{"id":8158,"date":"2026-05-09T19:36:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:36:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/8158\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T19:36:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T19:36:36","slug":"melbourne-coffee-popularity-in-indonesia-sparks-debate-on-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/8158\/","title":{"rendered":"Melbourne coffee popularity in Indonesia sparks debate on ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baca artikelnya dalam bahasa Indonesia<\/a><\/p>\n

What happens when you combine espresso, milk and cream with a sprinkle of orange zest on top?<\/p>\n

That was the question cafe owner Caleb “Tiger” Cha was trying to answer when he created his signature Tiger Bomb coffee.<\/p>\n

The former World Latte Art Champion launched the drink when he opened his Melbourne cafe Tone Coffee in 2023.<\/p>\n

Mr Cha said that on the first day, a customer shared Tiger Bomb on the Chinese social media platform Little Red Book, causing it to go “viral immediately”.<\/p>\n

“All of a sudden, everybody came to taste that coffee and it never stops.”<\/p>\n

\"Six<\/p>\n

The Tiger Bomb has become a popular menu item at Indonesian cafes. (Instagram)<\/p>\n

Since then, the Tiger Bomb has gathered fans \u2014 and imitators \u2014 as far away as Indonesia, with a growing number of coffee shops there selling their versions of the beverage.<\/p>\n

It has joined the list of Melbourne-inspired coffees on Indonesian menus, like flat white, Magic, Mont Blanc, and the Dirty -85 Degrees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This has prompted Mr Cha to seriously consider protecting what he sees as his intellectual property.<\/p>\n

But is it actually possible to legally protect a beverage? Or even worth doing?<\/p>\n

Imitators ‘could damage my reputation’<\/p>\n

Mr Cha, who is originally from Korea, said he came up with the name of the Tiger Bomb in 2016.<\/p>\n

The word for tiger in Korean sounds similar to “bomb”.<\/p>\n

“So Tiger Bomb means ‘tiger tiger’,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said during the pandemic he began experimenting to create a new beverage to match the name.<\/p>\n

“It took me 100 days to perfect the recipe,” he said.<\/p>\n

Despite its popularity, Mr Cha said he was surprised when he discovered that coffee shops were selling imitation Tiger Bombs in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Caleb Cha says it took him 100 days to perfect the Tiger Bomb recipe. (ABC News: Natasya Salim)<\/p>\n

Mr Cha said he was concerned that people selling poor quality versions of the Tiger Bomb would ruin his brand.<\/p>\n

“Using the name for their menu could damage my reputation,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said he had already told several cafe owners that he considered the beverage to be his intellectual property and was now looking into protecting it legally.<\/p>\n

“I have my own lawyer, he advises on many things, so we’re still talking about it,” Mr Cha said.<\/p>\n

“We’re still collecting information: how that affects my business, how they make money out of that name.<\/p>\n

“When my lawyer advises me, ‘Okay, this is time to go for it’, I’ll go for it.”<\/p>\n

\"Composite<\/p>\n

Caleb’s Tiger Bomb (left) and its inspired beverage, Melbourne Finest. (Supplied: Tone Coffee and Wombats Coffee)<\/p>\n

Influence of Australian coffee<\/p>\n

Ben Bicknell, co-host of the It’s Just Coffee! podcast, said signature beverages like the Tiger Bomb and Mont Blanc, invented by Melbourne cafe Good Measure, were on the rise.<\/p>\n

“They’re two of the more successful beverages that have gone viral in different ways,” said Mr Bicknell, director of consultancy and training organisation The Sensory Agenda and World Barista Championship sensory judge.<\/p>\n

“They both taste delicious, but they’re also kind of a fun experience for a consumer to go in and try.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Indonesia’s coffee scene is heavily influenced by Melbourne’s. (ABC News: Raffa Athallah)<\/p>\n

Mr Bicknell said these types of drinks were popular in South-East Asia, especially Indonesia where Australian coffee culture was a big influence.<\/p>\n

“Indonesia’s really interesting because it’s changing so quickly with its coffee culture,” he said.<\/p>\n

“You have a generation of coffee drinkers who are used to a particular way that coffee should taste, where it’s rich and strong \u2026 and a newer, younger kind of generation that are innovating.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Ben Bicknell says flavoured coffee beverages are currently trending in Indonesia. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

‘We’re trying to be respectful’<\/p>\n

La Trobe Coffee & Brunch, a Melbourne-inspired cafe in Jakarta, sells a variation on the Tiger Bomb.<\/p>\n

“We’re trying to be respectful and named the menu item Tiger Coffee,” Ridwan Heisel, the business owner, said.<\/p>\n

His sister and co-owner Catherine Isabel said cafes doing their own versions of popular beverages could only be a good thing for the people who invented them.<\/p>\n

“We even had a customer who came by and said they had tried the Mont Blanc at Good Measure \u2026 after trying it here,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Catherine Isabel (right) and brother Ridwan Heisel run the Melbourne-inspired coffee shop La Trobe Coffee & Brunch in Jakarta. (ABC News: Raffa Athallah)<\/p>\n

Mr Heisel said trade-marking a coffee beverage would “isolate” the product from “the rest of the world”.<\/p>\n

“I understand that as a business owner we want to protect our creative product from being taken away,” he said.<\/p>\n

“[But] if anyone copied [my product], I don’t think I would make a big deal out of it.<\/p>\n

“As long as they don’t hijack my barista, steal my recipe, and claim they created it first.”<\/p>\n

Farchan Noor Rachman, the founder of Melbourne-inspired Yogyakarta coffee shop Wombats Coffee, used to live in Australia.<\/p>\n

Mr Rachman said he decided to name his version of the Tiger Bomb Melbourne Finest, after approaching Caleb Cha for permission.<\/p>\n

“We respect the creator,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Wombats Coffee is another Melbourne-influenced cafe in Yogyakarta. (Supplied: Farchan Noor Rachman)<\/p>\n

However, Mr Rachman said he did not reach out to the Mont Blanc’s creator, as their recipe was already “popular” in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

He said Melbourne Finest was the cafe’s most popular drink, despite having to adjust the recipe to use ingredients available in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

Protecting your creation<\/p>\n

Sarah Hook, an intellectual property law expert at the University of Technology Sydney, said in Australia recipes could not be patented unless they were “inventive”.<\/p>\n

“It is very unlikely in the food industry, unless you are experimenting with some very unknown chemicals and things like that, you would be able to patent a recipe for a cup of coffee, or a latte,” she said.<\/p>\n

“So that means that you’re kind of left with other regimes such as copyright and trademarks.”<\/p>\n

Dr Hook said a product name could be protected by registering it as a trademark.<\/p>\n

But she said it had to be novel \u2014 it could not be something already in common usage, like “latte”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sarah Hook says registering a beverage as a trademark does not stop people from recreating it. (ABC News: John Gunn)<\/p>\n

“Once you trademark [the name], it doesn’t stop your trade rivals from making that particular coffee product, but what it does do is stop them being able to advertise it as [the] coffee product that you’ve already built a brand and reputation around.”<\/p>\n

Intellectual property rights<\/p>\n

Trademarks: Legally protect your brand and help customers distinguish your goods and services from competitors<\/p>\n

Patents: Legally protect your invention or how something works. Can be used for new technology, devices, substances or processes<\/p>\n

Copyright: Protects original expression of an idea in a form of art, non-commercial designs, music, literature, or film<\/p>\n

Source: IP Australia<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the IP Australia website, trademark applications can be lodged online and take at least seven months to process.<\/p>\n

Dr Hook said trademark applications could also be filed in other jurisdictions but would not give much protection.<\/p>\n

“There’s this idea of territoriality,” she said.<\/p>\n

“So our Australian courts can’t really look at things that are being done in other jurisdictions, and police things that are being done in other jurisdictions.”<\/p>\n

Creator refuses to be ‘possessive’<\/p>\n

Good Measure co-founder Brandon Jo said the Mont Blanc, a cold-brew coffee served with a thick cap of whipped cream, orange zest, and nutmeg, was inspired by a filter-based drink with a cream float on top that he saw at a cafe in Korea.<\/p>\n

“I took that format, kind of engineered that drink, with my business partner for our menu when we were opening here,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s taken off across cafe culture and taken a life of its own.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The Mont Blanc is a cold-brew coffee served with a thick cap of whipped cream, orange zest, and nutmeg. (Instagram: @goodmeasuremelbourne)<\/p>\n

The Mont Blanc gained traction within months of Good Measure opening in 2021, with the cafe now serving about 600 per day on a weekday, and more than 1,000 per day on the weekend.<\/p>\n

Mr Jo said he was happy to see his creation taking off nationally and internationally, but would love people to “put a little twist” on their versions.<\/p>\n

“Ultimately, I feel when places do the same thing, the industry can feel a little stale, you get the same thing everywhere you go,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That’s not to say not to be inspired. We similarly were inspired by a drink we saw, but we wanted to express it in our own personality, in our own way.”<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Brandon Jo says he would like to see people to put a little twist on their versions of the Mont Blanc. (ABC News: Natasya Salim)<\/p>\n

He said the business decided not to register Mont Blanc as a trademark because the beverage had “run off away” from them and they didn’t want to be “possessive about the drink, recipe, or creativity behind it”.<\/p>\n

“At the end of the day, it’s a fun thing for people to be able to recreate a drink that they went out to a cafe and they saw, and they wanted to make it at home,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I would hate to lean too heavily into legally trying to reprimand people for making the drink.”<\/p>\n

Mr Jo said many people had reached out to him for permission to sell their own version of the Mont Blanc.<\/p>\n

“Honestly, that stuff makes me really happy,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But at the same time, people who kind of do it on their own doesn’t really bother me too much.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baca artikelnya dalam bahasa Indonesia What happens when you combine espresso, milk and cream with a sprinkle of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,250,9547,9543,9549,9546,5930,9548,3795,260,9544,9545,6039],"class_list":{"0":"post-8158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-cafes","10":"tag-caleb-cha","11":"tag-coffee","12":"tag-coffee-shop","13":"tag-indonesia","14":"tag-intellectual-property","15":"tag-ip","16":"tag-law","17":"tag-melbourne","18":"tag-mont-blanc","19":"tag-tiger-bomb","20":"tag-trends"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}