Common Grounds - Mikael Jasin
Mikael Jasin
Quality Manager
“Like many other coffee professionals, I started on the floor running coffee and food in this cafe that sells bagels and pretty legit coffee. I slowly worked my way up to the coffee machine, and the rest is history. I can’t exactly remember how I fell in love with coffee but living in Melbourne, Australia for almost a decade definitely had something to do with it. Back then, I was heading a bar in a coffee shop that I co-owned in Melbourne. One summer while on holidays in Indonesia, I caught up with the boys of Common Ground and one thing led to another, and I decided to move to Jakarta to pursue my coffee dreams.”
“Even while living in Australia before my time at Common Grounds, we frequently hung out whenever we visited one another's cities. I guess you could say that the love for quality coffee is the one thing that really bonded us together.”
“In 2014, we partnered with St. Ali in Melbourne which has been great for us because we get to learn so much from an industry pioneer that has been through it all. In a lot of ways, they are our mentors: we learn new roast profiles, how to run a bustling shop and to grow as a business while still having fun along the way. In the coming years, we hope to expand to more cities in Indonesia and to neighbouring countries, but more importantly, we want to nurture more baristas and future champions as we feel like our people are our best assets.”
What are you roasting with?
Probat Probatone 25kg.
What do you look for in your roast profiles?
“Balance” is our holy grail. We look for balance in our flavour profile, from sweetness to acidity and even to bitterness. We also look for techniques and approaches that promote even development of the beans.
Where does the name Common Ground Coffee come from?
Coffee is the “common ground” between the founders, staff and our customers. We hope that our cafe can be a place for people to share ideas and spend their time.
What is your go-to starting v60 recipe?
We start each coffee with a 1:15 ratio and then modify from there. For the majority of our coffee, we use a ceramic v60 with 95°c water. We QC all of our coffee with 110-115ppm water.
What do you think of the Indonesian coffee scene?
The Indonesian coffee scene is INSANE at the moment. In the past few years, customer awareness of better coffee has skyrocketed, and it has helped businesses thrive. That being said, the competitive landscape has not gotten any easier. For the most part, there are more coffee shops now than customers. On the production side, the rise of the local coffee scene means an increase in demand for better coffee to the farmers; something that we've never seen before.
Which part of the coffee process do you enjoy the most?
I definitely enjoy sourcing the most. I like spending time away from the big city and going up to the farms to geek out with the farmers about agriculture, processing techniques and discussing how we can improve the coffee.
“If I wasn’t in the coffee industry, I would want to be a _________?
Chef