Ngopi, a cute little corner café on Dale End, is home to the authentic flavours of Indonesia, and serves only the richest blends of traditionally grown and home-brewed coffee. A literal translation of the phrase “Ngopi” means to say “have a coffee with us”, and that’s exactly what the owners of the establishment want you to do!
Ngopi is a coffee shop with a homely and organic feel. The venue’s wooden finishes, potted plants, and shelves adorned with paperback volumes give the eatery a cosy and warm feel, allowing you to sit back and enjoy your morning or afternoon cuppa with ease.
The café seeks to harness the natural qualities and characteristics of the coffee bean, and therefore only purchase produce which has been hand-grown and picked by farmers in Indonesia. All of the café’s coffee is processed by an in-house roasting machine to preserve the freshness and quality of the beans. You can even purchase your own roasted beans and powder coffee mixtures from the counter or online via the Ngopi shop!
Ngopi also serves a fine selection of small trays and savoury snacks to choose from alongside your warm drinks. So you can be sure you’ll get to sample Indonesian delicacies from all over the country’s incredible islands! It’s true that many of us in Birmingham are unaware of the great tastes of the East. However, Ngopi is the perfect place to introduce you to Indonesian food and drink in a warm and welcoming environment, courtesy of the café’s humble and down to Earth hosts.
The Ngopi menu options not only satisfy your appetite, but feed your coffee addiction as well. There’s plenty to choose from, including friend indomie with egg and corned beef, bakwan bakso melang (a hearty meatball soup), steamed chicken and prawn dumplings as well as a selection of rice dishes. There is also a great choice of Vegan options such as vegetable stuffed tofu puffs and tempeh (an Indonesian high protein soy snack). If you have more of a sweet tooth, you can pick from grilled banana or sweet bread, and even scrumptious vegan chocolate brownies.
Not to be missed out are the café’s impressive selection of signature coffees. These have been made and served in a style as close as possible to Ngopi’s Indonesian roots. They include the Kopi Susu Panas sweet coffee blend, Ngopi’s own take on a matcha coffee latte, and the cookie affogato, which is served alongside a scoop of ice-cream with biscuit crumbs.
We asked the Café management some questions about what inspired the business to grow, and how Ngopi participates in ethical and fair trade.
- Who came up with the idea to open the Café, is it part of a chain and do you plan on opening more franchises?
- The owner of Ngopki is Indonesian and studied for their Post-graduate degree in Birmingham. They already have a coffee shop in Indonesia, so they decided to open one here too after being granted their Graduate Entrepreneur Visa. We hope to expand and open cafes in Manchester and London, to introduce Indonesian coffee and foods to more people in the UK.
- What was the coffee shop décor inspired by?
- The interior theme behind the café is the Indonesian Islands. We feature a mural of the mainlands on one of the walls, which is colourful and vibrant to reflect Indonesia culture, and show that there are more regions to the country than just Bali. The décor is definitely inspired by the tropics, we want people to feel relaxed and comfortable in this space but also as if they’ve entered a different location altogether.
- Why have you chosen the items on the menu especially?
- On the menu, we feature our signature drinks which are traditionally drunk in Indonesia. For example, the Kopi Susu is a sweetened coffee that people normally drink with palm sugar. We also feature items on the menu that are commonly eaten on the different Indonesian Islands, so we can showcase their diversity and unique tastes.
- Is your coffee ethically sourced, and if so, where from?
- We buy our coffee directly from our Motherland so that it benefits the farmers working there. We try and give the coffee growers the best fair price we can so that they can work as effectively in their processing and collecting as possible. We are currently buying our coffee beans from the Islands of Sumatra and Java, but just a few months ago we were also shipping in produce from Flores. We want our customers to know that any single cup of coffee they buy comes from all the way across the world, and it’s produced with a lot of honesty and hard work.
If you want to see and taste Indonesia for yourself, then why not go and pay a visit to Ngopi today? To view their menu, order a brew-your-own coffee kit or make a wholesale enquiry, go onto www.ngopi.co.uk now!
