(NOTE: More photos that go with this post are posted individually below in reverse order to the text. To see them all you will have to page back several pages! Clumsy, but it's a step in the right direction!)
COFFEE PLANTATION
In the course of checking in yesterday, we mentioned to the guys at the front desk an interest in seeing a coffee plantation.
The idea had germinated in conversation with one of our roasters for Cafe Getaway. We had been buying beans from him from Papua New Guinea and East Timor, and wondered if he had any contacts in Indonesia we might call upon while here to educate ourselves in the origins of our product. He was not especially encouraging about either Timor or Papua New Guinea's immediate future in the coffee industry because of weaknesses in the organizational structure of the coffee cooperatives, among other things. (We have since also heard that much coffee in PNG is being left unpicked because the workers have been lured to more lucrative employment in Australia's mining industry.)
However, our roaster said, he had heard that Bali's coffee industry was rebounding, and he urged us to look into it while here. We'd done some poking around on the Internet, but hadn't come up with much. Hence, our inquiry. The desk clerk said he had a friend with a plantation and, much to our surprise, had it all arranged for us first thing today! The visit ended up being as interesting and educational as we had hoped.
A driver collected us and whisked us off to the Kintamani region to the Weden Sari Agro Wisata, about 45 minutes away from Ubud. We were met in the parking by the owner Wayan Dharma and later joined by his younger cousin Jati.
Although the word plantation conjures -- at least in American minds -- farms of vast acreage, most coffee plantations in Bali (and in fact in most coffee growing regions of the world) are actually small, family-operated endeavors. Dharma's plot here was about one hectare with another plot of unmentioned size on the other side of the river.
"Coffee Plantation" also suggests a single crop operation. Here nothing could farther from the truth! As they walked us through paths wending through the thickly planted land, we saw not just robustica and arabica coffee bushes growing side by side, but cocoa, cinnamon and papaya trees, plus ginger plants, ginseng and lemongrass plants beneath them along the paths. They called this "pentaculture" (which I can't find in my online dictionary so perhaps I misunderstood) but the gist of it is to cultivate multiple species in one space to provide something to harvest at different times of year and different stages of the growth cycle. In another area, for example, they were growing chili peppers between rows of young mandarin trees that won't be ready to produce for several more years!
This philosophy is so typical of what we have so far seen in Bali, that every morsel of land is intensely used, and nothing is wasted. Even to the point of chickens being allowed to wander amongst the plants to leave their nourishing poop behind!
And speaking of poop, we also got the indoctrination to Bali's famous (infamous?) Cafe Luwak. Cafe Luwak is a very expensive coffee. $5 for a demitasse cup at the plantation; more in a coffee shop, even more overseas! It costs about $25 for a half pound of beans!
What makes it so special? Cafe Luwak is made from coffee beans that have been eaten as fruit by an animal in the fox family called a civet cat ....and then excreted! Apparently, the passage through the fruit eater's digestive system does something to the chemistry of the bean, reducing the caffeine yet intensifying the flavor. As unappealing as this may initially sound, it turns out the bean itself comes out still protected by an outer skin. Evidently they are gathered up where they fall, conveniently directly under the coffee bushes during periods when the coffee cherries are ripe, then washed and dried and skinned of that protective layer, and dried again.
At this stage you have the green beans that are sold to brokers and shipped to roasters around the world. Since Bali's production is relatively small, what isn't processed and used locally is sold to coffee brokers in Java who frequently resell it as Javanese beans. At Weden Sari, most of their output is actually roasted and ground on site in small batches by hand to be sold in their own little store.
After the tour, Jati sat us down at a sort of picnic table for a tasting of all their coffee products. He prepared about eight small cups, mixing them from prepared powders. (Not to be confused with instant, these Balinese coffee powders are very finely ground coffee mixed with other ingredients like chocolate, ginger, vanilla, ginseng etc. that are stirred into hot water, and then allowed to steep until the grounds settle in the bottom! The one thing Weden Sari does not mix in is rice, even though that is a very traditional Balinese coffee ingredient!) There was also hot chocolate, ginger tea and lemongrass tea.
Our least favorite was probably the unadulterated coffee, perhaps because they don't brew it quite as strong as we do. However, all the blends surprised us, especially the ginger coffee. I commented that I might have expected to see cinnamon coffee among the choices, being as cinnamon is the health craze in the US, and Jati smiled and admitted there was some cinnamon in the mix. Additionally we quite liked the ginger and lemongrass teas.
After the sampling, we of course couldn't leave without trying the Cafe Luwak. This they don't give away! Indeed the coffee was markedly smooth and rich tasting, not unlike an espresso. I, who rarely drink black coffee, sipped my share right down!
As you might guess we bought a few samples to bring home, but perhaps lucky for us, they don't ship to the US. However, anyone visiting Bali is welcome to visit Weden Sari, not just coffee mavens like us. Coffee tourism is just one more aspect of Balinese "pentaculture" land use!
Volcano Vistas -- Gunung Batur and Gunung Agung
Since Kintamani is high on the side of Gunung Batur (1717m) we continued on with our driver for the stock tourist lunch on the rim of the old volcano's immense caldera. Five cones poke up in the center, each former by distinct eruptions, the biggest in 1917, followed by smaller ones in 1926, 1963, 1974, and 1994. There is a large apron of lava spreading black and tan desolation from these reaching right to the edge of homes and greenery. To the East is a huge crater lake, across which looms Gunung Agung (3000 +/-m) Bali's tallest mountain and the focal of much of Bali's spiritual orientation. We ate at a bar built along the edge of a terrace built over the precipice. Our waitress told how the residents make ceremonies every year to propitiate the volcano spirits. She also told us we were very lucky to have such a clear view of it.
The Water Temple
On our way down the mountainside, we diverted a bit more to the East make an unplanned to visit to our first temple, known as the Water Temple. Bali is reknowned for its temples. Every village has at least three (not counting the shrine is every family compound!), but many temples have national significance and the Water Temple is one.
It is required to dress properly, so we had to rent sarongs and sashes. The Water Temple is centered on a holy pool in which at least a half dozen springs that we could see were burbling up through the black sand. Nearby a holy man was seated cross-legged in a tiny stand chanting and ringing a tiny bell. Three girls knelt nearby praying, one in the grip of emotion. A number of pavilions and towers dotted the plaza, some large some small. Since our driver was not an official guide he did not come in, and on our own we really did derive all the meaning of what we saw, but there is no denying they are beautiful, complex and serene places...at least until you leave and you are forced to walk through a veritable maze of stalls selling sarongs, trinkets and artifacts.
Time to Relax....New Friends....and a Good Restaurant Find
Back in Ubud, we found that the staff of the hotel did indeed want to keep us enough to move us into a nice room. From a small room just behind the office they moved us to a large room at the very back of the compound with a king-sized bed, air con (don't need it), TV, fridge, (don't need them either), and a terrace surrounded by flowers and the fragrance of frangipani.
We enjoyed several relaxing hours, before coming up to the hotel restaurant so I could use the wifi. Whilst I tinkered on my keyboard, Don befriended a Kiwi couple Dave and Megan who, it turned out, live on a boat in France. They were in the restaurant to watch the first round of the Rugby World Cup -- FYI The NZ All Blacks trouncing Tonga. Dave made more headway than previous tries in explaining the game to Don, but after watching Invictus just last week, it all seemed a bit more graspable.
Afterwards we set out in a light drizzle (what is this? -- water from the sky!) to a nearby restaurant called Sagittarius. I mention this only for cruisers following us, because we had a truly lovely meal of fresh salads and grilled spanish mackerel for the kind of reasonable price we had expected ...as opposed to our very expensive snack the night before!
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