Bali - Cat Poop Coffee

Hiring a private driver is an affordable way to see far flung sights on Bali without braving the chaotic driving method here yourself. The roads in Bali are actually pretty good but the center line is really more of a suggestion than an imperative. One drives on the left, but if you’re in a car you could easily have motor scooters travelling in the same direction simultaneously pass you on both your right and left side while two or three “lanes” of motor scooters are coming the opposite direction. Sometimes a motorcyclist who only has a block or two to travel will go against the traffic on the edge of the road, whether there is any kind of shoulder there or not. Passing happens constantly, usually with a gentle tap of the horn to announce your presence. Somehow this all works. Drivers just adjust to each other like birds in a flying formation, resulting in neither collision nor road rage. It’s just the way they do it, and we didn’t feel at all unsafe with either of the two drivers we employed.

Putu, our driver in Sanur, took us to a couple of specific temples I had asked to see, but also made some suggestions. One was to visit a coffee plantation. It turned out to be a bit of a tourist trap, but we enjoyed the short stop anyway and did succumb to purchasing some tea and coffee. This place touts its Kopi Luwak Coffee, said to be the most expensive (and best?) coffee in the world. It is made from coffee beans that have been partially digested and then pooped out by a cat-like creature called a civet. Supposedly the cat’s digestive enzymes affect the coffee beans in such a way as to make for a smoother cup of coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker but I actually thought it tasted pretty good…for coffee. Deborah, who is a coffee drinker, liked it too, although not enough to buy any. We opted for some more affordable options.
Coffee beans pre-cleaning. Yuck.  
(photo by Deborah)


Better.  
(photo by Deborah)
Sample testing.



A production worker takes a break.


Mmmmmm, cat poop.


Putu, our driver (photo by Deborah)



Video of driving in Bali.


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