I was told that a trip to Bali is incomplete if i didn't manage to pay a visit to the numerous kopi luwak plantations on the island. Hence, boy was i glad to have been brought to Cantik Agriculture Luwak Coffee!
Now, i do have my suspicion this could be the same kind of "commissioned shopping tour" that i totally dread but since this was part of a tour package and i am with a much bigger group (trust me, numbers count); i decided to keep my zip my mouth.
To be honest, i was pretty excited as i heard so much about the luwak coffee; including its shitty origin and the astronomical pricing it commands.
The winding path wasn't long although i kept looking left and right; in case of small little civet cats decided to pounce on us. Nope, it didn't happen and it was, in fact, just a cooling walk.
Anticipating a long line of cages with civet cats indulging in the coffee beans that they love so much? You would be sorely disappointed; customers would be blessed with just two cages, side by side.
One in each cage - they appeared to be sleeping yet a slight movement revealed an alertness that's ready to kill. Commercialism is actually detrimental to the welfare of the civet cats; poor felines were just enjoying their raw coffee beans and the nasty humans had to cage them up to 'milk them' further.
Anyway, we were brought to a wooden hut decked out with benches and tables. I roughly knew what's coming and chose to excuse myself to explore the immediate surroundings.
Nice, peaceful view in front of us. The huts were built in such a way that they don't block off the scenery in front of us. Should this agricultural business venture fail, Cantik should consider building a resort here!
Want to guess what the above is? It's a cocoa fruit and it's the first time i am seeing it for real using my eyes! For those who don't know, the beans in a cocoa fruit gave us chocolate.
Education continued - this was an opened coffee bean and we were encouraged to suck it as the seeds were too hard to bite through. There's a sweetness to it; no wonder the civet cats like it so much! By the way, trivial time - if you pop a coffee fruit and there was one seed; it's a male. Those with two seeds are female.
See how airy the huts are!
If there's heavy rain, as we thought we might encounter that day, there's a traditional roller blind that you can unroll to reduce the watery onslaught.
Back to the table with a hard, plastic laminated place-mat. From the look of it, i would have assumed this would be the full range of beverages produced by Cantik.
It only dawned on me its true purpose when the staff brought in a tray of tiny little glass cups filled with liquid of varied colours.
One cup for each item on the place-mat; ingenious in my opinion as the staff would not need to repeat himself every time a visitor forgets what he / she is drinking from among the twelve types of beverages!
So what were the good ones after tasting every single one of them? Mangosteen tea was my favourite for being so relatable to Ribena whereas turmeric tea had that spicy punch to perk up my sense. For coffee, i was most impressed with ginseng coffee, coconut coffee and vanilla coffee.
With a mix of tea and coffee swirling in my tummy, i had to refrain myself from drinking more lest i had to make numerous toilet stops later! For your information as well, the group of us had to share the content in the 12 cups and some were not comfortable as most were all from the healthcare industry!
No chance to try Kopi Luwak as it's priced at a separate 50,000 rupiahs a cup! To put it bluntly, i am not keen to pay for coffee that came out from a butt-hole but if it's free, i will take it. haha.
Lastly, we were of course brought to a retail shop where we can buy souvenirs of coffee / tea powder we tried earlier, chocolate that didn't taste like they deserve the pricing and the highly acclaimed kopi luwak.
They came in really desirable packaging; however, i got a shocker when i looked at the price tag. Trust me, i actually turned to the price tag again as i couldn't believe the pricing; a 50-gram coconut coffee costs 60,000 rupiah?! That's freakish expensive considering that my favorite Old Town coffee with 15 sachets at 35-gram each cost lesser than that!
I grabbed a pack of mangosteen tea (which i absolutely enjoyed tasting earlier) - it was priced at 410,000 rupiahs for 500 grams! No way am i going to buy one, regardless of its organic tag! Those interested in kopi luwak may wish to note that a 50-gram pack would set you back by 250,000 rupiahs.
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Location
Br Temen Tampaksiring Gianyar Bali
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