Whenever you’re visiting Indonesia, some people might suggest you to taste “Jamu”. But, what is Jamu, and which Jamu you should be taking?

Jamu (“J”, “A” as in “father”, “M”, “U” as “oo” in “good”)  is the term used for traditional herbal remedy in Indonesia, which prescriptions are handed down between the Jamu maker’s generations. It is made from natural ingredients, such as parts of plants, or animal body parts.

Although Jamu is known as traditional remedy, but some people also drink Jamu for other reasons, such as loosing weight, increasing stamina, or even just because of they’ve accustomed of drinking it. Indonesia is a vast archipelago country with numerous indigenous plants and animals, so you might find various kind of Jamu for different use, within different region in Indonesia.

Jamu might available in powder, tablets, pills, or liquid. Some Jamu taste sweet, sour, hot, or bitter. So, if you want to try Jamu, you had better start with the easiest ones, such as:

  1. Beras Kencur. Made from rice, sand gingers and brown sugar, to ease cramps, fatigue, and cough. Since it tastes sweet, many Indonesian mothers even start to give their children Beras Kencur from early ages to raise their children’s appetite.   
  2. Gula Asem. A fresh mixing of brown sugar and tamarind’s sweet and sour taste, which is rich in vitamin C.
  3. Temulawak. It was made from curcuma root, to cure liver disease with a quite friendly taste.
  4. Kunyit Asam. Made from tamarind and turmeric, which claimed good for skin care and cancer sore. How about the taste? Not so bad.
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Then, if you feel like you can not take Jamu’s taste, don’t give up any yet. As an alternative to Jamu, you can also try several Indonesian traditional beverages below, which taste pretty great:

  • Ronde. Made from ginger, powdered glutinous rice balls, peanut, salt, and sugar.
  • Bajigur. Made from coffee, brown sugar, salt, coconut milk, sugar palm fruits, and vanillin.
  • Sekoteng. Made from ginger, peanut, milk, sugar, salt, sometimes also mixed with ronde, and jellies.
  • Bandrek. Made from ginger, brown sugar, coconut, pandanus leaf, clove buds, salt, cinnamon, and coffee.
  • Serbat. Made from ginger, tamarind, star anise, cardamon, and sugar.
  • Cendol/Dawet. Made from rice flour, sago palm flour, pandanus leaf, and coconut milk.

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