Sipping A Cup of Refreshing Saranti at Acaraki

Anytime you go to Jakarta, don’t forget to stop by at Kota Tua! My friend’s message always resonated when I set foot on the Gambir Station platform. After finishing some businesses, I went straight to the Kota Tua (Old Town). From the Blok-M area, I took Trans Jakarta to Jakarta Kota Station, went straight to Fatahillah Park by foot. Duh, walking in the hot Jakarta sun is not a good choice, even though the day hasn’t moved from noon yet. Moreover, I feel Fatahillah Park is too crowded for me. I chose to walk down the road to the rows of Kerta Niaga buildings just to hide for a while from the hot sun while waiting for dusk. But my eyes were drawn to a cafe in the corner of the Kerta Niaga building.

Acaraki

Twilight, coffee and indie music! Ahhh the true combination of a serene atmosphere! But I was deceived. At first glance, the atmosphere is similar to a modern coffee shop. Complete with various coffee brewing tools such as french press, rokpresso, to aeropresso.

The soothing atmosphere at Acaraki

“Acaraki is a term for a jamu maker, like a barista in coffee. The jamu here are indeed brewed with the tools used to make coffee,” said one of the Acaraki’s brewers as I sat down.

Jamu? So far, jamu is identical as a health drink for the elderly. It tastes bitter. It makes edgy young people like me reluctant to drink jamu. But all was lost when I drank Saranti. My heart, which was originally barren, seemed to have blossomed again with Saranti. Seriously, the freshness is like penetrating to the heart, cesssss!

Saranti is a modern fusion version for jamu beras kencur. These two main ingredients (beras-rice and kencur- aromatic ginger) are brewed using rokpresso to extract the essence of beras kencur. The results of the brewing are then added with milk, creamer, and a little sugar. No wonder it’s creamy. Plus the strong scent of kencur, hmmmm! Out of curiosity, I tried another menu, the name is Golden Sparkling or kunyit asam and soda. Ohhhh delicious! But my favorite remains Saranti. Fall in love on the first batch. If Saranti was a woman, I would have asked for a hand and married her.

Saranti, the creamy-ness is heartwarming

Actually, I’m still curious, I want to try other menus that are in Acaraki. But unfortunately, twilight is coming. A photo in the corner of Fatahillah Park at dusk can be a very artsy Instagram feed, especially with the addition of a romantic quote caption from the lyrics Fiersa Besari’s song, ughhhh what a great moment!

NB: All the chronology above is just fiction, but Saranti’s freshness is completely original! If you’re curious, you can always come to the Kertaniaga II Building, at the corner of Fatahillah Park. Here’s the GMaps  link. Kudos to Showki. What Acaraki displays is truly an extraordinary innovation. Maintaining tradition in a non-traditional way!

The Jamupedia team hangout at Acaraki -for real.