IO – Sipping healthy drinks at cafes has become a necessity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Drinking coffee with a combination of pandan leaves is delicious and healthy. For that, we also have to choose a hygienic hangout spot. Kopi Pandan Café, which is located at Tanah Abang V 37, Central Jakarta, is a recommended place to visit.
Dr. W. Andralia K., M.Sc (UK), DLSHTM, ABAARM, Acp., opened the business to coincide with the celebration of Indonesia’s 75th Independence Day. Under the motto which is “to share enthusiasm and freedom, combining taste with health, to produce more value in each menu”.
“Our work must provide extra added value to refresh, reduce elements that are not very good in maintaining health such as preservatives and extra high sugar, and others,” said the doctor in the field of wellness, aesthetic and antiaging, who is also Owner & President Director of FMN Clinic.
Philosophy. For a long time ago, Dr. Andralia fell in love with the natural ingredients of pandan leaves, so she gave the name Kopi Pandan Cafe. Pandan leaves, that are easily found in various places have many benefits from head to toe. Pandan leaves can be developed into a culture of drinking and eating healthy and natural Indonesian ingredients.
For the head, pandan leaves are useful for preventing and eliminating dandruff. Pandan leaves can also relieve pain because they contain anti-inflammatory properties. Pandan leaves also have cancer-preventing properties because they are cytotoxic, anti-excessive cell development, antiproliferation, and stimulate abnormal cell apoptosis.
In the body, the development of cells must be natural, normal, and balanced and if excessive, it must be stopped. Inflammation that occurs continuously and cannot be stopped, over time causes cell mutations. “We can prevent disease by doing something healthy that can be carried out every day,” said Dr. Andralia.
Pandan leaves can help improve appetite and increase stamina. They can also prevent insomnia or anxiety because they exert a calming effect. Pandan leaves are useful to help relieve low-grade fever, by boiling the leaves and drinking the water while it is still warm.
Those who regularly consume pandan leaves will be better than those who consume lots of sugar. In the body, excessive sugar causes high loading into cells and heavy cell work, which eventually burdens the pancreas and causes damage to other organs. Pandan leaves are highly recommended for diabetics.
“Although pandanus leaves are not a direct cure, their many benefits can contribute to relieving many complaints and helping to improve body health,” said Dr. Andralia.
The use of pandan leaves can also be combined with other ingredients, such as turmeric, ginger, onion, and lemongrass, to relieve inflammation.
The materials are ground up and rubbed into the sore parts after heavy physical labor.
Healthy menu
Dr. Andralia prepared to open the cafe for three months during the Covid-19 pandemic, by renovating and designing a place right next to her clinic. She makes use of the vacant land next door, as well as providing clean, fragrant, and beautiful dining and hangout facilities for patients and their families who visit it. At Kopi Pandan Cafe, a patient’s family can wait while eating and drinking or chatting casually.
Meanwhile, for healthy menus, Dr. Andralia is accustomed to consuming healthy drinks such as juices, herbal teas, and herbs. The menu is intended for families and patients to live a healthy lifestyle. Kopi Pandan Cafe provides space for Dr. Andralia to demonstrate how to make a healthy menu according to patient needs. For slimming, it will provide a balanced, natural and low glycemic index menu, so that more fat and sugar do not accumulate in the body.
Therefore, the menu concept at Kopi Pandan Cafe is natural and healthy for the family, following the principles of FMN Clinic, its sister company, which prioritizes health. According to Dr. Andralia, eating is not only about being full, but the food consumed must provide added value such as being healthy or supporting a healthy lifestyle.
“Indonesia has a beautiful culture, and has a history of healthy herbs, so why don’t we preserve it? I thus used the time during the pandemic to prepare this Pandan Kopi place,” said the doctor who also works as a trainer, speaker, coach, and brand ambassador.
Kopi Pandan Cafe serves authentic coffee from Borneo or Kalimantan Island with a taste that is loved and addictive. Sipping coffee at Kopi Pandan Cafe is like sipping natural coffee in the countryside that is still original and soothing. This eastern culture coffee can be made into variations like Hot Black Coffee, Ginseng Coffee, Milk Coffee, or Moka Coffee. All types of coffee can also include pandan juice on request.
Kopi Pandan Cafe also serves a menu of herbal medicine which is very popular in the country, such as Jamu Kunyit Asam, Jamu Temulawak, Kencur Rice, Galian Singset, Galian Sehat for Women, Healthy Men, Sari Rapet, and Tolak Angin. Besides, there is also a menu of Warm Pandan Ginger, Pure Pandan Sari Ice, as well as Herbal Teas, Flower Teas, healthy fruit juices, such as unsweetened avocado juice, as well as vegetable and fruit juices that are processed based on the guest’s health. Detox or dietary juices can be specially ordered, according to the needs of each person. Beforehand, consult a doctor to diagnose the patient’s needs.
In addition to coffee, healthy drinks such as spices, herbs or tea, etc. can be combined with pandan juice processed from real pandan. However, not all menus can be combined with pandan elements, because it must be seen whether the taste is suitable or not; guests are free to ask for special variations.
The doctor who graduated from Medicine at Atmajaya University, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and the London School of Economics added that in serving the herbal medicine menu, the most important thing is that the ingredients are natural, they taste good and are not bitter so that people are not afraid to hear the word herbal.
Healthy drinks can be processed using natural ingredients in the kitchen and the environment so that they are authentic. “We prioritize as natural as possible the ingredients from the kitchen, shop early in the morning at the market so that everything is still fresh and then we process it. It gives its texture and taste,” said the doctor who has completed her doctoral study in Biomedicine, focusing on stem cell cancer, from the University of Indonesia in 2017.
The menus at Kopi Pandan Cafe always avoid preservatives and artificial coloring. The pandan menu directly uses natural pandan leaves, not pandan essence. For purple color, the cafe uses natural purple sweet potato dye. The red color is from the natural ingredients of beets and the blue color is taken from the butterfly tea.
Don’t sacrifice your health. If you have to choose, what you have to sacrifice is appearance, rather than taste or use. But thankfully we can achieve these three things without sacrificing anything. Usability always has to be number one, then taste, then appearance so that the body is healthy, there is no feeling ill or uneasy, so being beautiful is a bonus from health,” said Dr. Andralia.
For the food menu, Dr. Andralia prefers fresh, uncooked food, but not everyone is compatible with these foods. Therefore she follows the demand by serving food that is cooked first. “Cooked food is not necessarily unhealthy, but fried food is not recommended from a health perspective, especially for patients who want to be slim. To balance it, drinks as a companion must be healthy, “said Dr. Andralia.
Amenities: Kopi Pandan Cafe has a beautiful and clean design. As a doctor, cleanliness and hygiene are essential, so that visitors feel comfortable, relaxed, safe, and happy. In addition to its healthy menus, Kopi Pandan has become a pioneer of cafes with good service, clean, beautiful, and comfortable. It is a place for parties, gatherings with family and friends, meetings, small seminars, as well as breakfast and lunch, without feeling expensive.
The meeting at Kopi Pandan is expected to inspire. “People who come will relax so that they leave Pandan Coffee happily. Hopefully, the taste also matches the tastes of the guests who come,” she said.
Kopi Pandan Cafe carries out health protocols; moreover, it is always monitored by doctors who are very careful to maintain sterility, hygiene, and cleanliness of the premises, air, food, and restaurant staff. Every day the cafe room is always having a UV (ultraviolet) and the water purifier is always on. Kopi Pandan also pays attention to air circulation in the room, with a window and exhaust fan. The room is always cleaned with disinfectant, so are the tables, chairs, and cutlery.
“Sterility and food hygiene are also absolute. We apply a clinic-like protocol which is always clean and sterile. Employees also maintain cleanliness, wear masks and face shields, must wash their hands with soap before touching food, and wash their hands after handling anything, and apply sanitation around the toilet,” said Dr. Andralia.
Kopi Pandan Cafe can accommodate around 25-30 people in the hall which is used for activities such as parties, meetings, and others. For these activities, visitors can make private bookings after the pandemic ends. “In a beautiful, comfortable, and clean place; visitors do not need to pay a lot of money to celebrate happy days or have meetings,” said Dr. Andralia.
As a promotion, Kopi Pandan Cafe utilizes social media, as well as word of mouth from friends, relations, and acquaintances. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Kopi Pandan Cafe is open from 09.30 to 19.00 WIB, except on Sundays when it closes at 18.00 WIB. Kopi Pandan Cafe provides online ordering services through 0858 1717 3700, as well as serving and shipping by Go-Food and Grab-Food.
Franchise. Dr. Andralia hopes to spread the consumption of healthy food and drinks to families without expensive costs but in a clean and comfortable place. Pandan coffee will belong to the people of Indonesia and be useful for many people. “We can make the community live healthily together, at the same time be creative, which is beneficial and provides employment,” said Dr. Andralia.
Through Kopi Pandan Cafe, Dr. Andralia wants to help people who are currently being hit by the pandemic. She wants Pandan Coffee to become a healthy business sector and has a wide market that is affordable to employees. “I hope this can be a pilot project, we support others so they can make the next Kopi Pandan Cafe,” said Dr. Andralia.
Dr. Andralia inspires other people who have vacant land and want to run a business, to collaborate with Kopi Pandan Cafe. Next year, Dr. Andralia intends to open a franchise with an investment of around IDR 100 million, excluding the land and renovation of the cafe building. “This year, during the pandemic, we are helping friends with a fee of only IDR 15 million, not including premises and renovations. We teach all the methods in our place so that people can actively use their idle land by opening Kopi Pandan Cafe,” she said, hoping that Kopi Pandan Café will be a blessing for many people in various regions. (Kartika Indah)