@ismiaz

by Aika Mentari · July 11, 2025

The Scent That Became a Legend: The Story Behind the First KAVA Series

Every artisan has one experiment that decides everything. One mad idea which, if it works, will redefine what they might be capable of. For us that experiment was called the KAVA Series. And this photograph from Ismi (@ismiaz) is not merely a picture of a journal. It is a piece of history.

Ismi is one of the first owners of the KAVA Series. One of the first people to believe in a radical idea: could a notebook carry a natural and lasting scent of coffee, not as a gimmick but as part of its soul?

The Secret Behind the Smell of Coffee

The answer was not simple. This is not a sprayed-on perfume. It is an obsession. We developed a method we call “pulveres”—applying pure ground coffee directly to the sewn spine of the book, letting the scent bind into the fibres of the leather. That was not enough.

We steeped the paper itself—infused in a bath of coffee solution for three weeks. Three. Weeks. In a world that demands speed, we chose patience. We wanted the scent to become part of the book’s own DNA, not a thin layer on the outside.

And Then the Flood Came

We launched the KAVA Series with our hearts pounding. Would people understand? Would they value a process this slow? The answer arrived like a flood. We were flooded with orders. Dozens of them. For a small workshop, that was a phenomenon.

People like Ismi, those ‘early adopters’, proved our instinct right. That there is a longing for a product engaging more than one sense. A product with a story of its own even before you write yours inside it.

A book that does not only keep your story but whispers its own every time you open it.

The KAVA journal in Ismi’s hands is a monument. A monument to a mad idea, to a patient process, and to a community ready to welcome something genuinely new. Thank you for being among the first, Ismi.

Want to be part of our next experiment? Let us create something unforgettable together.