I’ve spelled it so many times while observing the black powder. Thinking about what kind of charm does it possess that this one human is so crazy about it: Ben… B-e-n.
Ben has travelled the world, searching for a correspondent everywhere to get the best coffee from the whole country. He consulted with coffee mixer experts from Rome, France, Amsterdam, London, New York, and even Moscow.
Ben, with his limited language skill, begging people so that he’s allowed to infiltrate their kitchens, sneak into their bars, digging the secret blend of top notch baristas to know the right dose to brew café latte, cappuccino, espresso, Russian coffee, Irish coffee, macchiato, and so on. Until one day, it’s the time for Ben to open his own coffee shop. Idealistic coffee shop.
One year ago, I officially became his partner. Based on mutual trust between friends, added with foolhardiness to speculate, I handed my whole saving to be his shop’s stock. Other than the assets in the form of money and administration skill, I know nothing about coffee. It’s entirely Ben’s assets.
Now, you can say that Ben is the greatest coffee brewer or barista in Jakarta. And he enjoys every second of his career. In this coffee shop of ours, Ben does not stay in the corner, but takes a place in a bar right in the middle of the shop so that visitors can watch his action in making coffee. With our coffee selection, most of the shop’s customers are true coffee fans who would not stop admiring our menu list. Truly admiring because they understand.
The shop flooring and half of the wall are layered with merbau wood with coarse texture, coffee posters with various poses are neatly mounted along the walls in glass frames. The pinnacle is a big glass window, labelled with the name of our coffee shop in letters that would remind you of Dutch-styled barbershop:
Kedai Koffie
B E N & J O D Y
