COFFEE CULTURE, ISLAM AND SACRED PLACES 
IN POST-INDEPENDENCE JAVA

Awalia Rahma

Abstract

Prior to Indonesian Independence, coffee drinking in Java received were influenced mainly by Arabs, Turkish, and Europe. Yet, Java creates its own coffee culture, the so-called kopi tubruk. The varieties of kopi tubruk then growing wider when it comes to cultural-religious ceremonies. This cultural history study is aimed to convey Islamic coffee culture in Java’s post-Independence era. Researchers currently developed coffee culture in various aspects such as plantation (Martinez-Torres: 2006; Thurber, 2014), economic aspect (Fridell: 2007; Tucker, 2017), health science (Preedy, 2014), lifestyle (Sajdi: 2007, Rahma: 2016), national identity (Topik, 1999), etc. While mostly consumed in profane places, however, coffee is also found in sacred places whether as a stimulant drink for praying, festivities, even offerings.  A research question is thus proposed on how this coffee culture takes place in mosques, cemeteries, religious festivities etc. in post-Independence Java. Using consumption and practice history theories this study eventually finds: a) coffee consumption in sacred places are part of practice history in Java for a long time, signifies individuals and social lives, b) the kopi tubruk becomes another mud coffee-based drink in global coffee culture as compare to espresso, c) together with other ‘sacred foods,’ coffee interplays with Islamic values creating communal religious or individual identity which distinguish Javanese-Muslim among others. 

Keywords:
Coffee culture, Islam, Java, sacred places, post-Independence