Hands That Brew: Once Bitter, Now a Brewer, Kriss’s Brewing Story

This is the second story in Hands that Brew, a series that explores the journeys of home brewers from around the world.

For Kristian Hadinata, coffee was once just a bitter drink—nothing more, nothing less. He never thought much about it, assuming all coffee tasted the same. But that changed the moment he took his first sip of a carefully brewed cup. 

What started as a casual curiosity soon turned into a passion, leading him to explore manual brewing and, eventually, open his own coffee shop in Batam, Indonesia. His journey is proof that coffee isn’t just about bitterness, it’s about discovery.

Kristian Hadinata - Home brewers from Batam City
photo by Kriss doc.

Hi, Kriss here, and this is my coffee story.

I never used to drink coffee. For me, coffee was always bitter. Every time someone offered me a cup, my answer was always, no, thanks.

But everything changed one day in 2018. A friend of mine became a barista at a coffee shop in Batam. Since he had a daily quota of two free drinks, he used one of them for me.

When I first walked into the shop, I thought to myself, What is this? A latte for Rp28,000? A manual brew (black coffee) for Rp28,000? At the time, that seemed expensive compared to J.CO, which was Rp32,000.

Then my friend brewed me a black coffee and told me to give it a try.

I immediately refused. “No way, bro. Coffee is always bitter. And if I drink it at night, I won’t be able to sleep.”

He laughed and said, “Just try it, bro. This one has banana notes, and it’s not bitter at all—it’s more on the acidic side.”

I didn’t believe him, but I took a sip anyway. And… surprisingly! Whoa! It tasted acidic, sweet, and only slightly bitter.

He grinned and said, “See? It’s good, right?”

The coffee he brewed was Gunung Halu from West Java. And that was the moment my coffee journey began.

Another friend of mine, whom I often met back then, introduced me to drinking kopi kapal tanker (coffee mixed with condensed milk) at night. We drank it every evening because of how sweet and comforting it was. Did I still manage to sleep? Absolutely!

That’s when my curiosity about coffee really started growing.

A friend in Jakarta started selling drip bags, and I thought, Instead of going to coffee shops, why not brew it myself at home? So I bought a hand grinder that was quite popular at the time—Rhinoware—and got some beans from my friend to save money.

But I wasn’t satisfied with my brews. So I got myself a Baratza Encore. From there, I became more interested in coffee gear than the coffee itself.

Fast forward to 2021, I opened a small coffee bar in front of my house: Grind Now Slow Bar, which is now a proper coffee bar. That was when I started exploring a variety of Indonesian coffees—Toraja, Bali, Kerinci—as well as beans from Colombia, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

Some customers, who later became friends, would bring coffees from roasteries abroad, which expanded my knowledge even further.

Now, my journey from 2018 to 2025 has completely changed how I see coffee. The industry has grown so much. Back then, we only had natural, honey, full wash, and wet hull processes. Now, there’s anaerobic, carbonic maceration, yeast fermentation, and more.

I’m excited to see what the next few years will bring!

I love brewing coffee. I used to dislike it, but now I’m completely in love—all because of that one moment in 2018.

Every roasted coffee is meant to be good, with the right ratio and water. Brewing is all about logic, but no matter where a coffee comes from or who brews it, as long as we can enjoy it together… that’s a good coffee.