Initiating a Coffee Tour in Waerebo

By Eufemia Sarina.          

Local food is an actual issue related to cultivation and its process. Unfortunately, people in rural areas are still not enlightened about the potency of their local food and even assume that theirs is not prospective. It happened due to limited knowledge, low innovation, less curiosity, low initiative, and a tendency to be consumers. The millennial generation is needed because they are considered innovative in executing and promoting innovations through technology.

In the Biodiversity program of Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta, young people are expected to develop their region by utilizing local food potency. Stube HEMAT Yogyakarta provided training and exposure in several places in Gunungkidul regency to open new minds and insights about local food and its prospects for me and others students from various backgrounds and campuses. The activities bridged the gap between theory and practice among students by finding some opportunities and real needs of society.

I am Eufemia Sarina, a STIPRAM (Institute of Tourism) student from Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, quoted the words of one of the speakers, Alan Efendi, the initiators of the Aloe Vera home industry in Katongan village, Nglipar, Gunungkidul Regency, who said that business requires knowledge and motivation if it fails you must try again. Through the training, I gained new experiences and ideas, especially in processing local food in my area, especially coffee.

I want to do something different for my village, Waerebo, Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, which is now one of the world's tourist villages. I challenge myself to innovate by promoting coffee as an alternative tourist destination. Why did I choose coffee as a new tourism alternative in Waerebo? Because Waerebo is one of the largest coffee-producing villages in Manggarai and has various types of coffee, such as Arabica, Colombian, and Robusta.

From my observations, tourists always ask what coffee is served to them, and people only tell them the name of the coffee without describing the shape and color. By initiating a coffee tour, tourists will experience not only the uniqueness of the Waerebo traditional house and enjoy a cup of coffee, but also experience the process of coffee making from the seeding, planting, cultivating, picking coffee beans, and processing the coffee covering process of sorting, drying, and grinding to make coffee powder. Thus, when tourists visit Waerebo, they gain knowledge and experience about Waerebo coffee.

Making of coffee is common for people, but if it is developed creatively, the idea will become a new attraction to increase tourist visits and to make Waerebo a unique coffee village for the tourists. Who else will start to develop the area if not the young Waerebo themselves? Do not wait till you finish college and  bring a graduate certificate but cannot contribute to the village development. While still in Yogya, expand your network, broaden your knowledge, join youth organization and recognize opportunities for development in the village. Waerebo, wait for me to come home. ***