Bali - WATERFALLS, TEA, & COFFEE - Day 2 (2 of 5)

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Day 2 continued with more incredible adventures of waterfalls, tea and “coffee”. Rather than going to the waterfall we had selected that was more touristy, our guide brought us to a waterfall that was just opening for the day, Ulu Petanu. We were the only ones there and it was amazing (see photos and video). It was so beautiful as we walked on the stones around the pools of orange and white koi fish and over bridges and took in the refreshing smells and birds … not to mention the dog that followed us around. This peaceful place was once a meditation site of King Maya Denawa where two rivers meet in a rainforest. It is still a sacred site with a sacred spring used for religious festivals (see our next post for the continuation of the religious experience). We went to the 49’ waterfall but it was a little too early to go for a swim in it. We were the only ones there to be able to listen to only the sound of the waterfall.

A special part of our plan today was our visit in the gianyar region, near Ubud, Bali. We went for a tour of the Satria plantation, learn about their coffee and tea process, have many tastings and a special treat, luwak coffee also known as CAT POO CHINO COFFEE. What a fun tour of the plantation and various coffee seeds, which are the fruit (called a "coffee cherry") that grow on evergreen shrubs. We saw the growing of arabica and robusta coffee, cocoa pods, vanilla beans, and cinnamon trees, ginseng, lemongrass, ginger, and various tropical fruits. Our personal guide demonstrated the traditional Balinese method of processing coffee beans as we saw the beans being sun-dried, manually hand-roasted over an open wood fire, and ground into powder using a mortar and pestle.

Then the 13 TASTINGS (see the photos of all the teas and coffees we tasted) including mangosteen peel tea, lemongrass tea, ginger tea, and rosella tea, avocado coffee, coconut coffee, vanilla coffee, and ginseng coffee while looking out over this beautiful plantation. Last, but not least we got to purchase and taste, the world’s most expensive coffee (stay tuned). We tasted some “good shit”.

Hmmm. "Paradoxurus" is the scientific name, but the locals call them Luwak. These Asian palm civets are little animals that live that in the trees and one of their favorite foods is the red coffee cherry that they eat and it somehow undergoes chemical actions, as enzymes seep into the beans and ferments and alters the bean's molecular structure before it “exits”. The beans are hand collected each morning as the "poo" is picked up from the forest/coffee plantation floor, and meticulously, washed in multi-stage steps, then sun-dried, and then they remove the outer skin, and heavily roast them at high temperatures to guarantee they are 100% sterile and safe to consume. They are ground into a coffee that has a rich, heavy, earthy flavor (with hints of caramel or chocolate). Its consistency was syrupy.

The history of Kopi Luwak coffee is it comes from the island of Java and Sumatra, an area known for its great coffee. Native to the area is this small civet-like animal. Because of the strange method of collecting. there is not much Kopi Luwak produced in the world. Yes, these civets are sometimes caged but the ones they had were for visitors to see up close and looked like they were treated humane . Wild civets are omnivores and eat fruits, insects, and small rodents.

The flesh of the coffee cherries is removed during the digestive process. The coffee seeds or beans are inside and the cherries are not digested by the civet cats. Some people believe that the fact that for some reason it is not digested, which is why it has a “special” flavor. It does make the beans less acidic and therefore less bitter and removes some caffeine; and protein. This adds to the high aroma, the smooth taste and the low bitterness of kopi luwak coffee. We liked it but not enough to buy “high quality luwak” at $600 per pound (although they sell it for less there).Read more