Kopi Joss

Kopi joss is a speciality of Yogyakarta (Jogja) in Central Java. It starts as simple Indonesian street coffee: ground coffee and sugar in a glass, with hot water poured over, grounds and all. Then the vendor picks a glowing ember from the stall’s charcoal stove and drops it straight into the glass, where it hisses, sizzles and bubbles. That sound gives the drink its name.

Once the coal has cooled it’s fished out (or pushed aside), and the grounds settle to the bottom. Some drinkers say it tastes much like ordinary sweet black coffee; others notice a faint smoky, burnt-sugar or caramel note. Vendors often claim the charcoal makes the coffee gentler on the stomach, but this is not medically supported.

Kopi joss is sold at angkringan – the cheap street-food carts and stalls of Yogyakarta, where people sit on mats late into the night. The best-known place is the angkringan of Lik Man (also spelled Lek Man) near Tugu railway station.

Kopi joss is usually traced to the angkringan of a stall owner known as Lik Man (or Lek Man) near Tugu Station in Yogyakarta, and popular accounts date it to the 1960s. One version, given on Wikipedia, says many of his customers were railway workers from East Java who asked for kopi kothok – coffee boiled with sugar and water – and Lik Man, unable to make it, dropped a burning piece of charcoal into the glass instead. Other accounts say it was a quick way to reheat coffee, or a remedy for a stomach ache.

These details come from local tradition rather than documents, so the date and the exact story should be treated with caution. What is certain is that the drink caught on: other angkringan copied it, and it is now one of Yogyakarta’s best-known street specialities and a must-try for visitors.