Bali Coffee Supporting Sustainable Harvests

While traveling in Bali, I read an article in the Sept 2011 Bali Weekly I found at a cafe in Ubud by Ketut Suasi entitled Bali Coffee, Slowly Displaced by Age. In a nutshell, the author talks about the need to add sugar or milk to the traditional Balinese Coffee to be enjoyed by the younger generations. She noticed how the international chains like Starbucks have come into Asia and do not include Balinese traditional brews. So I mentioned this to my local host, Wayan, who took me to the local provider of Balinese products he insists are grown organically here in the island. Here the sign where I went in to taste the options.

Here is the young coffee tree, labeled Bali Coffee on the way to sampling the various brews here.




Here are a variety of the plant products offered.


Another website describes the Luwak Coffee - http://www.balikopiluwak.net/
"Kopi is the Indonesian word for COFFEE. Luwak is a local name of the Asian palm civet in Sumatra. Kopi Luwak or civet coffee, is coffee made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Civets also eat small vertebrates, insects, ripe fruits and seeds. Passing through a civet’s intestines the beans are then defecated, having kept their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world. Kopi Luwak is produced mainly on the islands of Sumatra, Java, Bali and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago. Kopi luwak is a name for many specific cultivars and blends of arabica, robusta, liberica, excelsa or other beans eaten by asian Palm civets (LUWAK), hence the taste can vary greatly. Nonetheless, kopi luwak coffees have a shared aroma profile and flavor characteristics, along with their lack of bitterness. Kopi luwak tastes unlike heavy roasted coffees, since roasting levels range only from cinnamon color to medium, with little or no caramelization of sugars within the beans as happens with heavy roasting. Moreover, kopi luwak which have very smooth profiles are most often given a lighter roast. "