista Champion in 2024.

He sees making and serving coffee as a responsibility to honor the whole coffee chain— from the coffee farmers, roasters, baristas to the consumers.

“At least for me, it's making sure that the approach that I do when I make this coffee is the same standard at least to the approach that the farmers have done to their coffee, the roasters have done to that coffee, and then me as the barista at least maintain the same standard, if not better. So that the customer when they drink it, they can enjoy that coffee to the best potential of that coffee," says Jasin.

“When I make coffee for myself, I'm a bit more relaxed - but for people, I want make sure that I'm serving the best of that coffee," he adds.

The Jakarta edition of the event marks the first time World of Coffee has taken place in a coffee-producing country— a milestone that the fourth-largest coffee producing nation in the world takes pride in.

Among the hundreds of Indonesian coffee producers at the event is Rani Mayasari, owner of Java Halu Coffee.

Her coffee farm aims to empower women in the villages of West Java to work in thriving careers in coffee, an industry that is considered male-dominated.

"It's like a medicine for us. It's like a painkiller for us, you know? Because a lot of effort that we already doing in 15 years. So it's like a good food, healthy food, or soulful food maybe for us," she says.

"We are happy. Indonesia happy, Indonesia proud, and we don't have any reason to give up Indonesian coffee with this World of Coffee.”

Fresh out of high school, 18-year old Jamie Elijah Yauw, is spending his summer break learning from the best coffee professionals in the world gathered in Jakarta.

“I think every step of the way at the industry is amazing. It's beautiful, it's inspiring, and to be here, meeting people who’ve worked with farmers, meeting people who make the tools we use every day, meeting people explain how they roast their coffee and seeing the effort that people put, or see how much they love, how much they put their whole life into coffee is so inspiring. Where for me to see people like that, it's just making me awestruck, really,” shares Yauw.

The global coffee industry makes over $200 billion in annual revenues according to the FAO.

In 2024, Arabica, a higher quality coffee species typically used by specialty coffee businesses, saw a 58% increase in price than the previous year, according to reports by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The Specialty Coffee Association estimates that around 20% of total global coffee exports are of specialty coffee and is predicted to increase in the coming years as more specialty coffee markets are rapidly expanding in coffee producing countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, and Vietnam.