Students of Thematic Community Service of Diponegoro University (Undip) for the period of January 5 – February 15, 2022 carried out a work program with the theme “Optimizing Coffee Processing into Various Products in Kalisidi Village, Mrunten Wetan Sub-district, West Ungaran District, Semarang Regency”. Coffee plants are one of the potentials in Kalisidi Village. The coffee beans are processed into KOBUKA (Kalisidi Powder Coffee) which is one of the products produced and processed directly from Kalisidi village, West Ungaran, Semarang Regency.
Nowadays, it is still rare for coffee to be processed into non-food products. Most people like the aroma of coffee, but there are those who cannot consume coffee. Some of the Mrunten Wetan community are unable to consume coffee due to health factors and as we know that one of the impacts of Covid-19 is mental health disorders where excessive stress and depression have a bad impact on our health, therefore ideas and innovations emerged to processing coffee into non-food products, namely Aromatherapy Candle of Coffee. Aromatherapy Candle of Coffee can be an alternative for coffee aroma lovers and it has many benefits such as stress relief because of its Chlorogenic and Caffeine content which helps to relax the mind. The candle itself can be used as decoration and can be a source of light when the electricity is out.
“In the 2022 Undip Thematic Community Service Program in Kalisidi Village, Mrunten Wetan Sub-district, West Ungaran District, Semarang Regency, we held an Expo and outreach to the community including teenagers, young people and children to introduce products made by the Undip students. One of the products is Aromatherapy Candle of Coffee, which is part of my Monodisciplinary Work Program,” said Septi Enjelina Sitio, a student of Undip.
Septi said the manufacturing process is started with shaving wax or paraffin to make it easy to melt/melt, putting the shaved wax/paraffin into the can, heating the shaved wax until it melts, mixing 2-3 tablespoons of coffee powder (KOBUKA) into the wax, adding 4 drops of coffee essence, stirring until the coffee powder and essence are evenly mixed, providing a container and a candle wick, pouring the wax solution into a glass container/glass, letting the wax sit for 1 night so that it is perfectly firm.
In addition, she also carried out socialization of the process of making Kalisidi Robusta Coffee Jam which aims to educate the public, including teenagers and young people in Mrunten Wetan Sub-district.
“The ingredients used to make coffee jam are ground coffee/instant coffee, cocoa powder milk, granulated sugar, wheat flour, butter, and water. Put all the ingredients of water, sugar, powdered milk, ground coffee into a stainless pan except flour and butter, stir the ingredients until well blended, then cook over low heat and while stirring, then add the flour that has been dissolved in water after the jam start to thicken, add butter and stir until the jam is completely thickened, the coffee jam is ready to be served and consumed,” she explained.
Yuni Mardianto as the Head of Mrunten Wetan Sub-district strongly supported the idea and innovation of processing and utilizing ground coffee, one of the specialties of Kalisidi Village. He said that Aromatherapy Candle of Coffee must be introduced well to the Mrunten Wetan community. Thus they can develop it into a product and get benefits for it, as well as to become an idea to start entrepreneurship and work. (Septi-West Ungaran KKN Student)