Five Senses' Blog
The kids are alright!!
After trading emails for the last couple of years the planets finally aligned and I managed to be in Bali at the same time as Jeff Neilsen. Jeff is a lecturer and academic at University of NSW and specialises in markets and supply chains in rural areas with a special interest in Indonesian coffee production. Jeff is definitely one of the good guys, a fluent Indonesian speaker and passionate humanitarian and it was great to finally show him our projects in Bali.
I also had contacted a Balinese based photographer Tommy Schultz. Tommy was raised in Virginia in the US, completed a degree in environmental science and spent some time working on aid projects with the Peace Corps in the Philippines. Tommy is one of those rare individuals who has a creative and humanitarian heart and one of the sharpest business minds I’ve come across.
We all shared the common trait of offering our opinions freely and with conviction which made for a very entertaining and stimulating day as we criss-crossed the high country of Bali!
Once we all piled into the car, accompanied by “our man on the ground’, the newly married Komang Sukarsana and Bali’s best driver, Made Mertiasa we started the journey to Git Git to check in on the progress of our nursery at the Tri Karya Subak Abian. It was super exciting to see that our tiny seedlings had now been transplanted from the beds into poly bags and stood proudly in long, neat rows. The plants looked healthy and strong and we now have to wait until February when the mammoth task of getting them into the ground begins. Each plant require a hole 60 cm deep and 30 cms in diameter. With some 7,500 plants to go into the ground, that’s going to take some digging!!!
There was a very tangible air of excitement at Tri Karya about getting stuck into this coffee project. The plan is to plant out around 25 hectares of coffee (somewhere around 40,000 trees!!) over the next couple of years. It’s fair to say this is a very ambitious project and has the potential to have a profound effect on the security and wellbeing of this area. Tri Karya are currently very dependent on clove production for their livelihood and any dip in prices or production would see them in some trouble.
We then moved on to meet our old friends at Kerta Waringin and Ulian Murni, the car was alive with “vigorous” and informed debate. Tommy managed to come up with an online business strategy for anything and everything we discussed whilst Jeff rightly pointed out some of the “holes” in our relationship with the coffee farmers of Bali. Time to revise our game plan a little and start to share the risk a little bit. It’s very much a trust model with FSC exposed to most of the risk!!
One of the highlights of the day for me was when Made Sukerta, the always smiling and hospitable head of Ulian Murni, proudly told us how he declined the offers from some “Aussies”, who tracked them down through our blogs and stories and tried to buy the coffee he has stockpiled to be shipped to us in Australia. Maybe our trust model is not so bad after all!!
Coffee Seedlings
Rows of Seedlings
Jeff at the nursery
Coffee flowering
Surprising Results from our Bali Experiments
On my last trip to Bali I brought back the last of our green samples from our processing experiments. This was started by the brave team on our June harvest trip and involved careful cherry selection of each varietal (B1, S795 and Usda) and subsequent processing by either washed, pulped natural or natural method. We had already cupped the washed and pulped natural samples and these natural samples were the last part of the puzzle.
The overall standard of the naturals were very good with the surprise winner being the S795. The Usda varietal is a reliable winner of all previous Bali cuppings and I thought the natural preparation would really suit it. The Usda is an indigenous Ethiopian varietal, a country that produces some amazing naturally processed coffees. But my theories didn’t stand up in practice. I guess it’s a bit like assuming every Ethiopian is going to be a great long distance runner!!
The winning coffee exhibited an atypical (for Bali) fruity brightness accompanied by the usual voluptuous body we’ve come to expect. It was scored at 84 and we’d be pretty confident in thinking this is the best coffee to come out of Bali. This coffee came from the Ulian Murni Subak which is relatively low at 1000 to 1100 meters above asl. Using the rough rule of thumb of 1 cupping point per additional 100 metres above sea level, my dream is still alive to bring back a 87+ coffee from Bali. Just need to find that S795 plantation above 1400 metres asl!!
The natural prep requires a lot more time and space than the usual washed process, so it probably doesn’t have much appeal to the farmers but we may be able to persuade them to do a few bags for us next harvest for our Backroom program. Watch this space!!
Cupping the S795
Adventures of an amateur tea wallah!
I’ve always had a fascination with chai tea ever since I made my first steaming, aromatic cup many years ago. It may have had something to do with the cute kiwi girl with a taste for jazz and a strawberry birthmark on her cheek who was in charge of the tea preparation! Anyway, I digress. Back to tea!
With the pending introduction of our new tea range (watch this space for more details) we found our self with some high quality black tea “surplus to needs” and I immediately put it aside as a base tea for some Chai. Literally translated chai just means tea but the word Chai in Australia typically means a spiced tea.
After a little bit of google homework I felt sufficiently equipped to get cracking.
First stop was the iconic Kakulas Bros store in Northbridge to load up with some spices. If you’ve never been into Kakulas, it’s an amazing experience with a staggering array of “loose” products priced by the kilo. They manage to cover a broad array of ingredients for many different ethnic cuisines with an increasing range of organic products. True to its Greek heritage its strictly “cash only”, love it!!
Loaded up with star anise, cinnamon, cardamom pods, black pepper, clove and fennel seeds I headed home to start some experimenting. In the past I’ve often weighted my judgement of Chai too highly on the visible spices, the big chunky pieces that are easy to see. I now realise that the visible spices are largely for show and unless you’re doing a traditional slow brewed Chai, the typical percolation times in a cafe of around four minutes are too fast to actually extract any flavours from whole spices. So a nice mix of ground spice for “go” and whole spice “for show” is the formula I settled on.
Whilst grinding and blending I was constantly reminded of the incredible power smell has to evoke the memories of a certain place or time. Smelling the sweet, spiciness of the cloves I was immediately reminded of Rosella Chutney and cheese and chutney sandwiches after school. Smelling the cardamom reminded me of an old sweet potato and cardamom ice cream recipe (better than it sounds, trust me!) that was popular what seems like a lifetime ago.
And the most powerful of all was tasting the final result after hours of blending and adjusting … I swear I could hear some jazz playing softly in the background!!!
Shaughan's amateur tea making
The Bintangs flow on the last day in Bali
Well, it feels like last day of school camp, a mixture of excitement and hint of sadness as everyone starts to realize that our amazing trip is drawing to an end. The team scatters to tie up some unfinished business. Some head to Tri Karya for their first look at the nursery and a chance to experience the amazing location. Dashing Dave ticks off a service call on the ageing coffee gear at Honeymoon cottage and I head out to Singaraja with my Balinese brothers for some personal business. But the fun aint over yet! Tonight is party night and a chance to thank all our of our local crew of drivers, guides and hotel staff. These guys do an amazing job for us, always ready to help with a smile on their face. They give the trip a richness that’s hard to describe but we all feel it and are deeply touched.
We get in an outside chef, some musicians and plenty of bintang! Things start a little slow as our Balinese friends struggle to relax. But soon enough with the guitars playing and a bit of coaxing they start to get in the mood and the party gets started! Everyone’s drinking large bintangs straight from the bottle, singing like their in the shower and Gusti is busting out the dance moves. Dashing Dave plays some percussion on an empty water bottle, Jen grabs a guitar and plays along and random guests from neighbouring hotels drop by, attracted by the not insubstantial noise we are staring to create. We realise pretty quickly that Bintang reinforcements are called for and a couple more crates magically appear.
The vibe is crazy and uninhibited, Nat becomes chief chanteuse and is possibly the only one of us Bules who can hold a tune, nicely supported by a surprisingly harmonious Brad B. We plough our way thru all the guitar classics with a few local tunes thrown in. The Balinese guys are very musical and clap, sing or dance along. The cameras are flashing, the beer is flowing, the dance floor is pumping and I look around very proud of the way our team conducts itself. Always ready to help each other and respectful to our Balinese friends and curious about their unique and beautiful culture. Over the four years our engagement keeps growing with the nursery being our most ambitious achievement to date. Despite this deep level of commitment and investment on our behalf and I can’t help feeling this magical little island keeps giving us even more in return.
Can’t wait for next year!
A day to remember
Today was one of those days when I need to pinch myself to remember I’m actually at work! Deano had joined the team and we headed up to Ulian Murni to check on our preparation experiments and make sure everything was going to plan. The washed sample was still in need of some more fermentation time so we left it in the capable hands of Made Sukerta to finish later in the day. With everything squared away we set off for Kerta Waringin for a cupping with the local farmers and some representatives from Tri Karya where we had built the nursery earlier in the trip.
Whilst waiting for the Subak head to arrive from a meeting we sat down with Putu Pancha the head man from Tri Karya to discuss what financial support we can offer them in the massive project to plant out the seedlings when the time comes.
We have learnt a lot about negotiating in the years we have been working in Bali. There is a widely held perception by the locals that westerners have an endless supply of money that they can be easily parted from. Straight out charity does not work. It destroys the dynamics of the relationship and prevents the formation of a true partnership. We emphasised our long term commitment to the farmers of Tri Karya and arrived at an amount that will allow them to plant out about seven hectares of coffee early next year. There will be a significant amount of labour required that will be worked out equitably amongst the farmers in their typically democratic and community orientated way.
Once the negotiations had finished Putu moved closer to me and fixed my eyes and gave a very sincere thanks to me as a representative of Five Senses. Very emotional!
Meeting with Putu Pancha the head man from Tri Karya in Bali
Meeting with Putu Pancha
The Fresh Prince takes the honors
Wow, its been a big couple of days! We ventured to Seminyak to hang out at Sea Circus for a low key barista jam. As usual the barista crew couldn’t keep themselves away from the gleaming synesso and were soon side by side with the local baristas sending out the orders. We staged a little latte art smackdown with Brad “the fresh prince” Nixon taking out the honours in a closely fought battle. After a few hours it was time to bid an emotional farewell to the Captain, Mat, Chris and Amy as they were staying beachside until their flights back to Oz later in the day.
We headed back to Ubud to do some barista training and machine maintenance at Indus and Casa Luna. Dashing Dave Carnaby replaced possibly the filthiest, most clogged shower screens on the planet and we soon had the ageing Rancilio humming.
Jen reported great progress at Casa Luna with many of the staff busting out some great latte art with confidence. Our boy Komang has obviously been doing some in house training of his own. Stay tuned for our next instalment as we pulled out the buckets and got down and dirty (and a little sunburnt) and started to pick our 90kgs of cherry for our processing trial!
Latte art smackdown Bali style!
There's only one Captain!
Dashing Dave gets "his Bali on"
Blessing the grinder, they take their coffee seriously!
After a bit of hard work the nursery is complete
Wow, what a day! The good captain managed a solid 1.5 hours sleep after a debauched Kuta run with Dan and Jamie. Despite looking decidedly shakey at breakfast he managed to drag his weary body into the van with the rest of the crew. We met our friend Made Sukerta and wife Ketut a little further down the road and fell into a three car convoy en route to Bedugul. Made’s farm had provided the seed for the nursery so we felt it was important to get him to meet the Tri Karya farmers. He also has a wealth of coffee farming knowledge that would come in handy.
We arrived to find seven basic mounds of soil and lots of eager workers awaiting us. We were treated to some roasted cassava and some fairly nasty robusta laden coffee. Descriptors of burnt rubber and car tyre were passed around but we respectfully finished our cups and got cracking.
The locals quickly got to work splitting and cutting bamboo into a variety of sizes with amazing dexterity. The versatility of this natural product is amazing. Our team engaged quickly with the locals and were quickly employed in a number of tasks and we settled down to work. Our “man on the ground” Komang Sukarsana, a Uni gaduate in agriculture kept an eye on things and made sure everything was done correctly. Komang will be our liaison man with the farmers and a key driver of the Bali project.
With everyone chipping in and having fun it didn’t take long for things to take shape. We were amazed at the precision of each of the completed seven beds comprising of little more than some plastic, bamboo and lots of experience and ingenuity. In total we have planted somewhere around 10,000 seeds and should finish with around 8,000 seedlings after some natural attrition.
Lara took control of the GPS and got us some co-ordinates of the proposed planting areas so we can establish some basic maps. I’ve quickly learnt if you want a job done well just give it to Lara! The long term plan is to map each farmers lot and the varietal grown to help us with quality control and improvements in years to come.
After a team photo we headed back to the cars. I for one was feeling super proud of the contribution we had made to this beautiful community and the way our team had thrown themselves into the work and engaged with the farmers.
This is the first significant step in a long journey we have undertaken with the people of Tri Karya. I look forward to the day when our group of baristas and cafe owners on the trip can use the coffee that has come from the seeds that they planted in the earth with their own hands. Truly seed to cup!
The captain working off a few Bintangs
Finally!!! ... Brett gets his hands dirty.
Shane from Coffee Cat getting the seed into the ground
The final nursery
Nursery taking shape
Little proud today, the nursery really starts to take shape. There’s nothing these guys can’t do with some bamboo and a machete! Everyone’s chipping in, the location is majestic and the vibe is great. Thank you Bali!
Getting started on the Nursery
Everyone getting stuck in
Cherry picking followed by lay day
It’s lay day today in Ubud and our intrepid group have scattered to get massages, do some yoga and generally chill out. Some of the younger crew have headed to the coast to chase some sun and surf.
Yesterdays seed picking went well and despite lots of bragging and posturing from Captain Coffee (Charles) and The Eating Machine (Jamie), Lara was hands down the fastest and most diligent picker of the day. We were guided to the best plants by Made Sukerta. It is critical that these plants are the best examples of their respective varietal, the quality of their genetic dna will be a huge factor in the prosperity of an entire village. We took the responsibility seriously and split the teams, one to pick S795 and one to pick USDA. USDA is named after the Unites States Development Corporation who took this and some other indigenous Ethiopian varietals and scattered them in various regions all over the world. They do have some shortcomings in the field with a smallish seed and propensity to produce a higher percentage of slightly defective beans that are culled out as floaters and have an impact on overall yield. They are however definitely the sweetest in our slightly unscientific “taste the cherry” test! This is supported by the Civet cat, the “producers” of Kopi Luwak who seek out the USDA in preference to all others. Good enough for us!
At the end of two hours picking with ten people we had collected our 30kgs of cherry required and the baristas present had even more respect for the coffee they work with on a daily basis. Our combined 20 man (and woman) hours of labour would result in about 4kgs of roasted coffee! It doesn’t need a mathematician to work out that coffee farming is an incredibly labour intensive enterprise.
So it’s up early tomorrow and back out to Bedugul to get cracking on planting around 7000 seeds. Could be a long day!
Made Sukerta and "super guide" Santosa
A classic Bali scene
Day 2 – old friends and a mere flesh wound
The day started out well enough, the sun was shining, captain coffee was at his entertaining best, Sunday whipped up a tasty omelette for breakfast and we were all ready for our first day at origin.
Minutes before our scheduled departure Dan returned on his scooter with a nasty injury to his foot. Whilst he was keen to still come on the trip one glance was enough to confirm we were off to clinic for some real medical attention!
With Dan in safe hands we headed out with mixed feelings to Bedugul to meet the farmers and discuss plans for the nursery. It was great to see they have already made a solid start and are enthusiastic about our ongoing involvement. After some discussions we mapped out a game plan for the coming week and where ferried back out on scooters to our cars.
Ulian Murni was our next stop and we looked forward to catching up with our old friends. The leader of our other Subak Abian partner, Kerta Waringin, was also there and we sat down to negotiate an appropriate price to reflect the changing coffee market.
Unfortunately Made Rida, the representative from KW was highly stressed due a large payment default from a coffee buyer and an unsympathetic bank. After a fairly lengthy discussion we worked out a way to advance some money to them to allow them some relief from the bank. The grey cloud lifted from Made and it felt like the day was back on track.
The farmers there plan to plant out 23 hectares of coffee over the next 3 years, a huge undertaking but if successful will have a big impact on the future of the area. So exciting to be able to play apart.
After a quick farm tour we jumped back in the car to head back to Ubud. Tomorrow we head back to Ulian and pick the cherry which will be the seeds for our Bedugul nursery.
Bali crew before heading out to the farms
Meeting with farmers
Drying beds
Dockers no.1 ticket holder
Follow Five Senses ...
Tweet This
Subscribe via Email
Categories
- Barista Championships (13)
- Five Senses News (41)
- General Coffee News (43)
- In and Around 5 Senses (18)
- Origin Trips (81)
- Project X (8)
