Banda Aceh: City of a Thousand Warkop a.k.a Coffee Shops

The making of “Kupi Sareng”

Overview

Banda Aceh is the capital of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province. It faces the Andaman Sea [1] that has a 1.660 Km coastline and sea waters covering an area of 295.370 Km sqrt [2]. In 2004, Banda Aceh was hit by the Indian Ocean Tsunami which destroyed the city and took away many lives, which made Banda Aceh famous.

Long before the disaster, Aceh was already known for its coffee. At that time, people enjoyed a cup of coffee at home or at the Warung Kopi (commonly referred as Warkop) a.k.a coffee shop while having conversation with their neighbors. And now 20 years after Tsunami, Warkop (traditional or modern) has massively spread all around Banda Aceh that people begin to call it as a City of a Thousand Warkop. Despite a plentiful number, somehow every Warkop is almost never empty [3]. They have their own loyal customers based on the preferred taste, location or ambience.

Pain Points (Challenge)

In the last 10 years, Banda Aceh has undergone many developments. Many infrastructures and public facilities adorn the city. It attracts domestic and foreign tourists to visit Banda Aceh, where in a certain time we can find a lot of Malaysians around the iconic Mesjid Raya Baiturrahman, Tsunami Museum and of course they also will visit Warkop as one of the highlights of Kota Banda Aceh.

The traditional Warkop, particularly, is a good place to experience the making of Aceh’s famous “Kupi Sareng” and taste it right at the place together with other mouthwatering dishes served. Unfortunately, only a few of them put enough information on search engines, especially on Google Maps. In addition, we can’t find any information on which Warkop provides English Services. Therefore, this data collection aims to provide insight for this local business.

Key Outcomes

The data of Warkop around Banda Aceh were gathered through Google Maps including the information about the store name, country code and country name, address, city, subdistrict, state, zip code, category, website/Instagram account/other related link, phone number, and business status (still being operated or permanently closed). After listing 15 coffee shops around Banda Aceh, assembling them into Google Spreadsheets and making it handy for everyone.

The Mapping Process

The data of the Warkop were found by searching ‘coffee shop in Banda Aceh’ and ‘kopi in Banda Aceh’ as keywords on Google Maps. This brought up all the coffee shops around my area, sorted it by the rating, went through each coffee shop and copied all the information needed into a spreadsheet.

Research result of keyword ‘kopi banda’

Information display of Bie Coffee

Data entry sheet

Coffee shops percentage in 3 subdistricts

Research Findings

Banda Aceh has great opportunities as listed below:

• Warkop locations: you can find coffee shops all around Banda Aceh, which you can choose one suitable to your preferences. Some offer more traditional ways to enjoy coffee and local dishes and others give experience in enjoying modern coffee with an international menu.
• Going Online: Almost all the Warkop already go online by supporting digital payment such as QRIS and joining the merchants of food delivery app such as GoFood.

Conclusion

This research shows that coffee shops are a potential business in Banda Aceh. It has already become a local pride and all of the Warkop is almost never empty. However, if the owner makes use of search engines and social media to provide proper information to introduce themselves, it will give an impressive impact to their business. The list of recommended Warkop a.k.a coffee shops, to warm your day, were compiled in this research and is expected to help everyone who want to try coffee in the City of Thousand Coffee Shops, Banda Aceh.

*Click here to access the research result in spreadsheet*

Sources:

[1]https://www.britannica.com/place/Banda-Aceh

[2]https://www.academia.edu/86798047/Analisis_Pengaruh_Parameter_Fisik_Terhadap_Indeks_Kerentanan_Pantai_CVI_DI_Kawasan_Pantai_Banda_Aceh_Dan_Sekitarnya_Studi_Kasus_Pada_Kawasan_Ujung_Pancu_Sampai_UjungBatee

[3]https://www.kompas.id/baca/nusantara/2023/02/27/geiat-kotakopi-roda-ekonomi-banda-aceh