BALI BLOG #4: Coffee & Tea Plantation

04 Apr BALI BLOG #4: Coffee & Tea Plantation

Feb. 29, 2016 Ubud, Bali…

Alit drove me down a hidden, narrow, rocky road that led to the entrance of a coffee and tea plantation. It’s owned by the Bebek Teba Sari Resto, a restaurant that looks like a romantic, traditional culinary escape bordered by rice fields. Our tour of the working plantation included a wide variety of coffee plants and herbs used to make some very unusual and delicious selections from the natural ingredients grown on site. (see video at end)

Following the tour, we were led to a grass-roof gazebo that was nestled in the plantation for a coffee and tea tasting: eight different coffees and seven teas served in small glass cups, each labeled and accompanied by a menu with full descriptions of ingredients and flavors.

I’ve experienced many a wine tasting, but never coffees and teas. The flavors were robust and exhilarating. My favorite coffees: ginger, ginseng, spicy chocolate and star anise. Outstanding tea tastes included: ginger, lemongrass, tamarind/saffron and rosella.

I wanted to buy them all! So we were escorted to the shop across the path where they were sold (of course). They were a little pricey at $12 US for a 200 gram (7 oz) package. But the flavors where so unusual and strong (Where else could you get this?) that I sprang for them, tea and ground coffees for me and my coffee snob friends.

Nadya’s partial to chocolate so I gave her the spicy chocolate coffee. She prepared it filtered drip style. To my chagrin, it was weak, watery and lacking in body–not the strong coffee I experienced at the tasting. She decided it might work best as an additive to regular Balinese coffee and it did when she added a teaspoon! That didn’t work as well for the weak tea. I’ll have to email them for the secret to achieving the same great taste as the tasting products!

by Karen Lustgarten Multi-Media Works
photos: © 2016 Karen Lustgarten