Bali Kintamani Natural - Special Prep

Coffee Details

• REGION: Oceania
• LOCATION: Kintamani Highlands
• ELEVATION: 3600-4800 feet
• VARIETAL: Typica, Catimor, and Bourbon
• GRADE: Strictly Hard Bean
• PROCESSING: Natural (Dry-processed)
• CERTIFICATION: Organic
• ROAST LEVEL: Medium to Full
• FLAVOR NOTES: Intense cherry, brandy, pear, buttery-smooth mouthfeel, complex and spicy with subtle chocolate notes in the background.

Cooperative Information

Produced by smallholder farmers inhabiting fertile volcanic highland areas in the heart of the Indonesian island of Bali. Arabica plantings in the Kintamani highlands were destroyed by the eruption of Gunung Agung in 1963. This eruption caused the quantity and quality of Arabica coffee from Kintamani to drop significantly for almost 15 years. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, the government began a program to supply coffee seedlings to local farmers and now the growing area in Bali is estimated at 7,500 hectares. Traditional coffee farms are usually a monoculture, however the farmers do use shade trees such as Erythrina, Albizia, Tangerine, and Orange, which improves both yield and cup quality. Pesticides are never used on coffee farms in Bali, and all the fertilizers are 100% organic. The Subak Abians have been certified organic by the Control Union since 2008. Most Balinese farmers grow S 795 and USDA 762 varieties as recommended by the Government. These two varieties belong to the Typica family, although Catimor is also grown on a small scale to improve yields. There is also a fairly high percentage of Bourbon (B1) in Kintamani. The typical altitude is around 1200 meters, although many farms in the highest areas go up to 1600 meters. Under normal conditions the harvesting period begins in May or early June.

In July of 2009, Royal Coffee importers visited some of the Subak Abians that produce the wet-hulled "Blue Moon" coffee for them. Noticing the scarcity of groundwater due to the soil being so volcanic, the suggestion was made to try a full natural process as well. Given that raised beds were already being used for drying parchment, it was an easy step to use them for drying whole ripe cherry. They did a test separation of one table and sent us the sample. Royal cupped it and were so blown away by the flavor that they decided to take a chance on a full container.

Coffee farmers in Kintamani are strongly organized through Subak Abian (SA), a traditional structure of farmer organization in the upland areas of Bali. SA plays an important role not only in agricultural activities but also in religious ones. Founded on the Hindu philosophy of “Tri Hita Karana” (meaning the three causes of happiness), the philosophy is all about the relation of the individual to God, to other men, and to his environment. Each SA democratically establishes its own written rules, the so called “awig-awig”, and also works to form village coops.

Coffee quality improvement at the smallholder level is not only a question of technology application, but also of social and economic awareness. To this end, a mediated partnership model has been developed to improve quality and to shorten the marketing chain from the farm gate to the exporter, thus ensuring a greater percentage of the price gets back to the people who grow the coffee.

Net Weight

12 ounces