Saat masih kerja di salah satu grup majalah yang letaknya
persis di samping Tanamera Coffee, saya cukup kaget melihat sosok wanita
berambut hitam, bercampur merah dan hijau, dengan tato di seluruh tangannya. “Siapa
tuh Ga? Barista baru?” tanya saya kepada Muhammad Aga, head barista Tanamera pada
pertengahan Februari lalu. “Iya, ex-barista X (salah satu cafe ternama di
Jakarta), tapi tastenya oke kok,” jawab Aga.
Barista sangar namun ramah ini bernama Debora Ayu
Ibrahim, atau biasa dipanggil Bobho. Ia sempat menanyakan nama saya, sebelum
sempat menjawab, ia menyambar, “gue panggil lo Yoko aja yah?” Wah seenaknya aja
nih anak, kata saya dalam hati. Tapi tidak apa-apalah, ketika orang mengatakan
saya mirip Yoko (tokoh utama Return of the Condor Heroes) yang diperankan oleh orang
seganteng Andy Lau, rasanya saya malah harus bangga. Berikut ini adalah
pembicaraan saya dengan Bobho mengenai latar belakang dan pengalamannya bekerja
di sebuah coffee shop yang serius:
Sebelum
jadi barista, Anda sibuk apa saja?
Sebelumnya saya sempat kerja di retail custom T-Shirt,
kemudian kerja di sebuah distro di daerah Tebet. Saya sempat bekerja di bidang
saham juga, padahal saya kuliah jurusan Broadcast.
Wah
agak ngawur juga yah? Terus bagaimana ceritanya Anda bisa jadi barista?
Sebelumnya saya pernah interview hingga 5 kali di
salah satu coffee shop paling ternama. Sebetulnya saya sudah diterima, tinggal
serah terima seragam dan apron, tapi setelah mengaku saya memiliki tato, saya
tidak jadi diterima. Memang peraturan perusahannya begitu. Saya sudah membuat tato
sejak lulus SMA, pada 2008. Kemudian saya melamar di suatu perusahaan promotor
musik, tapi sedang tidak ada slot kosong. Kebetulan, mereka (perusahaan yang
juga bergerak di bidang F&B) sedang mencari barista. Akhirnya saya diterima
di coffee shop tersebut sebagai opening team, setelah mencoba menjadi barista,
ternyata asyik juga. Awalnya saya tidak tahu apa-apa tentang kopi, tapi di sana
saya diajari manual brew, cold brew, syphon, membuat espresso, dsb.
Itu
teknisnya kan? Apa lagi yang Anda dapat di sana?
Sebenarnya di sana saya tidak mendapatkan pengetahuan
tentang kopi karena tidak ada waktu. Outletnya selalu sibuk setiap hari. Di Tanamera,
saya belajar cara bikin kopi yang benar secara lebih spesifik dan detail, mulai
dari latte art, frothing susu, pengetahuan tentang kopi. Banyak sekali sih
bedanya, jomplang banget. Sebelumnya saya tahunya kopi itu pahit saja, entah
dibuat untuk espresso atau milk based lainnya. Di sini, setiap pagi kami
melakukan coffee tasting sehingga saya mulai bisa merasakan flavor-flavor kopi.
Selain itu lingkungan di Tanamera juga mendukung karena ada coffee roaster,
lalu tidak ada gap dengan pelanggan.
Memangnya
dulu ada gap seperti apa?
Dulu kami hanya boleh ngobrol di counter saja, ketika
pelanggan memesan kopi, selebihnya tidak boleh. Mungkin maksud perusahaan, “untuk
apa lo lama-lama ngobrol sama pelanggan? Sedangkan kerjaanlo masih banyak.”
Kurang friendly lah istilahnya.
Dari
sisi segmentasi pelanggan, apakah di Tanamera beda jauh dengan tempat Anda
sebelumnya?
Bedalah kak, di sini kebanyakan orang yang datang
memang suka dan mengerti soal kopi. Sementara di tempat lama, pelanggan lebih
ingin nongkrong, mereka biasa pesan ice blended. Tadinya saya biasa ngopi di
salah satu cafe ternama, menurut saya rasanya sudah enaklah. Di tempat lama,
saya memang merasa kopinya lebih enak. Tapi ketika masuk ke Tanamera, saya
langsung merasa, “terus yang saya minum kemarin itu apa yah?” Bukan bermaksud
menjelek-jelekkan, tapi bedanya jauh sekali.
Saya
curiga Anda diterima di sini justru karena memiliki tato. (FYI, Aga juga penggemar
tato, ia memiliki tato di tangannya, dan mungkin di bagian tubuh lainnya)
Pertamanya sih begitu, memang Aga ingin mencari barista
perempuan yang bertato. Ia sempat melihat saya di tempat kerja lama saya
bersama Ibu Dini (pemilik Tanamera). Lalu tanpa saya sadari, ternyata mereka
sedang melakukan interview. Katanya sih, Ibu Dini suka karena saya ngomong
terus.
Sebagai
barista, bagaimana Anda tahu jika Anda sudah melakukan pekerjaan anda dengan
baik?
Ketika kopi yang saya buat sesuai dengan rasa kopi itu
seharusnya. Contohnya, ketika saya membuat manual brew, tasting note seharusnya
adalah orange, strawberry, nutty atau chocolaty. Ketika saya selesai membuat, sharing
ke pelanggan, dan mereka merasakan note tersebut, saya merasa saya sudah
melakukan pekerjaan saya dengan baik.
Sejauh
ini, apakah Anda sudah memiliki minat khusus, mungkin latte art atau manual
brew misalnya?
Masih belom sih. Tapi Aga mendorong saya untuk ikut
kompetisi tahun depan, mau latte art atau manual brew, terserah saja, tapi saya
harus mengerti soal kopi dari sekarang. Masih belum nyampelah kak, saya tidak
mikir ke situ deh.
Bagaimana
dengan profil kopi favorit Anda?
Tasting note maksudnya? Kalo saya sih memang tidak
terlalu suka acid, seperti orang Indonesia kebanyakan. Saya suka kopi yang yang
light, sweet tapi clean aftertaste, contohnya Aceh Gayo. Awalnya memang agak
acid, tapi kan setelah itu aftertastenya clean. Saya juga suka manual brew yang
dicampur es batu, ternyata enak loh. Paling tidak menurut saya, mungkin saya
sok tahu atau gimana, tapi rasanya lebih light, jadi tambah asyik, enak gitu.
When I was still
working at a magazine group, located next to Tanamera Coffee, I was quite surprised
by the presence of a woman with black, red, green hair, with tattoo all over
her arms. “Who’s that? A new barista?” I asked Muhammad Aga, the head barista
of Tanamera on the middle of February. “Yes, she was ex-barista X (one of
popular coffee shops in Jakarta), but she has good taste,” Aga answered.
The slightly
scary, but actually friendly barista is Debora Ayu Ibrahim, aka Bobho. She also
asked my name, but before I replied, she said, “let me call you Yoko, okay?”
What the..... but then I thought it’s actually a good thing. When people said that you look like
Yoko (the main character of Return of the Condor Heroes), starred by handsome
actor like Andy Lau, you take that as compliment. Here is my interview with
Bobho about her background and her new experience working in a serious coffee
shop:
Before you become a barista, what were
you doing?
I was working in retail
custom T-shirt company, and then in a distro in Tebet. I’ve worked in stock
also, even though I majored in Broadcast.
Well, it’s quite out of track, isn’t it?
How did you finally become a barista?
I’ve been
interviewed 5 times in one of the most popular coffee shops. Actually, I
already got the job, I just need to get the uniform and apron, but after
telling them that I have tattoo, they turned me down. They don’t allow employees with
tattoo. I got the tattoo since I graduated from high school, in 2008. Then I
applied for a music promotor company, but there’s no vacancy. Instead, they (the
company is also doing F&B business) need barista. Finally I got the job in
that coffee shop as opening team. After a while, I the job as a barista, even
though I didn’t have any knowledge about coffee beforehand. I learned basic
manual brew, cold brew, syphon and making espresso, etc.
That’s the technical part right? What
else you’ve got there?
Actually, I didn’t
get too much knowledge on coffee because there’s no time. The outlet was very
busy every day. In Tanamera, I learn how to make coffee in more detailed,
specific ways, from latte art, milk frothing, to other knowledge about coffee.
The difference is night and day. Before working here, I only knew coffee is
bitter, either for espresso or any other milk-based coffee. In here, every
morning we do the coffee tasting so I can start to taste different flavors and
tasting notes. The environment is also better for learning, in fact we have a
coffee roaster here, there’s also no gap between baristas and customers.
What sort of gaps did you have back then?
We were only
allowed to talk to customers in the counter, that’s when they ordered their
coffee, other than that, you can’t. The company was like, “what’s the point of
chatting with customers while you have other jobs to do.” Not too friendly, I
guess.
From the customer segmentation, how far
is the difference between Tanamera’s customers and your previous workplace?
Very different, in
here most of the customers are coffee lovers who know about coffee. Meanwhile,
at previous place, the customers just wanted to hang out, most of the times
they ordered ice blended drinks. I was used to the taste of one of the most
popular coffee shops’ coffee, I thought theirs was good enough. And then, in my
previous place, it was better. Now, I’m like, “what was I drinking all this
time?” I don’t mean to badmouth anybody, but the difference is that huge.
You know, I suspect you got the job here
because you have tattoo. (FYI, Aga also a tattoo fan, he also got tattoo on his
hands, and possibly in other parts of his body)
It’s true. Aga
wanted a female barista with tattoo. He came to my previous workplace with Mrs.
Dini (the owner of Tanamera). Unknowingly, the chat was actually an interview.
Some people said that Mrs. Dini liked me because I was very talkative.
As a barista, how can you tell that you’ve
done a good job?
When I brew the
coffee like it should be. For instance, when I make manual brew, the ideal
tasting notes should be whether orange, strawberry, nutty, or chocolaty. When I
finished brewing and the customers tasted those notes, I felt I’ve done a good
job.
Have
you developed any specific interests in coffee? You know, latte art or manual
brew perhaps?
Actually, not yet.
But Aga pushes me to get into competition next year, whether it’s latte art
competition or manual brew, any competitions, but I got to learn more about
coffee from now on. I don’t think I’m there yet, I haven’t think much about it.
What’s your favorite coffee taste profile?
The tasting notes?
I don’t enjoy acid that much, just like most of Indonesians. I like light,
sweet coffee with clean aftertaste, such as Aceh Gayo. I know it’s acidic in
the beginining, but it has that beautiful, clean aftertaste. I also like to put
ice cube in manual brew coffee, it’s nice you know. At least to me, it feels
lighter, nicer, very tasty.
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