Green Coffee Offerings : Indonesia : Bali

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We've been disappointed with the 2011 Bali samples, while also keenly aware from our visits to Indonesia in this year that many coffees sold as Bali are not from there. We want good quality, a clean cup, and a true Bali coffee. We shall wait.

Coffee from the Indonesian island of Bali was formerly sold exclusively to the Japanese market. Perhaps it is the changing face of world economics that finds the first exports of Balinese coffee arriving under exclusive contract in the U.S.

The coffees can be sophisticated and well-prepared. They are washed (wet-processed) like neighboring coffees from Java, East Timor and Papua New Guinea. The cup has traces of the earthy Indonesian island character, but only in the background. It is a classic, clean cup with great body and mildness.

Some background: In terms of island history, the colonial phase came late for Bali. The Dutch were there back in the 1850's but an important event in the of history of Bali is the landing of Dutch troops at Sanur beach in the year 1900 which led to the complete conquering of the island by the Dutch and the defeat and ritual suicide of some of the most prominent princely families. After the Japanese occupation during the Second World War from 1939 to 1945, Bali became a province of Indonesia, but managed to maintain a separate, specifically Balinese culture. For instance, the dominant religion in most parts of Indonesia is Islam, whereas in Bali it is Hinduism.

Geographically Bali is dominated by a number of volcanic mountains in the center of the island. The most active one of them is Gunung Agung whose violent eruption in 1963 killed a large number of people and caused a lot of devastation in the eastern parts of Bali. The island is ringed by coral reefs; the beaches in the south have white sand, the beaches in the east and north have black (volcanic) sand. Bali has a population of around 3 million. The predominant form of agriculture is wet-rice cultivation, but there are also large fruit plantations in the east of Bali, as well as corn fields or coffee plantations.

The majority of the population is still made up of farmers, but tourism and associated businesses (such as manufacture and sales of souvenirs, etc.) are becoming more and more important. You should know that the economic circumstances and the standard of living of the largest part of the Balinese population are quite modest, and that a lot of people are, even by Indonesian standards, actually very poor.