Ep 1 — Me, Coffee, and Second Chances

How can be a simple cup of black liquid can turn my life upside down?

For the starters of my writing episodes, let me tell you a story of my relationship with this black substance in a liquid form :

Coffee.

When you hear the word “Coffee”, what’s on your mind?

Let me make it easy for you — black, bitter, caffeine, a gateway for “adult drinks”, and also one of the cheeky way to see your personality by your preference with it (as i often see on Google, it’s rather hilarious! you should try to take a peek on that)

For me, coffee is an energy in a liquid form, which also have it’s role in every story of my life. (Not to try to sound poetic, but please..)

I love coffee since i was a little kid, i forgot exactly when, because i took a huge interest on the effect you have after drinking one : Energized.

That time, coffee was my ultimate cheat to keep myself moving, which was a tad bit too early for a kid to have that much of caffeine intake. I used to be a kid with full with goals, and tends to work too hard to achieve those said goals. But most of the time back then, it took tolls on my body, and often brought me into a series of failures. At that time, i always drank a cup of hot black coffee whenever i wanted to tinker on something — chances, and possibilities, which sometimes leads to series of stomach issues such as GERD.

As i grew older and after series of failure episodes, i was at the lowest point in my life, exactly have lost my way and decided to take a detour. I enrolled as a freshman in International Relations major instead of Medical. For me, it was horrendous since i have zero interest on political studies. But i chose to get on with it without expecting something monumental that time. Then something happened …

My crush back in university took me on a date, to a certain place..

Yes. A coffee shop. Pretty sweet for a freshman, right?

He introduced me the world of coffee as a person who take the activity of drinking coffee as a religion. He captured my feeling for being passionate, which led me to find out more about coffee! (although as the matter of fact, i love it since i was a kid)

Since then, coffee is always be my companion. One of my best friend in university was also an avid fan of coffee, which helped me to broaden my knowledge about the world of coffee, and the art of coffee-making. So then, whenever i feel sad, happy, calm, or anything, i always have a cup of hot coffee beside me.

After i graduated from university, i hit another lowest point in life. I didn’t know what exactly should i do next, considering i have no idea what exactly my strong points that i can offer for the job vacancies. So i went to visit coffee shops around South Tangerang, you name it. I’ve visited most of them to clear my mind, trying to find inspirations, and once again, i learnt more about it. At that time, i already changed myself as an avid fan of coffee. Because, why not? I found so many new friends and new stories to be heard of thanks to it.

Months already passed and i had an opportunity to enroll to a certain coffee-making academy in Jakarta, ABCD School of Coffee. There, i learnt about basic of coffee — how every factors can affect the process of coffee-making and so on. Let me tell you fellas, coffee is not always about being poetic : seeing the sun goes down, listening to folk songs, and wear hipster outfits, it is also correlated with science and art. That time when i enrolled as a student there, i learnt so much from it. I learnt how to be patient, how to focus on things, and how to manage things well because little you may know, coffee is a delicate product, it needs to be properly handled to enhance the flavor well. See? it involves science and art!

Now my life turns 180 degree from what it used to. A biology-geek turned an IR graduate and turns into a Barista. You see? my life is pretty much..unpredictable, there always be a cup of coffee to fill my day, and in the end, coffee is also the answer to my future. It might not a cure to my heart, instead it gave me lessons, and possibilities. This might be sound cheesy, but the reason why i want to serve coffee to others, is simply because i have a wish to give them a bit of energy boost for them to keep moving, at least to make the worst day seems really passable, and help them to keep striving. I’m not a noble person who can help others with money or anything fancy, but a little encouragement message that i can give to others within a cup of coffee won’t hurt, right?

For me, coffee gave me a key to second chances. I hope that i am able to encourage others to seek their own second chances in life just right after they drink their coffee, and as a good reminder to keep moving forward.