The Fortune from Sweet Gincu

Hendrik Nurwanto was a creative youth who had for the first time developed the concept of combining the mango plantation with a coffee shop in Cirebon.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Hendrik Nurwanto

Hendrik Nurwanto, 36, has modified his gedong mango plantation in Sedong, Cirebon regency, West Java, into a multipurpose coffee shop. The previously quiet plantation is now teeming with youths, entrepreneurs and officials. The mangos are thus enjoying a promotion.

On Wednesday morning (16/6/2021), Hendrik had just received a guest from the Directorate General of Horticulture, Agriculture Ministry, at his plantation. “I’ve just been interviewed by a ministry official for his fruit fly research. They frequently visit,” he said in Sedong Lor village, Sedong district.

As chairman of the Sukamulya Farmers Group, Hendrik is often consulted about the cultivation of gedong mango. This typical mango variety of Cirebon, Indramayu and Majalengka is also known as gedong gincu when the fruit is 80 percent ripe or more. It is so called because of its reddish color like gincu (lipstick).

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While chatting about the pest, his guest also savored gincu coffee, which is Robusta coffee mixed with gedong gincu juice. The drink is one of the mango-based brews on the menu of his coffee shop, Kopi Gincu. The shop was erected on his family’s 3,000-square-meter mango plantation.

On weekends, other village residents and tourists from other regions flock to the place. They enjoy various mango fruit blends in the shade while relaxing in tents or lying on hammocks hung between mango trees.

On the roof of the shop, visitors are taking selfies and screening live via social media. From the top, lush mango trees and green grassland can be seen. For children, there’s a playground equipped with swings, slides and also blocks for climbing.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Visitors relax in a hammock at the Gincu Coffee shop, Sedong Lor Village, Sedong District, Cirebon Regency, West Java, Saturday (22/5/2021).

The area was previously unenjoyable, only a deserted plantation grown with mango trees. So was the fate of mango farmers, living in lesser prosperity. Their harvests were mostly bought at a lower price for reasons of abundant supply, with their sales still based on the preharvest system. The money earned was not proportional to the production cost.

It was until 2019, when Hendrik began to turn the family plantation into a coffee shop by the concept of agrotourism. Simply put, tourists at the same time enjoy farmers’ harvests. Besides introducing gedong mangos, the shop was expected to help jack up the fruit’s sale price. He started seeking support. “However, of the people I consulted including family members, seven answered in the negative (said no),” he revealed.

Hendrik was even seen as aimless. “They said, ‘what are you going to sell in the plantation? Who’s going to buy? Who’s coming? It’s a long way from the city\',” he imitated their comment.

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Located some 24 kilometers east of the hub of Cirebon city, Sedong is indeed not as busy as the other districts. Setu Sedong, a water spring for farmers, is frequently parched in the dry season.

Although his idea was unwelcome, Hendrik was undaunted. Fortunately, his friends in his music band community, event organizers, content creators and coffee community members in Kuningan regency supported him. Kopi Gincu was thus set up. Coffee was considered close to young people and communities while gincu is Sedong’s identity. Around 40 mango trees approximately 20 years old in the area were not cut down. Even one of them slips into his kitchen, between stoves and cooking utensils.

Part of the building cost of over Rp500 million came from his friends, construction material businessmen. He asked his relatives several times to join the investment but to no avail. In order to meet the capital need, Hendrik used his savings from mango sales to exporting companies in Kedawung, Cirebon. The shortage was covered with loans.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Hendrik Nurwanto

Path of life

Hendrik’s path of life is in fact not far from mangos. Born in gedong mango production center, little Hendrik used to be taken by his father, Haerudin, to the plantation. Haerudin was a leading figure of Cirebon mango farmers developing off-season mango cultivation. Thanks to his method, the harvest season normally taking place in October–December can be started from April.

This only child originally disinclined to follow in the footsteps of his father as a mango farmer. After finishing Islamic senior high school, he tried his luck in Bantargebang, Bekasi in 2003, where he supplied bolts to several industries. When he studied in college, he entered the music industry with his band, T-Hijau. But in 2013, when his father was ailing, he returned to handle the mango plantation. At the time, he already imagined the mango plantation serving not only as an upstream operation but also downstream agrobusiness that generates revenues.

His dream came true when Kopi Gincu was launched on 26 August 2020 by observing health protocols. The presence of this shop is welcomed by common residents as well as officials. Shop employees have increased in number from only six to 35. Most of them are Sedong youths.

People visit the mango plantation but they feel something different. This is wonderful.

Gradually, his shop has been able to offer a solution to the mango price drop. “We buy farmers’ mangos at a price higher than the market rate. For instance, middlemen’s price is Rp12,500 per kilogram, we pay Rp15.000–Rp20,000 depending on the quality,” he said.

Furthermore, his shop also becomes an arena of expression for local bands and cineastes. Nit infrequently, they presented their works. “We’re still designing educative tourism dealing with mangos,” added Hendrik.

Chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association of Cirebon regency, Abdul Hadi, said Hendrik was a creative youth who had for the first time developed the concept of combining the mango plantation with a coffee shop in Cirebon. “People visit the mango plantation but they feel something different. This is wonderful,” said this mango businessman.

Hendrik Nurwanto

Born: 16 September 1984

Wife: Iin Nurul Inayah

Children: Three

Education: Syekh Nurjati State Institute of Islamic Studies, Cirebon (2011)

This article was translated by Aris Prawira