Woman owned cafe in Indonesia's Sharia stronghold shakes stigma

Morning Mama cafe in Aceh, Indonesia, offers a safe space for women to work and socialize, challenging traditional gender roles.

In what claims to be the only woman-run cafe in the capital of Indonesia's most conservative province, owner Qurrata Ayuni says she and her baristas provide an alternative to rowdy, smoke-filled male haunts.

The 28-year-old opened Morning Mama last year to create a space that caters to women in Banda Aceh, known as the city of 1,001 coffee shops.

"I thought why not open a place that is comfortable for women?" she said.

While the province has long been known as the site of the world's deadliest tsunami and a decades-long separatist insurgency, Aceh's draw for visitors is often the coffee.

The traditional "sanger" latte, mixed with condensed milk, is a popular staple.

Aceh's strong connection to coffee started hundreds of years ago with Dutch colonial rulers. Now, its farmers cultivate world-renowned beans in lush highlands.

Aceh still catches attention for its ultraconservative values, including by-laws that require Muslim women to wear hijabs.