Hello, Caribou Coffee!
I am so pleased to hear that Caribou Coffee, a coffee house in the United States has recently opened its first outlet in South East Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia. Brought by Mahadya Group (who also brought other famous US brands like Carl’s Jr. and Wingstop), Caribou Coffee is founded in 1992 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nowadays, they have more than 272 company-owned stores and 132 domestic license locations in 18 states, and 220 international franchise stores in 11 countries.
Caribou Coffee is located inside Senopati neighborhood, precisely beside Sake+ Japanese restaurant or opposite from Pipiltin Cocoa. Nested in two-storeys building, this coffee joint looks promising from the outside, and although parking area is limited, you can always rely on their free valet service.
Glorious Caribou Coffee cups with inspiring quotes.
Caribou Coffee is pretty serious with their coffee as all their beans are 100% certified by the Rainforest Alliance, yet the shop uses only the top 1% of quality Arabica beans around the world. If you are looking for high quality Arabica coffee from all over the world, you’re in the right place!
Before I move further to the coffee and food, let’s walk around and see how the place looks like! 😉
The place is actually very comfortable and looks like student union place in universities in USA. With warm and bright colours, it looks inviting and welcoming, not mentioning the comfy-looking sofas in both first and second floor. If you are looking for a place with natural light, you can also choose to sit on the second floor, where they have outdoor seating area with so much beautiful greens. Drinking coffee and enjoying nature is always the best!
I especially love their slogan “Life is Short. Stay Awake For It.” because there are so much meaning behind these simple sentences. I also always believe that I never know what will happen the next second, so I try to live the present as much as I can. I sure believe life is short but perhaps sometimes I am also wasting my precious time for unimportant matter and ruin my own opportunity to “stay awake” for something good. Well, that’s why we all are still learning everyday, don’t we? 😉
For the drinks, Caribou offers selection of latte, signature coffee, tea, even chocolate drinks, while to accompany those, there are also artisanal sandwiches, light snacks like bagels, and sweet temptations like cakes, pastries and many others. Compared to other coffee shops, bakeries or cake shops in the neighbourhood, their prices are quite competitive and relatively affordable, especially because this is an international brand.
Signature Drinks – S (IDR 48,000) M (IDR 53,000) L (IDR 60,000)
If you are a first-timer, go for these drinks in this category because those will help you getting to know (roughly) about Caribou Coffee. If your drink has chocolate ingredients involved, you can choose the chocolate used in your drink: milk, white, or dark; and you can also adjust the sweetness level based on your own preferences.
Turtle Mocha
Dark, milk or white chocolate melted into steamed milk and combined with rich espresso and caramel. Topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce and Snickers®.
It’s safe to say that this Turtle Mocha is probably the most popular signature drink of Caribou Coffee, and this is a super delicious drink to begin with. But again, who can resist caramel in your coffee and chocolate?
Campfire Mocha
Dark, milk or white chocolate melted into steamed milk and combined with rich espresso and toasted marshmallow flavor. Topped with whipped cream, mini marshmallows and chocolate chips.
This drink is like a dream come true for everyone, all ages. The sweetness from this drink will instantly warm you up and bring a smile to your face, while the marshmallows and chocolate chips will feed the inner child in you like no other! If you are not really into sweet drinks, you can ask the barista to adjust the level to be less sweet.
Bagel IDR 15,000 each
Available in 3 variants: Plain, Poppy Seeds, and Multi Grains. These bagels are one of the best in town, fluffy and soft, they are nicely eaten just like that or with the spread.
Spread: Cream Cheese, Strawberry Jam, Roasted Red Peppers, Pesto (IDR 10,000 each) and Smoked Salmon (IDR 14,000). Only two available that day and we tried the Roasted Red Peppers and Pesto, the first was our favourite.
Artisanal Sandwiches
With so many options, we tried Lamb Kofta (IDR 48,000) which is our least favourite of the day because of the smelly lamb. The winner was absolutely Steak Sandwich (IDR 50,000) which is basically wholegrain rye bread generously stuffed with thick slices of beef steak and mushrooms, onions, and American cheese. Oh la la! Following closely is the Pretzel Smoked Beef & Brie (IDR 55,000), classic yet delicious.
Lamb Kofta IDR 48,000
Steak Sandwich IDR 50,000
Pretzel Smoked Beef & Brie IDR 55,000
For the sweet desserts, we tried Pistachio Cake, Strawberry Tartlet, Chocolate & Hazelnut Mousse, which again, surpassed our expectations. The strawberry tartlet is our ultimate favourite because of its crispy yet soft tartlet topped with fresh gigantic strawberries, so refreshing! The chocolate mousse was superb, it had a bittersweet flavour that came out really nicely with combination of hazelnut. Pistachio cake was okay although we wished that the pistachio flavour could be a little stronger.
Strawberry Tartlet
Chocolate & Hazelnut Mousse
Pistachio Cake IDR 38,000
And if you happen to visit this shop, don’t miss the Personalised Brew Bar section just beside the order counter. This section is pretty small and might be misunderstood as display counter for coffee tools, but here you can actually try various coffee beans brewed with many methods.
We were glad that the coffee expert, Ms. Vanda Puspa, was available that day in the shop and we could learn one or two things about coffee brewing. She is very fun and friendly, making our coffee “lesson” to be relaxed and enjoyable.
According to Ms. Vanda, there are 14 signature blends from Caribou but at the moment, the Indonesian outlet only has 8 of them. From light to dark roast, we can choose the beans according to our preferences, and there are certain recommended ways to get the best results from the brewing methods.
First, we tried Daybreak blend from the light roast category, a cheering and sweet taste, which leaves a quiet hint of fruit and nuts after each sip.
We also tried the Mocha Java blend, which is created from mix of Yemen Mocha Mattari, Java, Costa Rica, and Ethiopia Harrar, resulting this spicy, bittersweet cup. We had this one brewed with French Press. This was my personal favorite of the day although Mr. K preferred the first one.
The last one we tried was the Sumatra blend, which is also known as Sumatra Lintong. I usually don’t really understand how people like this coffee because I find it a bit too harsh and strong. We had it brewed with Chemex and the result was AH-MAZING! The citrusy flavor really came out and it appeared to be much smoother than all the Lintong(s) I have drunk so far, and yes, I could totally enjoy it.
If you like the coffee served in the shop, you can also purchase the beans or grounds and bring them back home! Near the entrance, there are shelves full of purchasable goods from the coffee, mugs, tumblers, even coffee brewing equipment. Caribou Coffee really makes coffee addicts happy, and in my case, I had never seen Mr. K so happy visiting a “commercial” coffee shop!
Caribou Coffee offers much more than just commercialized coffee and I think be you are coffee drinker or non coffee drinker, this place is perfect for everyone. For sure I am so happy that they are finally here and I bet I am gonna visit it very often. We wish Caribou Coffee Indonesia the best of luck and we are sure they will do just fine here!
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*The Food Escape team are not paid whatsoever for writing this post.
** This review is written based on our visit on 28 December 2015.
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CARIBOU COFFEE
Jl. Senopati No. 52
South Jakarta 12190
Ph. +62 21 27 5151 62
Opening Hours:
Sun – Thu 06.30AM – 11PM
Fri – Sat 06.30AM – midnight
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