The Coffee Dreams of a Sukabumi Kid

Long before Shibyan Assyidda Saiq Senjaya understood espresso extraction, hospitality, or coffee processing, coffee simply meant extra pocket money. During his final year of high school in Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia, Biyan accepted job at a local coffee shop called Bumi Kopi as a barback and runner. At the time, he was just another teenager trying to earn enough money for daily expenses and snacks. “I didn’t have any big dreams back then,” he says. “I just wanted extra money.”

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Yet somewhere between grinding beans, packing coffee orders, and helping with post-harvest processing, coffee slowly became more than a side job. Without fully realizing it, Biyan was learning that coffee begins long before it reaches the cup, in the soil, in the harvest, and in the hands of the people behind it.

Bumi Kopi was far from luxurious. There were no expensive espresso machines or complicated signature menus. The shop focused on manual brew coffee, milk-based coffee drinks, and simple snacks. But for Biyan, the small shop became his first classroom. “It taught me that coffee is really about people and process,” he recalls.

After graduating from high school, Biyan continued his studies at IPB University while searching for another coffee-related job to support himself financially. He was eventually accepted at Oregon Coffee as a junior barista.

The experience became a turning point. For the first time, Biyan worked with espresso machines such as Nuova Simonelli and Faema. He learned milk steaming, roasting basics, mocktail preparation, and customer service. More importantly, he discovered a deeper connection to coffee culture itself. “I started enjoying the interaction with customers,” he says. “Coffee became something more personal.”

Although he only stayed at Oregon Coffee for six months, the experience pushed him to take a bigger risk. Using savings of around IDR 5 million, Biyan launched his own coffee venture called Slowbar under the name Sobat Rakyat together with a friend. The business, however, lasted only two months. Looking back, Biyan admits he moved too quickly.

“I was too ambitious and impatient,” he says. “I focused too much on the dream without fully understanding how to manage the business properly.”

Inventory problems, inconsistent operations, and lack of preparation eventually forced the project to close. But rather than discouraging him, the failure became one of the most important lessons in his journey.

“That failure changed the way I think,” he explains. “I learned that passion alone is not enough. You also need patience, systems, and discipline.”

After Slowbar closed, Biyan joined Kukira Coffee, where he began taking coffee more seriously as a profession. During this period, he attended training at 5758 Coffee Lab in Bandung, an SCA-certified campus, where he studied management, menu development, finance allocation, supply chains, and team management.

His responsibilities at Kukira gradually expanded until he became head barista. “This was where I started understanding leadership,” he says. “Not only making coffee, but also managing people and taking responsibility.”

The role also helped him reconnect lessons from his failed business venture. Mistakes he made during Slowbar became valuable references for handling operations more carefully. Eventually, a new opportunity arrived: Starbucks.

Biyan describes the recruitment process as intense. He prepared extensively for interviews by studying hospitality principles and the company’s background. After passing multiple interview stages and a medical examination, he was accepted as a part-time barista.

Working at Starbucks, however, brought a completely different kind of challenge. According to Biyan, the pressure did not only come from customer volume, but also from operational standards and consistency. Daily routines involved checking chiller temperatures, maintaining cleanliness, monitoring product quality, conducting evaluations, and following detailed operational procedures throughout each shift.

Despite the exhaustion, Starbucks became an important stage in his development. “It taught me discipline and consistency,” he says. “You learn how to stay focused even when you’re physically tired.”

At the same time, Biyan remains emotionally connected to traditional espresso culture and manual brewing methods. While he respects Starbucks’ systems and professionalism, he still misses the tactile experience of using a traditional portafilter and working more directly with espresso extraction. Still, he believes every stage of his journey has contributed to who he is today.

Now in his sixth semester at IPB University, Biyan continues baz college life with work behind the coffee bar. The journey that started as a simple attempt to earn pocket money has evolved into something far more meaningful. “Coffee gave me more than income,” he says. “It taught me discipline, communication, failure, and growth.”

Although he still dreams of opening his own coffee shop one day, Biyan says he no longer wants to rush the process. This time, he wants to build it with patience.

From a small coffee shop in Sukabumi to the fast-paced routines of Starbucks, Biyan’s journey mirrors the reality many young workers quietly live through in Indonesia’s growing coffee industry. Long shifts, modest salaries, constant learning, failed experiments, and the pressure of balancing work with college life slowly shaped him into someone very different from the teenager who first entered a coffee shop just to earn extra pocket money.

Along the way, coffee became more than work. It became a space where he learned discipline, patience, communication, and how to survive disappointment without losing his sense of direction. Every café he stepped into gave him something different: humility from failure, confidence from experience, and the understanding that growth rarely happens overnight.

Today, Biyan is still learning, still working, and still chasing the dream of building something of his own someday. But unlike before, he no longer wants to rush the process. For him, coffee is no longer simply about brewing good drinks. It is about becoming someone stronger, steadier, and more grounded through every shift, every mistake, and every cup served. And through every bitter brew along the way, he keeps moving forward, one cup at a time. "I want to the best barista in the world from Indonesia," says Biyan. (Hudes Magazine)