Andrea and her friends concoct Jamu Sundal with fresh and fruity taste.
Jamu Sundal was found by Andrea Van Barthold and her friends, Marcelia Djovian Djong and Elizabeth Vania Lee. ‘Sundal’ means prostitute in Bahasa Indonesia, yet in this case, it is not necessarily linked to perversion.
“We often see ‘sundal’ in negative way which is as a seducer, but in the other side, many guys are crazy about ‘sundal’. We want our consumers crazy about our products as well. Besides, the taboo name is eventually very ear-catching,” said Andrea about this controversial brand.
Not everyone is a big fan of rather spicy and earthy aroma of jamu, they said. This is why Jamu Sundal not only consists of traditional spices, but also fresh fruit juice. To make it even more unique, Jamu Sundal is blended with soda water. It has four variant; Beras Kencur, Kunyit Asem, Penambah Stamina, and Jantung.
“We use acidic fruits such as lemon and pomegranate. Every jamu of ours is also enriched with tamarind and palm sugar. It’s not all earthy and spicy flavour, but also fresh and zingy. Thus, people who don’t like jamu can enjoy this drink as well,” said Andrea.
Andrea and her friend keep it in traditional way when it comes to the making. The ingredients are boiled in clay pot with heat that comes from wood fire. This process is believed to produce precise heat that spreads evenly in the boiled jamu.
“It can take two or three days to boil jamu depends on the quantity. The jamu will reduce to half when it is ready,” said Andrea who tells us that they can produce 20-50 litres jamu per month.
Jamu Sundal is packaged in various sizes and prices. 250 ml jamu is priced at Rp27,000 when the 500 ml is priced at Rp50,000. Meanwhile, 1,2 litres of jamu is priced at Rp80,000. Since they eliminate the using of preservative agent in the process, this jamu can be stored up to only three weeks in refrigerator and one week in room temperature.
Besides jamu, Andrea and her friend also sell sambal in “Sambal Sundal” brand. There are fourteen kinds of sambal which are Sambal Jontor, Cajun, Kentang Balado, Kecap, Petai, Terasi, Tomat, Mangga, Dabu-Dabu, Matah, Lado or Hijau, Roa, Teri, dan the new variant Sambal Cibai with savory taste and aroma that comes from candlenuts and other secret spices.
Consumers can order the items via Line account thesundal.id or by whatsapp at +62 811 5735 688. Their various products can be seen in instagram account @thesundal.id. For now, these products can only be delivered in Jakarta.
Sometimes, Andrea and her friends join pop-up market as well. The trick is to do product differentiations such as selling noodle and rice bowl with Sambal Sundal.
“Our next step is to register our products to National Agency of Drug and Food Control in order to reach the bigger market such as in minimarkets and supermarkets,” said Andrea.
Tags: jamu sundal, sambal sundal, jamu, sambal