VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The first specialty coffee shop of Indonesia, namely Villa Sumatra was opened in Egypt on Sunday (8/8), as a part of the intensive coffee diplomacy efforts done by the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Cairo. The coffee shop, which is located in the elite area of Medical Park Premier New Cairo, particularly serves a variety of high-quality coffee from Indonesia of Arabica type. It is different from the Robusta coffee beans which have been imported by many Egyptian coffee entrepreneurs.

Indonesian Ambassador to Egypt, Lutfi Rauf, in his welcoming speech at the inauguration of the shop, as stated in a written statement from the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo on Monday (9/8) hoped that the opening of the Villa Sumatra shop will make the Indonesian coffee market in Egypt increase and become a center for Indonesia's excellent coffee exports to other countries. Ambassador Lutfi also affirmed that the government will continuously provide full support and attention to coffee business actors, especially Indonesian coffee activists in Egypt.

The founder and owner of Villa Sumatra, Haytham Shawkat Husein expressed his appreciation for the support of the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo in importing excellent coffee from Indonesia until the establishment of the coffee shop. He  also hopes that when the pandemic is over, he can visit Indonesia again to find out and bring more other excellent coffee in  Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java, Flores and Papua. He is also targeting the Indonesian herbal product market.

The opening of Villa Sumatra was also attended by Chairperson of the Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia, Daryanto Witarsa and  Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia, Delima Hasri Azahari who interactively had the opportunity to communicate directly with Haytham. Daryanto also expects that the presence of Villa Sumatera is to grow significant trade transactions in encouraging an increase in Egyptian market demand for excellent coffee products from Indonesia.

Moreover, Haytham further explained that he also needs professional and skilled baristas manpower to be able to mix a variety of excellent Indonesian coffees in his shop, which he plans to add to the number of the shop in the future. Through the facilitation of the Specialty Coffee Association of Indonesia, Indonesia as the fourth ranked "World's Best Barista," is expected to be able to hold workshops and provide capacity building training in the field of excellent coffee to train local barista manpower in Egypt.

The Trade Attaché of the Indonesian Embassy in Cairo, Irman Adi explained that the inauguration of Indonesia's first coffee shop was a new breakthrough in a series of Indonesian coffee diplomacy programs in Egypt. The coffee shop can promote and sell a variety of excellent coffee of Indonesia, such as Sumatera Gayo, Sinabung Honey, Lintong, Karo, Sinabung Wine, Long Berry, and Cascara.