While both are similar in that they are variations of palm sugar, their names are based on their location sources. Gula means sugar in Malay and Indonesian. The other word is the name of origin. Melaka is from Malacca, Malaysia, and Jawa refers to the Javanese region in Indonesia. As unrefined sugars, they both vary in colour and taste, and can be anything from a very dark brown through to a pale yellow brown.