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The Origin
Hikayat began with curiosity.
While travelling through Java, Indonesia, we found ourselves surrounded by new landscapes, traditions, flavours and, most importantly, people. What stayed with us was not one particular destination or drink, but the way people welcomed us in.
A shared meal. A conversation with someone we had just met. A cup placed on the table without needing an invitation.
Those small moments made us realise how much culture lives in the things we share with one another.
What started as a journey through Indonesia slowly became a much bigger journey, one about people, heritage, hospitality and connection.
And somewhere along the way, tea became our way of telling those stories.
The Journey
Since then, Hikayat has never really been about tea alone.
Tea became a reason to sit down.
To slow things down.
To ask someone where they are from, what they grew up with or what they carry with them.
Across countries, cultures and communities, we noticed something simple: almost everyone has a story connected to a drink, a table, a family ritual or a moment of hospitality.
The ingredients might change. The preparation might be different. The cups might look nothing alike.
But the feeling often remains the same.
Someone pours.
Someone stays.
And a conversation begins.
That is the space Hikayat wants to create.
The Tea
Our first encounters with traditional drinks such as wedang uwuh showed us how much history can exist inside something as simple as a cup.
Ingredients like ginger, cloves, cinnamon and sappan wood weren't there just for flavour. They carried generations of knowledge, tradition and culture.
And that idea stayed with us.
Today, we continue to look for teas, herbs, spices and rituals that carry a story of their own.
But we are just as interested in the person drinking them.
Because the best cup of tea is rarely only about what is inside the cup.
It is about where you are.
Who is sitting across from you.
And what is being shared between you.
Tea. People. Stories.
That became the heart of Hikayat.
Tea. People. Stories.
Tea is what brings us to the table.
People are what make the moment meaningful.
And stories are what remain afterwards.
Hikayat is our way of creating more of those moments — through the teas we share, the places we serve them and the gatherings we bring people into.
We hope that every encounter with Hikayat feels like an invitation.
An invitation to slow down.
To stay a little longer.
To discover something unfamiliar.
Or simply to have a good conversation over a cup of tea.
And if you ever find yourself around our table, there is always room for one more.
Come have tea with us.
Because every good story has to start somewhere.
Sometimes, it starts with a cup of tea.
