Harga Kopi di Lampung Barat Anjlok
Senin, 22 Maret 2010 07:49 WIB | Ekonomi & Bisnis | Bisnis | Dibaca 589 kali
Petani Kopi/ilustrasi. (ANTARA/Anis Efizudin)
Liwa, Lampung Barat (ANTARA News) - Harga kopi di sejumlah agen di Kabupaten Lampung Barat anjlok dan harga di pasaran mencapai Rp10.000/kg, sehingga para petani mengeluhkan rendahnya harga komoditas tersebut.
Gunawan Sabki, pengumpul kopi di Pekon (Desa) Kegeringan, Kecamatanh Batu Brak, Lampung Barat mengatakan Senin, para petani mengkhawatirkan harga masih tetap rendah pada saat musim panen mendatang.
"Petani di daerah ini belum mengerti menjaga kualitas kopi, sehingga harganya rendah," katanya.
Namun meski harga komoditas di tingkat petani hanya Rp10.000/kg, para petani sudah banyak yang menjual sebagian stok mereka kepada agen untuk mencukupi kebutuhan sehari-hari.
"Petani di Lampung Barat masih mengeluhkan kondisi harga saat ini, karena modal yang dikeluarkan tidak sebanding dengan pendapatan. Selain itu, karena kebutuhan ekonomi jelang panen raya, mereka menjual stok kopi-nya, walaupun harga masih rendah."
Data Dinas Perkebunan Kabupaten Lampung Barat menyebutkan, luas lahan kopi mencapai 60.347.70 hektare dengan hasil kopi kering per tahun mencapai 28,712 ton/ha.
Keluhan senada juga diutarakan petani kopi di desa Pekon, Kecamatan Balik Bukit, Lampung Barat, Junaidi tentang rendahnya harga komoditas tersebut.
"Harga kopi kian anjlok. Kami sangat prihatin dengan harga tersebut, tetapi mau apalagi?. Karena kebutuhan ekonomi semakin meningkat jelang panen raya, terpaksa saya menjual stok meski harga rendah," kata petani lainnya, Masnah.
Ia berharap walaupun harga rendah, tetapi diimbangi dengan perolehan panen, sehingga modal yang di keluarkan dapat kembali.
Ke depan Pemkab Lampung Barat tidak tinggal diam dan harus memiliki terobosan yang dapat meningkatkan harga dan mutu kopi, harapnya. (MH*H009/K004)
Harga Kopi Arabika Menguat Didukung Kenaikan Komoditas Lain
Kamis, 25 Februari 2010 10:00 WIB
(Vibiznews – Commodity) – Pada penutupan perdagangan di bursa ICE Futures New York dini hari tadi tampak harga kopi arabika mengalami peningkatan (25/02). Harga kopi arabika menguat didukung oleh melemahnya nilai tukar dolar AS. sementara itu sebagian besar komoditas yang juga tampak menguat juga memberikan support bagi peningkatan harga kopi arabika.
Tadi malam dolar AS mengalami penurunan setelah data ekonomi berupa penjualan rumah baru mengalami penurunan. Kondisi melemahnya dolar AS mengakibatkan harga komoditas yang diperdagangkan dalam dolar menjadi lebih diminati karena harganya cenderung relative lebih murah.
Harga kopi arabika berjangka untuk kontrak pengiriman bulan Maret tampak mengalami peningkatan sebesar 10 poin (0.08%) dan ditutup pada posisi 1.3045 dolar per pon. Sementara itu harga kopi arabika untuk kontrak pengiriman bulan Mei mengalami kenaikan sebesar 60 poin (0.45%) di posisi 1.3285 dolar per pon.
Analis Vibiz Research dari Vibiz Consulting memperkirakan bahwa harga kopi arabika akan cenderung bergerak dengan mengikuti arahan dari luar pasar. Saat ini level 1.30 sen akan menjadi level support. Sementara itu level resistance akan ditemui pada 1.40 sen per pon.
(Vibiznews – Commodity) – Pada penutupan perdagangan di bursa ICE Futures New York dini hari tadi tampak harga kopi arabika mengalami peningkatan (25/02). Harga kopi arabika menguat didukung oleh melemahnya nilai tukar dolar AS. sementara itu sebagian besar komoditas yang juga tampak menguat juga memberikan support bagi peningkatan harga kopi arabika.
Tadi malam dolar AS mengalami penurunan setelah data ekonomi berupa penjualan rumah baru mengalami penurunan. Kondisi melemahnya dolar AS mengakibatkan harga komoditas yang diperdagangkan dalam dolar menjadi lebih diminati karena harganya cenderung relative lebih murah.
Harga kopi arabika berjangka untuk kontrak pengiriman bulan Maret tampak mengalami peningkatan sebesar 10 poin (0.08%) dan ditutup pada posisi 1.3045 dolar per pon. Sementara itu harga kopi arabika untuk kontrak pengiriman bulan Mei mengalami kenaikan sebesar 60 poin (0.45%) di posisi 1.3285 dolar per pon.
Analis Vibiz Research dari Vibiz Consulting memperkirakan bahwa harga kopi arabika akan cenderung bergerak dengan mengikuti arahan dari luar pasar. Saat ini level 1.30 sen akan menjadi level support. Sementara itu level resistance akan ditemui pada 1.40 sen per pon.
(Ika Akbarwati/IA/vbn)
http://vibiznews.com/news_last.php?id=7125&sub=news&month=Februari&tahun=2010&awal=10&page=commodity
Coffee Species - Arabica and Robusta
Coffee Species - Arabica and Robusta
A comparison between Arabica and Robusta the two main coffee species that make up the world coffee bean trade.
Coffee beans are the second most traded commodity on world markets, only bettered by oil. Most of us come face to face with a coffee drink almost daily but few of us realise the history, botany and process that have developed to allow this daily ritual to take place. Here is another article in the series about coffee, dealing with the two main coffee species - Arabica and Robusta, that we engage with as we enjoy that elixir of the gods.
http://knol.google.com/k/coffee-species-arabica-and-robusta#
A comparison between Arabica and Robusta the two main coffee species that make up the world coffee bean trade.
Coffee beans are the second most traded commodity on world markets, only bettered by oil. Most of us come face to face with a coffee drink almost daily but few of us realise the history, botany and process that have developed to allow this daily ritual to take place. Here is another article in the series about coffee, dealing with the two main coffee species - Arabica and Robusta, that we engage with as we enjoy that elixir of the gods.
http://knol.google.com/k/coffee-species-arabica-and-robusta#
Coffee revives as Vietnam starts stockpiling
Coffee revives as Vietnam starts stockpiling
Coffee recovered from its three-year low in London, and rebounded 2% in New York, after Colombia unveiled a 25% slide in production and Vietnam began building up stockpiles of robusta beans.
Robusta beans for March delivery closed up $9 at $1,199 a tonne in London, with the better-traded May contract jumping $23 to $1,245 a tonne.
The first price rise in four trading days followed confirmation of the start of a government-backed programme of coffee purchases by Vietnamese companies, with the aim of stockpiling 200,000 tonnes of the crop, nearly 20% of the country's annual production.
'Output should contract sharply'
Furthermore, many analysts believe the weak market which has prompted the stock-building will prompt Vietnam, the biggest robusta producer, to hold back on production.
World's biggest robusta producers, 2010-11 (year-on-year change)
1: Vietnam, 18.00m tonnes (-2.7%)
2: Brazil, 14.00m tonnes (+4.6%)
3: Indonesia, 8.25m tonnes (+3.1%)
4: India, 3.20m tonnes (-1.5%)
5: Uganda, 3.00m tonnes (+3.4%)
World: 53.99m tonnes (unchanged)
Source: Fortis Bank Nederland
"We expect prices to stabilise, since at the current low price levels output should contract sharply in Vietnam," Commerzbank analysts said.
They also took an optimist's view of a near-halving, to 22,000 tonnes, in exports of robusta beans last month from Brazil, the second-ranked producer.
"The sharp decline could be the result of higher domestic consumption, reducing the amount of robusta coffee that is available for shipments overseas," the bank said.
Colombian slide
Meanwhile, arabica coffee beans, which last week touched a five-month low, rose more than 2% in New York after Colombia reported February production at 650,000 bags (39,000 tonnes), down 218,000 bags year on year.
The figure was lower than the 700,000 bags that Colombia's coffee growers' federation had expected, although Luiz Munoz, the association's director, said that the country was still on track to hit a half-year production target of 5m bags (300,000 tonnes).
Output in Colombia, the second-biggest producer of arabica beans after Brazil, has been dented by poor weather and a replanting programme which has reduced short-term output potential.
Buy stops triggered
Technical factors also helped the arabica market, after the May contract broke through a resistance level at 132 cents a pound.
World's biggest arabica producers, 2010-11 (year-on-year change)
1: Brazil, 38.95m tonnes (+13.9%)
2: Colombia, 10.0m tonnes (+8.1%)
3: Ethiopia, 8.25m tonnes (-4.5%)
4: Peru, 4.25m tonnes (+6.3%)
5: Mexico, 4.2m tonnes (-4.5%)
World: 86.11m tonnes (+7.0%)
Source: Fortis Bank Nederland
"Getting above there set a few buy stops off," Ralph Hawes, at Sucden Financial in London, told Agrimoney.com, adding that technical analysis suggested that a close at about 132.50 cents a pound could spark a move to 136-137 cents a pound.
Coffee traders have also flagged managed funds' increasing bearishness over coffee, with short positions exceeding longs by 3,195 contracts last week, according to regulatory data.
Ironically, such movements have often, as in autumn 2008 and spring 2007, heralded an upturn in prices.
New York's May coffee contract closed up 1.3% at 132.75 cents a pound.
Coffee recovered from its three-year low in London, and rebounded 2% in New York, after Colombia unveiled a 25% slide in production and Vietnam began building up stockpiles of robusta beans.
Robusta beans for March delivery closed up $9 at $1,199 a tonne in London, with the better-traded May contract jumping $23 to $1,245 a tonne.
The first price rise in four trading days followed confirmation of the start of a government-backed programme of coffee purchases by Vietnamese companies, with the aim of stockpiling 200,000 tonnes of the crop, nearly 20% of the country's annual production.
'Output should contract sharply'
Furthermore, many analysts believe the weak market which has prompted the stock-building will prompt Vietnam, the biggest robusta producer, to hold back on production.
World's biggest robusta producers, 2010-11 (year-on-year change)
1: Vietnam, 18.00m tonnes (-2.7%)
2: Brazil, 14.00m tonnes (+4.6%)
3: Indonesia, 8.25m tonnes (+3.1%)
4: India, 3.20m tonnes (-1.5%)
5: Uganda, 3.00m tonnes (+3.4%)
World: 53.99m tonnes (unchanged)
Source: Fortis Bank Nederland
"We expect prices to stabilise, since at the current low price levels output should contract sharply in Vietnam," Commerzbank analysts said.
They also took an optimist's view of a near-halving, to 22,000 tonnes, in exports of robusta beans last month from Brazil, the second-ranked producer.
"The sharp decline could be the result of higher domestic consumption, reducing the amount of robusta coffee that is available for shipments overseas," the bank said.
Colombian slide
Meanwhile, arabica coffee beans, which last week touched a five-month low, rose more than 2% in New York after Colombia reported February production at 650,000 bags (39,000 tonnes), down 218,000 bags year on year.
The figure was lower than the 700,000 bags that Colombia's coffee growers' federation had expected, although Luiz Munoz, the association's director, said that the country was still on track to hit a half-year production target of 5m bags (300,000 tonnes).
Output in Colombia, the second-biggest producer of arabica beans after Brazil, has been dented by poor weather and a replanting programme which has reduced short-term output potential.
Buy stops triggered
Technical factors also helped the arabica market, after the May contract broke through a resistance level at 132 cents a pound.
World's biggest arabica producers, 2010-11 (year-on-year change)
1: Brazil, 38.95m tonnes (+13.9%)
2: Colombia, 10.0m tonnes (+8.1%)
3: Ethiopia, 8.25m tonnes (-4.5%)
4: Peru, 4.25m tonnes (+6.3%)
5: Mexico, 4.2m tonnes (-4.5%)
World: 86.11m tonnes (+7.0%)
Source: Fortis Bank Nederland
"Getting above there set a few buy stops off," Ralph Hawes, at Sucden Financial in London, told Agrimoney.com, adding that technical analysis suggested that a close at about 132.50 cents a pound could spark a move to 136-137 cents a pound.
Coffee traders have also flagged managed funds' increasing bearishness over coffee, with short positions exceeding longs by 3,195 contracts last week, according to regulatory data.
Ironically, such movements have often, as in autumn 2008 and spring 2007, heralded an upturn in prices.
New York's May coffee contract closed up 1.3% at 132.75 cents a pound.
Singapore launches coffee futures bourse
Singapore launches coffee futures bourse
SINGAPORE — The Singapore Commodity Exchange is set to begin robusta futures trading on April 22 this year for the coffee variety in Asia.
"The launch of Singapore Coffee Futures Contract (SICOM Coffee) is timely as Southeast Asia has grown to become the largest producer and exporter of robusta coffee. SICOM Coffee is set to play a key role in establishing an Asian benchmark price for robusta coffee," Jeremy Ang, CEO of SICOM, said.
It is a physical delivery futures contract, traded in five metric tonnes per lot. Delivery will be made via warehouse receipts representing coffee stored in bonded warehouses in HCM City or Singapore.
This delivery mechanism provides for a short delivery period and simplified logistics.
Angeline Koh, deputy director, Sector Division, Financial Markets Strategy Department of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said: "With Viet Nam and Indonesia being the world's two largest robusta coffee producers, there are many coffee exporters and traders based in Asia.
"A well-designed coffee futures contract will serve as an effective risk management instrument for the coffee industry based in Asia. As part of the development of Singapore's commodity derivatives market, we welcome the launch of unique Asian-centric contracts."
Luong Van Tu, chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, said: "The launch of SICOM Robusta Coffee deliverable to bonded warehouses in Viet Nam is representative of Asian trade which will benefit Vietnamese coffee growers and exporters."
Victor Mah, president of the Singapore Coffee Association, said: "Asia and in particular Southeast Asia is a key player in the global robusta coffee market but lacks an Asian price discovery platform. SICOM's Coffee will offer international market participants an effective hedging tool to manage their price risk." — VNS
SINGAPORE — The Singapore Commodity Exchange is set to begin robusta futures trading on April 22 this year for the coffee variety in Asia.
"The launch of Singapore Coffee Futures Contract (SICOM Coffee) is timely as Southeast Asia has grown to become the largest producer and exporter of robusta coffee. SICOM Coffee is set to play a key role in establishing an Asian benchmark price for robusta coffee," Jeremy Ang, CEO of SICOM, said.
It is a physical delivery futures contract, traded in five metric tonnes per lot. Delivery will be made via warehouse receipts representing coffee stored in bonded warehouses in HCM City or Singapore.
This delivery mechanism provides for a short delivery period and simplified logistics.
Angeline Koh, deputy director, Sector Division, Financial Markets Strategy Department of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said: "With Viet Nam and Indonesia being the world's two largest robusta coffee producers, there are many coffee exporters and traders based in Asia.
"A well-designed coffee futures contract will serve as an effective risk management instrument for the coffee industry based in Asia. As part of the development of Singapore's commodity derivatives market, we welcome the launch of unique Asian-centric contracts."
Luong Van Tu, chairman of the Vietnam Coffee and Cocoa Association, said: "The launch of SICOM Robusta Coffee deliverable to bonded warehouses in Viet Nam is representative of Asian trade which will benefit Vietnamese coffee growers and exporters."
Victor Mah, president of the Singapore Coffee Association, said: "Asia and in particular Southeast Asia is a key player in the global robusta coffee market but lacks an Asian price discovery platform. SICOM's Coffee will offer international market participants an effective hedging tool to manage their price risk." — VNS
Local coffee company a pick-me-up for literacy Indonesian coffee roasted right here at home
Local coffee company a pick-me-up for literacy
Indonesian coffee roasted right here at home
By Bob Morgan
(Created: Thursday, March 4, 2010 12:06 PM CST)
SUMMERDALE, Ala. — This community is no stranger to crops but coffee beans are something else. Yet, there are tons of Indonesian coffee beans right here just waiting to be roasted and turned into one of the four types of coffee that Tändük Coffee Co. makes available. (It’s pronounced Taan Dook.)
Roasted beans have complete the roasting process. Raw coffee beans have sugar in them that, once heated, begin to carmelize which gives the coffees their distinct tastes. (Bob Morgan/staff photo)
From Java, one of the Indonesian islands, to a cup of “java” locally, the world of coffee has a local flavor what with Tändük's roasting facility and warehouse in Summerdale.
The roastmaster is Kenneth Ferguson, a retired Marine major and helicopter pilot who lives in Foley at Glenlakes. How Kenneth, who has operated a Maytag business and taught at Summerdale school during retirement, became the company roaster actually begins with his son, Beau, going as an English teacher to Indonesia some years back.
After a short tour there, Beau and his wife felt led to go back to Indonesia, especially in light of the tsunami that struck the country a few years ago. The couple got involved with a village library program and Beau came up with the idea of starting a coffee company.
It was last year when Beau got a shipment of 14,000 pounds of coffee beans together and had them shipped to this area. A warehouse was found and Kenneth said they had to make some changes in the building to comply with the Health Department.
A roaster that was handmade in a “little shop” in Indonesia was shipped with along with the coffee beans.
“We made a few modifications in it,” Kenneth said of the roaster, which weighs about 2,000 pounds.
The coffee beans that arrived came from two regions in Indonesia, which is a country made up of 15,000 islands or so and is the largest Muslim country in the world by population. The beans are Sulawesi Toraja Arabica and Sumatra Mandheling Arabica. To get an idea of what a commodity coffee is in Indonesia, Kenneth notes there are five or six coffee regions on the island of Sumatra alone.
Roastmaster Kenneth Ferguson pours coffee beans into the top of Tändük Coffee Co.’s handmade roaster. (Bob Morgan/staff photo)
“Both are well-known in the coffee world,” Kenneth said of the Toraja and Mandheling coffee beans.
Tändük Coffee also offers a blend of the two coffee beans and a dark roast coffee, “Toraja bold.”
As Kenneth explains it, the coffees from the islands of Sulawesi and Sumatra are bold, low acid type coffees. A high acid coffee “bites the tip of the tongue,” Kenneth said, while a low acid coffee “lays on the back of the tongue.”
“Coffee, like any plant, picks up the flavors of other plants,” Kenneth said. Thus, Sulawesi coffee has undertones of a chocolate “bite.”
Tändük (which means “horns”) started out primarily as an Internet site but is today multi-faceted.
“We would like to be able to establish a clientele of people who buy the green beans,” Kenneth said. That would be coffeeshops and the like.
But Kenneth and Beau also want to use the Internet to reach groups and organizations that want to support the village library program.
“We give a portion of our profits to the village library program at Cinta Baca,” which is a non-profit literacy and community development organization which has 15 learning centers throughout Indonesia. The illiteracy rate in Indonesia is very high, Kenneth said.
Locally, however, Tändük wants to use its coffee in fundraising efforts. Tändük coffee has been used for a fundraiser for Summerdale School and soccer teams at Spanish Fort that wanted new goal posts.
“We think coffee is a good vehicle to raise funds for schools,” Kenneth said.
As a matter of fact, the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce Foundation, an educational enterprise, is allowing Tändük to sell coffee by the cup and bag at its upcoming BBQ and Blues event.
“Like half of what we make on the coffee will go to the Foundation,” Kenneth said.
By going to the company Web site, www.tandukcoffee.com, interested persons can learn how to buy Tändük coffee and even join local coffee clubs.
A roaster like the one Kenneth uses would cost about $45,000 if bought in the U.S.; the Indonesian roaster, however, cost $8,500. Kenneth figures he can roast about 35 pounds of coffee at a time.
Fresh roasted coffee will be the Tändük trademark, he said.
As Kenneth explains it, there is a distinct human element in Tändük Coffee Co. He refers to it as “relationship coffee,” which means that Tändük wants to get to know the Indonesian growers who supply the coffee beans, even the grower who perhaps has only a small plot of land on which to grow the beans, and who might have only the one outlet for his crop.
And Kenneth said he isn’t above delivering coffee “Indonesian style” when the weather permits. He has a scooter, and he’ll zip around the county and deliver coffee when the need arises.
Indonesian coffee roasted right here at home
By Bob Morgan
(Created: Thursday, March 4, 2010 12:06 PM CST)
SUMMERDALE, Ala. — This community is no stranger to crops but coffee beans are something else. Yet, there are tons of Indonesian coffee beans right here just waiting to be roasted and turned into one of the four types of coffee that Tändük Coffee Co. makes available. (It’s pronounced Taan Dook.)
Roasted beans have complete the roasting process. Raw coffee beans have sugar in them that, once heated, begin to carmelize which gives the coffees their distinct tastes. (Bob Morgan/staff photo)
From Java, one of the Indonesian islands, to a cup of “java” locally, the world of coffee has a local flavor what with Tändük's roasting facility and warehouse in Summerdale.
The roastmaster is Kenneth Ferguson, a retired Marine major and helicopter pilot who lives in Foley at Glenlakes. How Kenneth, who has operated a Maytag business and taught at Summerdale school during retirement, became the company roaster actually begins with his son, Beau, going as an English teacher to Indonesia some years back.
After a short tour there, Beau and his wife felt led to go back to Indonesia, especially in light of the tsunami that struck the country a few years ago. The couple got involved with a village library program and Beau came up with the idea of starting a coffee company.
It was last year when Beau got a shipment of 14,000 pounds of coffee beans together and had them shipped to this area. A warehouse was found and Kenneth said they had to make some changes in the building to comply with the Health Department.
A roaster that was handmade in a “little shop” in Indonesia was shipped with along with the coffee beans.
“We made a few modifications in it,” Kenneth said of the roaster, which weighs about 2,000 pounds.
The coffee beans that arrived came from two regions in Indonesia, which is a country made up of 15,000 islands or so and is the largest Muslim country in the world by population. The beans are Sulawesi Toraja Arabica and Sumatra Mandheling Arabica. To get an idea of what a commodity coffee is in Indonesia, Kenneth notes there are five or six coffee regions on the island of Sumatra alone.
Roastmaster Kenneth Ferguson pours coffee beans into the top of Tändük Coffee Co.’s handmade roaster. (Bob Morgan/staff photo)
“Both are well-known in the coffee world,” Kenneth said of the Toraja and Mandheling coffee beans.
Tändük Coffee also offers a blend of the two coffee beans and a dark roast coffee, “Toraja bold.”
As Kenneth explains it, the coffees from the islands of Sulawesi and Sumatra are bold, low acid type coffees. A high acid coffee “bites the tip of the tongue,” Kenneth said, while a low acid coffee “lays on the back of the tongue.”
“Coffee, like any plant, picks up the flavors of other plants,” Kenneth said. Thus, Sulawesi coffee has undertones of a chocolate “bite.”
Tändük (which means “horns”) started out primarily as an Internet site but is today multi-faceted.
“We would like to be able to establish a clientele of people who buy the green beans,” Kenneth said. That would be coffeeshops and the like.
But Kenneth and Beau also want to use the Internet to reach groups and organizations that want to support the village library program.
“We give a portion of our profits to the village library program at Cinta Baca,” which is a non-profit literacy and community development organization which has 15 learning centers throughout Indonesia. The illiteracy rate in Indonesia is very high, Kenneth said.
Locally, however, Tändük wants to use its coffee in fundraising efforts. Tändük coffee has been used for a fundraiser for Summerdale School and soccer teams at Spanish Fort that wanted new goal posts.
“We think coffee is a good vehicle to raise funds for schools,” Kenneth said.
As a matter of fact, the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce Foundation, an educational enterprise, is allowing Tändük to sell coffee by the cup and bag at its upcoming BBQ and Blues event.
“Like half of what we make on the coffee will go to the Foundation,” Kenneth said.
By going to the company Web site, www.tandukcoffee.com, interested persons can learn how to buy Tändük coffee and even join local coffee clubs.
A roaster like the one Kenneth uses would cost about $45,000 if bought in the U.S.; the Indonesian roaster, however, cost $8,500. Kenneth figures he can roast about 35 pounds of coffee at a time.
Fresh roasted coffee will be the Tändük trademark, he said.
As Kenneth explains it, there is a distinct human element in Tändük Coffee Co. He refers to it as “relationship coffee,” which means that Tändük wants to get to know the Indonesian growers who supply the coffee beans, even the grower who perhaps has only a small plot of land on which to grow the beans, and who might have only the one outlet for his crop.
And Kenneth said he isn’t above delivering coffee “Indonesian style” when the weather permits. He has a scooter, and he’ll zip around the county and deliver coffee when the need arises.
One Hour Out: Bali Escape to the high country (for coffee)
By JOHN KRICH
Considering how much I've consumed over a lifetime, it seemed remarkable that I had never seen coffee -- meaning the actual bean on the bush.
But here I was in Bali, whose coffee-growing region seemed to come, in the Balinese manner, with so much more: mountain views, temples and terraces. So on an island where nearly everything, barring the agricultural West's bull racing, can be reached within an hour and some scant meditative moments, I decided to make coffee country my day-trip destination. (There are a great range of atmospheric upcountry escapes available. A sprawling Denpasar, and even more so, the tourist strips concentrated on Bali's southernmost nub, provide ever-increasing reasons for making the attempt.)
Even the gas stations along the way come with piped-in, tinkly gamelan music. Small-town main streets are lined with delicate, statuary-festooned temple compounds, the roadside stands along the way are mostly seasonal ones for durian and jackfruit (which I sample along with, strangely enough, an avid Chinese couple from Los Angeles), and the pit stops now include one called Babi Guling (Suckling Pig) Obama.
Seeing this is an island, no matter which road you follow, you'll eventually get to the sea (with a brooding volcano or two in between.) My chosen path aims straight for Bedugul and beyond. But things start to get interesting at Pacung, where the views of rice terraces open up and the climb toward, or through, a breathtaking line-up of black peaks.
As it turns out, Bedugul isn't much but a sprawling wet market, plied by peasants in woolen caps and long-sleeved shirts that flop oversize over sarongs. Just over an hour from Denpasar's limits, the place feels like a way station in Nepal or the lower Andes, quite a shock after a morning's loll in the tub-warm waves of Jimbaran beach. It doesn't take long for microclimates to change on Bali.
I get another surprise when my driver makes a wrong left turn at the market junction. Instead of heading farther uphill toward Munduk, this road ends at the entrance to Eka Karya Botanic Garden, one of four botanic gardens run by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. Founded in 1959, it, too defies expectations. Laid out in broad avenues and circular roads in the late Indo-fascist manner, this is no place for a brief stroll to sniff the flowers. It's more suited to a day's backpacking: 157 hectares of luxuriant, shadow-dappled high-altitude forest preserve, including numerous stands of birch. There are temples and traditional houses hidden here and there, along with obligatory rose and orchid displays. There's also a kiosk that sells herbal remedies -- based on Usada, or Balinese healing -- that are derived from native plants.
But I'm after another sort of potent plant, the kind that brings a buzz to wake me each morning. Before reaching coffee country proper, the landscape is dominated by strawberry farms. It's not exactly scenic, with much of the ground around the budding berries covered in protective plastic wrap, but one roadside farm is fronted by a "Strawberry Stop" cafe that makes a passable milkshake. It greatly improves the usual nasi goreng (fried rice).
Now the road toward Bali's north coast veers west in a precipitous rise along a ridge with magnificent views of two adjacent, elongated lakes, the larger Danau Buyan, that form the island's eerily quiet heart. While the waters below are shimmering and shallow, perfect for snapshots, there don't seem to be any boats out. I wonder whether the Balinese, never big fish-eaters, see more spiritual than material sustenance in these carpet-like waters. (Later, I read a more mundane explanation: Fertilizers have polluted the lakes, which have been receding due to sedimentation. An investment group now vows to return the area to its status as an "eco heaven.")
And soon enough, the first billboard announcing "Bali Coffee" makes a signpost for a road that leads farther up into thick mists, then down the backside of the ridge. On a clear day, the downward spiral of hairpin turns must offer stunning views of this round bowl of a valley. But it's tough in the fog to clearly identify any of the local agriculture. Fortunately, a relatively new sign directs my driver to turn down a long driveway to the Munduk Moding Plantation. Billed as a "nature resort and spa," the place turns out to be a single, Dutch-style manor house, splendidly remodeled with four rooms up top, looking out over an infinity-style pool and its five hectares of working coffee farm.
But I still don't see any of the prized crop until the staff leads me along stone steps that make a circular path around the property. At long last, I've got beans to both sides of me, and these are in the raw, not freeze-dried or in measured espresso packets. All I have to do is lift the shiny leaves of these pleasant shrubs to see clumps of the green buds that have given humanity (including me) so much inspiration. How can so nerve-jangling a fruit come with such comfortingly pretty white flowers?
At the end of the trek, I'm joined by Made, the well-spoken, tie-wearing co-founder of the place. While sipping from his plantation's best brew, he explains that he and a Dutch partner invested six billion rupiahs ($640,000) not merely to turn a profit from tourism but to help save his home region's coffee tradition, hurt by a falling water table (coffee is a thirsty crop) and long stretch of weak coffee prices over the past decade. Locals say that coffee, originally brought by Dutch colonizers, is being slowly replaced by more lucrative crops such as cocoa.
His coffee seems to go down very smoothly, until he informs me that what I am drinking is actually kopi lubak, more commonly kopi luwak, a rare treat. Brewed from beans gathered by neighboring farmers from the feces of a local, coffee-addicted species of civet (the pulpy part of the berry is digested, but the bean passes through whole), it's renowned for its lack of bitterness. (The beans do get a rinse before roasting.) I don't even realize until it's too late that I might have just downed some of the world's most expensive java (in this case, Bali).
Made's recommendation for a homemade coffee-roasting operation leads way down to the valley bottom. But after a sprint through a sudden late-afternoon downpour, I'm told the backyard operation is closed for a full-moon festival -- one of the common, if charming, hazards in touring an island that operates on its own celestial calendar. In a pinch, Bali is usually able to provide one tourist catchall someplace. Around Munduk, it's the well-publicized Ngring Ngewedang, which I fortunately don't have to pronounce because it translates roughly as -- surprise! -- "enjoying coffee."
An open patio and covered tables command a great view (should the mist clear) from a strategic turn in the road, and, before actually partaking of more local brew (or taking home souvenir packets), Joni Suhadi, a relentless friendly manager who learned his English from years on a cruise ship, narrates a full tour of the facilities.
Down a path from the cafe is a shack devoted to coffee roasting, which is done over a wood fire as the beans roll in a crude and very rusty tumbler than reminds me of a big lettuce dryer. An energetic young couple, male and female, wait under a patch of thatched shade to raise oversize pestles and take up the vigorous pounding in a stone mortar that takes the place of an electric coffee grinder here. The result is a powder that concentrates every kick from the high-octane Robusta variety; the sample I finally get to sip is blastedly strong.
My pilgrimage to coffee country is made complete with a final stop at Ulu Danu, considered one of the island's more revered "water temples." It's quite a trek from the edge of Lake Bratan and doesn't look to be a very active, though a small group of pilgrims soon hops from the back of a pickup truck to leave offerings inside its weathered walls, slightly reminiscent of a prison yard. Still, the sculpted stone turrets are atmospheric as they face out on the shallow waters. And this blackened, slightly spooky shrine just may be the perfect place to placate the gods of caffeine and calm down after too much robusta.
--John Krich is a writer based in Bangkok.
Considering how much I've consumed over a lifetime, it seemed remarkable that I had never seen coffee -- meaning the actual bean on the bush.
But here I was in Bali, whose coffee-growing region seemed to come, in the Balinese manner, with so much more: mountain views, temples and terraces. So on an island where nearly everything, barring the agricultural West's bull racing, can be reached within an hour and some scant meditative moments, I decided to make coffee country my day-trip destination. (There are a great range of atmospheric upcountry escapes available. A sprawling Denpasar, and even more so, the tourist strips concentrated on Bali's southernmost nub, provide ever-increasing reasons for making the attempt.)
Even the gas stations along the way come with piped-in, tinkly gamelan music. Small-town main streets are lined with delicate, statuary-festooned temple compounds, the roadside stands along the way are mostly seasonal ones for durian and jackfruit (which I sample along with, strangely enough, an avid Chinese couple from Los Angeles), and the pit stops now include one called Babi Guling (Suckling Pig) Obama.
Seeing this is an island, no matter which road you follow, you'll eventually get to the sea (with a brooding volcano or two in between.) My chosen path aims straight for Bedugul and beyond. But things start to get interesting at Pacung, where the views of rice terraces open up and the climb toward, or through, a breathtaking line-up of black peaks.
As it turns out, Bedugul isn't much but a sprawling wet market, plied by peasants in woolen caps and long-sleeved shirts that flop oversize over sarongs. Just over an hour from Denpasar's limits, the place feels like a way station in Nepal or the lower Andes, quite a shock after a morning's loll in the tub-warm waves of Jimbaran beach. It doesn't take long for microclimates to change on Bali.
I get another surprise when my driver makes a wrong left turn at the market junction. Instead of heading farther uphill toward Munduk, this road ends at the entrance to Eka Karya Botanic Garden, one of four botanic gardens run by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. Founded in 1959, it, too defies expectations. Laid out in broad avenues and circular roads in the late Indo-fascist manner, this is no place for a brief stroll to sniff the flowers. It's more suited to a day's backpacking: 157 hectares of luxuriant, shadow-dappled high-altitude forest preserve, including numerous stands of birch. There are temples and traditional houses hidden here and there, along with obligatory rose and orchid displays. There's also a kiosk that sells herbal remedies -- based on Usada, or Balinese healing -- that are derived from native plants.
But I'm after another sort of potent plant, the kind that brings a buzz to wake me each morning. Before reaching coffee country proper, the landscape is dominated by strawberry farms. It's not exactly scenic, with much of the ground around the budding berries covered in protective plastic wrap, but one roadside farm is fronted by a "Strawberry Stop" cafe that makes a passable milkshake. It greatly improves the usual nasi goreng (fried rice).
Now the road toward Bali's north coast veers west in a precipitous rise along a ridge with magnificent views of two adjacent, elongated lakes, the larger Danau Buyan, that form the island's eerily quiet heart. While the waters below are shimmering and shallow, perfect for snapshots, there don't seem to be any boats out. I wonder whether the Balinese, never big fish-eaters, see more spiritual than material sustenance in these carpet-like waters. (Later, I read a more mundane explanation: Fertilizers have polluted the lakes, which have been receding due to sedimentation. An investment group now vows to return the area to its status as an "eco heaven.")
And soon enough, the first billboard announcing "Bali Coffee" makes a signpost for a road that leads farther up into thick mists, then down the backside of the ridge. On a clear day, the downward spiral of hairpin turns must offer stunning views of this round bowl of a valley. But it's tough in the fog to clearly identify any of the local agriculture. Fortunately, a relatively new sign directs my driver to turn down a long driveway to the Munduk Moding Plantation. Billed as a "nature resort and spa," the place turns out to be a single, Dutch-style manor house, splendidly remodeled with four rooms up top, looking out over an infinity-style pool and its five hectares of working coffee farm.
But I still don't see any of the prized crop until the staff leads me along stone steps that make a circular path around the property. At long last, I've got beans to both sides of me, and these are in the raw, not freeze-dried or in measured espresso packets. All I have to do is lift the shiny leaves of these pleasant shrubs to see clumps of the green buds that have given humanity (including me) so much inspiration. How can so nerve-jangling a fruit come with such comfortingly pretty white flowers?
At the end of the trek, I'm joined by Made, the well-spoken, tie-wearing co-founder of the place. While sipping from his plantation's best brew, he explains that he and a Dutch partner invested six billion rupiahs ($640,000) not merely to turn a profit from tourism but to help save his home region's coffee tradition, hurt by a falling water table (coffee is a thirsty crop) and long stretch of weak coffee prices over the past decade. Locals say that coffee, originally brought by Dutch colonizers, is being slowly replaced by more lucrative crops such as cocoa.
His coffee seems to go down very smoothly, until he informs me that what I am drinking is actually kopi lubak, more commonly kopi luwak, a rare treat. Brewed from beans gathered by neighboring farmers from the feces of a local, coffee-addicted species of civet (the pulpy part of the berry is digested, but the bean passes through whole), it's renowned for its lack of bitterness. (The beans do get a rinse before roasting.) I don't even realize until it's too late that I might have just downed some of the world's most expensive java (in this case, Bali).
Made's recommendation for a homemade coffee-roasting operation leads way down to the valley bottom. But after a sprint through a sudden late-afternoon downpour, I'm told the backyard operation is closed for a full-moon festival -- one of the common, if charming, hazards in touring an island that operates on its own celestial calendar. In a pinch, Bali is usually able to provide one tourist catchall someplace. Around Munduk, it's the well-publicized Ngring Ngewedang, which I fortunately don't have to pronounce because it translates roughly as -- surprise! -- "enjoying coffee."
An open patio and covered tables command a great view (should the mist clear) from a strategic turn in the road, and, before actually partaking of more local brew (or taking home souvenir packets), Joni Suhadi, a relentless friendly manager who learned his English from years on a cruise ship, narrates a full tour of the facilities.
Down a path from the cafe is a shack devoted to coffee roasting, which is done over a wood fire as the beans roll in a crude and very rusty tumbler than reminds me of a big lettuce dryer. An energetic young couple, male and female, wait under a patch of thatched shade to raise oversize pestles and take up the vigorous pounding in a stone mortar that takes the place of an electric coffee grinder here. The result is a powder that concentrates every kick from the high-octane Robusta variety; the sample I finally get to sip is blastedly strong.
My pilgrimage to coffee country is made complete with a final stop at Ulu Danu, considered one of the island's more revered "water temples." It's quite a trek from the edge of Lake Bratan and doesn't look to be a very active, though a small group of pilgrims soon hops from the back of a pickup truck to leave offerings inside its weathered walls, slightly reminiscent of a prison yard. Still, the sculpted stone turrets are atmospheric as they face out on the shallow waters. And this blackened, slightly spooky shrine just may be the perfect place to placate the gods of caffeine and calm down after too much robusta.
--John Krich is a writer based in Bangkok.
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