"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

It’s the middle of winter (well, not exactly the middle) and given the weather over the last week or so it’s probably no surprise that Bali has been on my mind. “Bali!” I hear many of you exclaim (and by now you’re probably fondly recalling your own memories of Bali rather than wanting to read further) “… but what has Bali got to do with coffee?”

I, too, have very vivid and happy memories of Bali. I recall spending lazy days in the surf and catching bemo’s here and there. Unlike many of my uni friends, I did explore beyond Kuta and enjoyed a little more of what Bali and its people had to offer. I remember my $10 per day budget. $1 or $2 for the guesthouse, $3-$5 for food and $3-$5 for transport. What I saved on one thing could always be spent on another. Days I didn’t travel meant I could totally PIG OUT!

I did travel to Kintamani and enjoyed the very early morning climb to the top of the volcano. Our guide cooked us eggs in the steam that rises out of the earth inside the volcano and played his flute while we ate and watched the sun rising over the clouds beneath us. Little did I know that at that moment I was right in the heart of the region which has become responsible for putting Bali on the map as a serious coffee producer — in relative terms, at least.

Over the last week or so we’ve been playing with the Balinese Gunung Batur coffee. Gunung Batur is the name of the volcano that is visible across the waters of Danau Batur from the village of Kintamani. The current batch in our hopper on the tasting bench was roasted gently into the second crack, giving it a surface colour of medium-dark brown. Interestingly, the cut coffee pungency was very subtle and, given the roast profile (stretched to 21 minutes), was still lighter in tone than the colour of its surface. I suppose the word ‘delicate’ comes to mind when trying to find a descriptor for the aromatic compounds first evident on grinding.

During our tasting sessions the delicate nature of the flavour on offer became the major talking point. Jay made the observation that the coffee just did not work at the higher temperatures (95-98) but performed best at 92 degrees — which was a surprise to us. Some of us, me included, have started to sympathise with the school of thought that in harder water like ours, coffee performs better between the 95 degree and 98 degree mark. Obviously, we have more work to do on the development of our brew theory to explain this anomaly. There is no doubt that the coffee has flavour interest (as opposed to flavour intensity) to boot. There are definite characteristics of berry and cocoa, neither of which are that obvious. (Maybe as obvious as Erin’s “storm in a tea cup” latte art?) Also present are dry spice notes if you have time to taste a little bit beyond the surface. It is excellently balanced — medium acidity and medium-to-light body, which seems to compliment the flavour characteristics quite perfectly.

If ever there was a coffee that could be enjoyed as a tight ristretto, this is it. The flavours remain smooth and, as you’d expect in a ristretto, are amazingly intense with the berry fruit flavours becoming amplified to a point where you’d swear it was a different coffee.

We’ve been quite taken with this Balinese offering. It’s left us interested to the point that one of us will head up to Bali in September to have a closer look around. Hopefully, the trip will give us a greater understanding of what we can expect from Bali in the next few years, and will give us some specific contacts in new and emerging regions.

I think it may take a while for Bali to shake off its typecast status as a party and beach destination. Bali has a unique cultural expression. It also has very unique coffee, of which there remains only one bag in our possession. I’m not sure how much more of it we can get, so if you’re ready for your next order, take this opportunity to explore it while you can.

Go straight to Balinese Gunung Batur