Pak Mat's traditional coffee a specialty

SIK, July 5 -- Smell of fresh coffee emanates from a house in the cool and breezy rubber plantation in Kampung Belantik Dalam here, with the sound of water flowing from a stream nearby.

At one corner of the house is a wooden stove, where Mohd Sabiah Kadir, 69, and his wife, Kaedah Ahmad, 65, spent most of their time since nearly 40 years ago - frying coffee beans.

“Before the coffee beans are ground,  they have to be cleaned and then fried until they are cooked and turn black.

“What is special about my coffee is that it is ground using the traditional method, like frying the beans on wooden stove and grinding it using lesung hindik (a wooden mortar with pestle),” said Mohd Sabiah, or “Pak Mat", as he is known by the locals, when met by Bernama.

Despite using the traditional method, he said, the process involved should be meticulously carried out to maintain the quality and taste of the coffee.

Pak Mat said he used only two types of coffee beans, namely Robusta and Liberica, both imported from Indonesia.

“We also do not add in other ingredients when cooking the coffee beans. It’s just the coffee beans and sugar to give it the original coffee taste,” he added.

Pak Mat said he started grinding his own coffee in 1981 and the business flourished due to demand from coffee lovers. He now produced nearly 200 kg of coffee powder every month.

“Among local residents, my coffee is known as ‘Kopi Pak Mat’. To others, it is known as ‘kopi hindik’,” he said.

Despite the increasing demand for his coffee, Mohd Sabiah said he and his wife could not cater to it due to their age.

“My wife and I can only grind about five kilogrammes of coffee powder in one to two days. We have no workers because the young people are not interested. Even our own children are not keen to continue with our business,” he added.

-- BERNAMA