Kopi Lelet is not as famous as the world famous Kopi Luwak. This coffee is a specialty of Rembang. A drink that is easily found in every warung.

Slow coffee is usually black in color with a bitter taste. There are robusta and arabica types of coffee, served according to the taste of the connoisseur. However, what makes it different is the way the coffee is enjoyed.

Rembang people enjoy Kopi Lelet by separating the grounds (lethek in Javanese) in a small plate (lepek). The coffee can be enjoyed with milk. The dregs of Kopi Lelet are very important, Rembang people put the dregs in their cigarettes.

History

Launching from visitjawatengah.jatengprov.go.id, this way of drinking coffee emerged from the Lasem region, Rembang. A chairman of the Historical Society Communication Forum (Fokmas), Ernantoro, said that lelet coffee was originally called sedulit coffee.

Around 1930, precisely in Dasun Village, Lasem District, Remmbang. In the area there was a shipyard owned by a Dutchman, Berendsen.

The shipyard has a total of six docks. The surrounding community in Gedongmulyo village, which is opposite the shipyard, took advantage of this opportunity. They built a stall selling coffee for the shipyard workers.

The shipyard workers’ habit of enjoying a cup of coffee. They are willing to cross the Babagan river which is connected by a bridge.

The workers have a unique way of keeping the cigarettes from running out quickly. Using their fingers, they smear the coffee pulp. The smearing technique is known as didulit.

This unique habit is contagious to all workers, until the coffee shop area is famous as the Sedulit Coffee shop.

By 1942, the Japanese had taken control of Indonesia and removed the Dutch soldiers. Berendsen and the Dutch citizens who felt threatened returned home.

Later, Berendsen’s daughter Herlena inherited the shipyard. However, unfortunately Herlena decided to burn down the shipyard and run to Blora. This was because Herlena did not want the shipyard to be controlled by the Japanese.

The shipyard had burned down, so the workers had no work. The coffee shop became deserted, so a shop owner decided to move the location.

His name is Mbah Toyib, and he moved to Ngemplak Village, Lasem District, precisely towards the Lasem mountains. After that, many coffee shops also opened in the area.

From the beginning, people called it Sedulit Coffee, then it changed to Lelet Coffee. This change is because people no longer apply coffee using their fingers. Nowadays, people enjoy Kopi Lelet with the help of tools such as toothpicks, threads, and spoons.

In the past, people only applied it in its original form. Now, they apply coffee with various shapes and patterns. Moreover, the Lembang area has many batik businesses.

Get to know the uniqueness of Lelet Coffee

Kopi Lelet has become a part of the city of Rembang. Enjoying a cup of coffee is a must for local people and visiting travelers.

The flavor is strong and the aroma of Kopi Lelet is very distinctive. It feels thick not because of the small amount of water, but the strong flavor. In addition, enjoying Kopi Lelet is not only about the extraction of the coffee but also the grounds.

Slow coffee grounds are often the outer layer of cigarette skins. It’s a way for shipyard workers to save on cigarettes. However, coffee grounds are now much more diverse with interesting motifs.

Generally, sellers roast and then grind their own coffee. Thus, each stall has a distinctive and different flavor. In the past, they mixed coffee with corn, rice or soy beans. Now many stalls use 100% real coffee beans.

The difference between this type of coffee and other coffee lies in the roasting process. Usually using burning from teak wood roots. The result of this roasting produces a delicious aroma.

The coffee grinding process is also very fine, almost like powder. Not just one time, the grinding is done several times until it is completely smooth. Therefore, the dregs can be used as ink for smoking cigarettes.

The vendor will separate the pulp on a small plate called a lepek. Then, serve the extracted water with sugar or milk according to the customer’s request.

More than just enjoying coffee, Kopi Lelet is a piece of art. Having batik-like motifs, some people who love art, turn the grounds of Kopi Lelet into paintings.

Indonesia is one of the coffee-producing countries. With a blend of cultures and customs, Indonesians have a unique style of enjoying coffee. Starting from how to drink it to the ingredients in making the coffee.