A Coffee Culture Story: Café and Warung Kopi as Representation of Trans-Cultural Encounters in Dewi Lestari’s Filosofi Kopi

Coffea is a plant that has a big influence in the world. Coffee drinks have been made since 3,000 years ago. Thenceforth, the café began to flourish in the West until the coffee plants were brought to Java by the Dutch in the 17th century. From the 20th until early 21st century, a business of coffee is turned into warung kopi (Indonesian traditional coffee shop). This warung kopi is managed by the small group of Indonesian entrepreneurs, competed with the modern café which is managed by the entrepreneurs. Therefore, several problems will be explained by this paper. (1) Why could the society in Java be influenced by a coffee culture which also affected the writer of Filosofi Kopi (The Philosophy of Coffee)? (2) How is the appearance of the hegemony of coffee culture as transcultural encounters in Filosofi Kopi? (3) How does the coffee culture affect to competition between warung kopi and café presented in Filosofi Kopi? This paper uses qualitative data analysis and Gramsci’s hegemony theory. Since the 17th century, coffea has become a commodity on Java Island. Coffee consumption began to grow and this shaped the coffee culture among the Java inhabitants. It influenced literary works ― in this case, the writer of Filosofi Kopi. The story of the novel and film shows there are encounters and competition between the West and the local culture seen through the cafés and warung kopi in Java. The traditionality and small capital of the Warung Kopi (Indonesian Traditional Coffee Shop) will still be able to stand against the penetration of big capital of Western culture as manifested by the cafe.