“It’s sharing, not necessarily educating”, I was corrected while the brew master and I were discussing about coffee and cafe trend in recent time. At the time, we were specifically talked about slow bar which gained popularity in recent years.

The slow bar concept is a coffee shop concept that attempts to highlight the art of filter brewing method, as well as intended as a space where coffee enthusiast get to share their coffee knowledge and even ask questions.In a typical slow bar coffee shop, you can expect to see variety of coffee whether it’s single origin or well-crafted blends. Additionally, slow bar offers different type of coffee process in which if you don’t know and quite unfamiliar, the Barista or the brew master is readily available to offer guidance as well as answer to your questions.

There is also a uniqueness worth nothing in this type of slow bar coffee shop. This phenomenon is called “ Pendekar Coffee” or the so-called “coffee warrior”. This has quite an unfavorable connotation as it is akin to the term of SJW (social Justice Warrior) but the coffee version of it. Still,If you want to learn more about coffee, slow bar is one of the place to go and experience. Even for me, slow bar is a space to share update on coffee trends, tasting new coffee beans and learning something new. I have visited a few of them but the friendliest barista and most welcoming ambience one goes to Had Some Coffee or they also call their place, HSCO.

^{The royal northern lawn. It used to be open for public but now it is closed.}

Had some coffee or HSCO is a new coffee shop located in a historical part of town, offering a picturesque view of Keraton (The Royal Palace) northern lawn. The building itself was also a part of historical landmark that according to the staff there, it should not be changed. It was why, the interior was kept minimal deliberately and meticulously adhering to the rules set in order to preserve the building. The place had its first open house during May this month.

^{A classic typical building in Central Java & Yogyakarta province}

Since the place is relatively new, I reckon not a lot of people has discovered the place. Even for me, the reason why I went there was because the museum that was adjacent to the place. The brew master told me that their highlight is the filtered coffee and also Indonesian styled brewing. Unfortunately, at the time, many of their curated coffee wasn’t still displayed properly and the only coffee available was Ethiopia. So, I was okay with the options that they were offering despite that Ethiopian coffee isn’t something that I generally prefer. But hey, we gotta keep an open mind right?

While the place that looks humble and it was a great place to enjoy coffee after strolling through this historic part of town. With the friendly brew master and barista, it was also much easier to have a discussion and getting new knowledge on coffee and coffee industry. We had many great conversation on coffee and its development. I also discovered a place where they do Luwak coffee a lot better then one in captivity. So, I would love to visit the place at some point.

As the barista was preparing my coffee, I was ordering a Japanese which is iced filter coffee. It was a hot day and I needed something refreshing, so instead opting for a hot beverage, I was going with Iced ones. The Ethiopia was good, I wasn’t really familiar with that coffee but the aroma and flavor were quite inviting. Then after finishing my first filter coffee, I went with their cappuccino, the deciding factor if I would go back there or not. The sweetening part was something I find intriguing of this place, they uses condensed milk instead of sugar. Although when it comes to the latte art, it wasn’t as intriguing as I ever had. So perhaps, I am not going back unless I wanted to visit the museum adjacent to it. While the cappuccino combination was good, the milk wasn’t overpowering, the latte art was quite sub-par and they could do better. Still, it was forgivable with the service and also the filtered coffee that they were serving.

In essence, they do the slow bar better than some of the places I went to in town. They have engaging barista, good filtered coffee as well as vast knowledge on it. They’re not judging if you don’t know certain things and it makes a good exchange of information. In fact, I hope many more slow bars exist because people who doesn’t like coffee, will hopefully see coffee through unique perspective as well as new ways of enjoying it.

For me personally, the visit was one of intriguing one where I was also told about the uniqueness of Malaysian coffee that I have not had the chance to think about. I never really thought that in the Sabah and Sarawak area, there would be coffee that could potentially be intriguing. So, perhaps that would be where my roaming for roasts would be headed to. It is to see that in that country, there is a coffee world worth exploring. Anyhow, see you in my other roaming for roasts!