Our last stops for the day are a coffee plantation that Wayan has suggested we visit. It is essentially an agro-tourism place, with a nice little walk through spice plants and different vegetable and herb trees. The real claim to fame here though is the Luwak coffee.
The Luwak is the animal pictured above, who is nocturnal, and eats the coffee beans as his main food. The coffee beans actually sort of ferment in the animal’s stomach, and are then pooped out with only the top covering of the seed digested (I kid you not – and yes, it is really super hard not to use a huge pun here). Farmers go out and collect the poop, then clean off the coffee beans, process them out of their shell and roast them for a very special, and expensive coffee.
Visiting the Kebune Bali coffee plantation, we get to see “samples” (I love it, Wayan’s word for the Luwaks kept here on display) of the Luwaks (which look like little opossums) and see how the coffee is harvested from the poop droppings.
There you go. Well, you know we’re going to have to try it, don’t you? We are led out to a lovely little tasting area in the middle of the spice forest, surrounded by rice terraces, and given a whole tasting of teas and coffees – including the Luwak coffee which is 50,000 IDR for one cup (about $4.25 USD).
…which actually was quite good – even without sugar! There was a definite distinct taste, but it wasn’t bad, it was more rich and earthy (go figure). The rest of the teas and the coffees were also very good –all with Balinese healing properties. I was particularly enthralled with the Mangosteen tea – Yum. And the ginger tea – as much as I’m not a fan of ginger – was excellent, and will help with your throat and helps with digestion. There was also lemongrass, gingseng, cocoa, vanilla coffee and coconut coffee. All excellent, and a nice little break to sit there and try all these different tastes.
We ended up buying the Ginger tea – we would have also purchased the Mangosteen tea, but they only had huge bags, and I wasn’t that into it. We also splurged and bought a box of the chocolate they gave us to eat with the coffee. An expensive little visit, but a very nice one. And the owner (or at least the guy giving us the tea lessons) was so nice – we felt like we were supporting the local economy, even if it was a tour stop.
Last stop is the waterfall, which is crazy packed. Oh my gosh – these are the crowds we were worried about but never found…until now. We pay our 10,000 IDR fee and wander down to the viewing platform. It is an absolutely gorgeous waterfall, and probably really lovely down at the base where you can get in the water or walk under the falls, but no way are we going down those steps. Or should I say coming back up! So, we simply enjoy the view and our photographer, Wayan, who loves to get the best shot and takes all sorts of different angles of us. Guide and photo pro – what more could you ask?
We spend some of our last IDR on a big Bintang for the road, and hop back into the van for the return trip to the Benoa port. This has been a great day, and Wayan has been fabulous. He took our itinerary, worked it around to make sure we saw everything we wanted – and more – while avoiding the crowds in every location (except the waterfall, which didn’t matter since we didn’t want to trek). We are thoroughly happy as we bide goodbye to Wayan and promise a good review. If we ever return, he’ll be on speed dial for more trips around the island.
Back aboard, we thankfully cool off and shower, and then get set for our next 2 days at sea, traveling back up north to Malaysia and Thailand.
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