Coffee for me

I had a curiosity in coffee roasting, though personally I don’t drink coffee.  Since I am back home, I am surrounded by people who consume coffee. So, in short…coffee drew my attention a lot. Balinese way or Western way, I really would like to know how.

First thing I have done was…trying our own coffee. How bitter it is and why and how much do I need to add water and sugar for making a cup or a glass of coffee.

Yep, coffee and fried bananas (or some other tradition cakes and snacks) is a pair of a-must-have in the morning for the Balinese farmer. It’s kind of a day starter.

In Bali, there are two places where we could find coffee plantations: Pupuan (mostly robusta) and Kintamani (arabica, robusta and luwak). Though in some random places (like in my hometown) people grow coffee as well, but not as much as in those two places.

Then I explored the coffee shops which are listed as the best coffee shops in Bali. I wanted to know what is considered as ‘BEST’ coffee. In term of taste, of course. Here are some shots of what I have tried.

not forget to try the vintage coffee shop in the town

In the cafes, there are basic information of coffee (history, and types coffee) and even I saw how they roasted and prepared it.

Then, I have now the idea of how to prepare my own coffee. How I should roast it and how long. Oh ya, I was doing this, mostly just for my self, my curiosity and for fun and for…my future, perhaps 🙂

There was a time, where I said “Okay, enough of exploring outside. I want to do it by myself”. I chose traditional way. The very basic one. No modern and fancy stuff or whatsoever. I contacted friends from Kintamani and Pupuan who own coffee plantations. The answer was “it’s not harvest time now” or “you have to stay in our home with my family…okay” from my pal. In short…there were too much bureaucracy 😀

Then, one day…when I went home to my mom’s village, I found a neighbor was drying coffee beans. How wonderful it was! I never saw her doing that before. I was soo happy. I asked her to explain me what she was doing and I explained her what my intention was. The other neighbors were also trying to help me. There were a group of women there. Though sounds stupid (my intention for them, maybe) but they were willing to show me and then guided me. For free. The traditional way. The Balinese way.

Miracles do happen.

(A picture that I have taken near the village. The lovely road that I like.)

So, the neighbor who was drying the beans said that she started just recently. Plucking the beans from the coffee trees that her father-in-law planted years ago. He died and the plants are not taken care, but they survived in her backyard. 

The plants are taken care by nature, no human intervention. Some are bad some are good and some are so so.. Some are round, some not. She plucked whatever available. She doesn’t know whether the plants are Robusta or Arabica type.

After it is dried, then comes the cleaning part. In Balinese it is called “Ngintuk”.

Then separating the skin to get only the beans, called “Napinin”.

which resulting this

and she gave me some of the beans to be brought home, for free. She is nice, isn’t it? 🙂

After that, comes the roasting part or “Nge-nyahnyah”. I bought a traditional pot made from clay for this purpose.

and…tadaa…my own roasted coffee beans!!

Ah ja, okay…I have this fancy grinder in hand 😀

Well, it’s not completely traditional 😀 Sorry. My bad.

But hey, I made my own coffee. From the scratch! Yay!

My family loved it. The taste is best, mom said. And I am proud of myself.

In the end…it’s not only for me, it’s coffee for my family.

The last picture, the coffee in a cup, showing what my journey was. I can see how special it was. But other people might won’t understand what I have gone through. They might will say “hey, it’s just a cup of coffee!”. But for me, I earned knowledge, I understand more about the art, the science and hard work behind it 🙂