Five Senses Coffee Blog

The worm farm begins

Day one at Kintamani was a bit of an unknown quantity. We arrived at Ulian Murni to the usual friendly welcome. Ibu Khartini, affectionately nicknamed the worm lady had met us on the way up and we quickly sat down to come up with a plan of attack. A massive worm farm was the objective to handle the coffee pulp that is a waste product of the coffee process. Before we could pick up a shovel in anger we were treated to the usual morning tea and Kopi Bali which fuelled us up for the day ahead. We quickly set to moving a small mountain of fermented coffee pulp that had been festering for a few days. In true Bali style we moved the pulp around in circles until a way forward emerged. The Aussie contingent represented in solid fashion and moved a heap of pulp to create the room for the walls of the worm farms. The Bali boys then took over and started the wall construction with the Aussies acting as willing labourers. In no time the wall was up and whilst not a marvel of modern engineering it looked sturdy and will do the job. A little smelly and weary we jumped back in the van for the ride back to Ubud, ready for another great meal out. Tomorrow we cup with the growers as we try to get them understanding the basic principles of cupping and bridge the gap between origin and the end user.

Tags: Bali, Five Senses, Kintamani, origin trip, Worm farm