Depending on how you see “art”, it can be many things. For me, when I hear that word, some words that come to mind are, peculiar, underground scene, creatives, chaos, passion, obviously, person. That’s what I exactly saw when I visited Rudeka, an abbreviation of Rumah Merdeka. In English that would literally translate as “independent house” though in that sense, it’s more about freedom of expression. So, perhaps we can call it, freedom house. And in that house, they serve the creative inducing juice that we all need, coffee.

Unlike the cafe and coffee shop that we generally see around the cinnamon cup and coffee community, we can say this one quite differs. It doesn’t have a fancy interior design nor a colorful painted wall. But perhaps one thing we all can agree on, it’s the creativity of its owner.

The owner utilizes used goods to decorate the place from its interior to its furniture. For instance, the table is made from a used wooden door. And the kitchen is decorated with rusty used roofs and windows. Almost everything that you will see in this place is a product of recycling. Additionally, the presence of some cactus and plants adds more biophilic value to the building.

The place itself also serves various drinks that can be found from their own garden. It is similar to the place I visited earlier called Platarium that serves traditional Indonesian brew. Only in this place, there are various brews with different benefits.

Before my order came, I explored the places around. One of the staff who seems to be the owner gave me permission to check inside the place and asked me a simple question, “ where are you from?”, and I replied, “ just around here”. I was not in the mood to have a conversation so, I went inside the house and saw the crafts.

Not only crafts, there are book shelves and a white board with some schedules on some art performances. This is the kind of place that I really dig. Perhaps, if I am healthier, I would love attending one of the art performances. I used to visit places like this in the past and this is a signal that I can start doing it again. The people I met from these places often have interesting views of life that I always love to learn from.

The object placement around the place is quite interesting. I find them to be camera friendly despite the house and its surroundings looking like an abandoned one. I enjoyed capturing the surroundings of this place. They may have a reason why it’s placed that way or they may not. But the placement was aesthetic in its own way.

This isn’t my first time visiting this place. I visited this place about a month ago with my mom and my aunt’s family. That visit left an impression on me and I decided to visit once again after my short swimming session.

They do not have wifi in this place but you can spend hours in this place especially if you are with a group of friends or family. You can disconnect from the internet and connect with your family/friends here. And for me, being in seemingly chaotic places, I feel comfortable. I can sit down for hours not worrying about anything and enjoy being swayed by the soft breeze. I brought my note to this place and enjoyed writing down my disarranged thoughts.

Though I was alone, I was not lonely. The place was quite lively with some birds singing and little bugs hopping from one plant to another. It was a nice entertainment while I sipped a nice iced coffee and a herbal drink made from various spices and roots.

The price of drinks in this place aren’t expensive. It’s very reasonable and you can splurge on any drink you like for under 5$. Their coffee is obviously unlike the regular cafes made but it's as good as one. I got palm sugar coffee that wasn’t made from a fancy coffee machine, instead it was a drip coffee that tastes quite good. The brew was a good one too. I also ordered light snacks, french fries that tastes really fresh and homemade.

In such a supportive environment, it was easy to be creative. I would say that this place is quite underrated. Many of us go to a nice cozy coffee shop but sometimes, places like this can bring peace into your life and encourage change. I didn’t want to leave the place but since I got light-headed and felt sick, I had to leave.