Going deep into the lush greenery at Cantik Agriculture Coffee Farm in Bali.
We had a lovely time exploring a different side of Bali today. Escorted by our new local friend/tour guide/chauffeur Alexs, we started the day by eating breakfast at a warung (Bahasa for a local cafe). Far from glamorous and with no tourists in sight, we bravely sat in a dimly lit room with concrete walls and little ventilation. Our breakfasts were served in woven baskets with vegetables, meat and way too much rice.
In front of wooden doors leading to batik heaven.
Chilling with Vicky after the batik museum tour.
The manager of the silver workshop and showroom we visited shared that the design for this bag was inspired by a rattan bag used by local fisherman to catch fish. It was hand-woven in Bali using many strips of silver. The entire bag takes about 6 months to complete and cost more than a billion Rupiah, approximately USD 1,500! Wasn’t exactly what we had in mind in our search for up-and-coming designers in Indonesia but it was definitely worth the visit.
The coffee farm we visited grows Bali cacao, ginseng, ginger, lemon grass, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, and chili among other things. The flavors from these plants are infused with coffee produced and sold here. Kopi Luwak (also known as civet cat coffee) is the most popular, and expensive, coffee. Its taste is really strong and bitter.
Trying my hand at roasting coffee beans. The entire process takes about an hour. I did it for 10 seconds.
Coffee beans are usually roasted by hand for an hour, then ground, sifted and re-ground again before it is ready for consumption.
Coffee and tea tasting- Bali coffee, Bali cocoa, ginseng coffee, lemongrass tea, coconut coffee, vanilla coffee, rosella tea and Bali coffee & cocoa.
My two favorite cups of coffee: coconut coffee and vanilla coffee. Both were sweetened with honey.
We drove to Denpasar to attend a casual batik and weaving workshop, stopped at Celuk to visit silver workshops, visited the Cantik Agriculture Coffee Farm for coffee tasting and drove up to Mount Batur to check out the volcano overlooking Lake Batur.
Because it started raining towards the late afternoon, our plans to see Mount Batur and catch the sunset at Tanah Lot were ruined. We ended up going back to our villa in Seminyak to catch up on emails and relax by the pool. We’re heading to Ubud early tomorrow morning. Hopefully we will have better luck scouting new talent there!
xx Ling
