Poop Coffee

We were exhausted from waking up so early in the morning and climbing the volcano, but we gathered our strengths to head out on the road to Ubud, Bali's "undisputed cultural enclave." Ubud is known for being a "hippy-ish" town full of yoga, organic food, and linen pants but it is also known for its rich culture with dance performances, spectacular cooking, craftsmanship of silver, basket weaving, painting, wood carving, stone carving, many colorful worshipers at the numerous temples, and more! We were so excited to finally get to see this amazing town. Siobhan was especially excited because it is said that Ubud has the best shopping from all over the Island! Look out!

Cruising down to Ubud on the motorbikes, we stopped at a fruit stand on the side of the road because we had spotted the most desired, "queen of the fruit" mangosteen! This fruit looks like a little plum with a few green leaves on top. The outer part is a hard shell, but easy to break open like a pomegranate. Inside there is the most juicy white fruit you ever tasted. It's like fruit punch! Shaped like a tiny orange with multiple slices, piece by piece you taste a little bit of heaven. Its that good. We were suckered into paying about 3 dollars for three mangosteens. (I think Roy has a soft spot for fruit stand ladies) and we were back on the road.

Until... Roy randomly stopped in front of what looked to be a garden, or small farm and said "Lets see whats here!"

Because we were still exhausted from our early morning, what better way to wake up then with coffee? We had stopped right in front of an organic farm that produced Luwak coffee, the most coveted and expensive coffee in the world! What makes this coffee so special and famous you ask? Well, it is because these coffee beans are first consumed by the luwak animal who digests them until they come out the other end. Then the farmers harvest the digested coffee beans on the ground and begin the process of drying, roasting and grounding, producing the most amazing coffee!

We quickly put our bags down and traveled through the maze of the garden.

 Not only did they grow coffee beans, but they grew pretty much everything else too! Vanilla, Cocoa pods, cinnamon, passion fruit, papaya, pineapples, coconuts, coriander, cumin, black pepper, ginger, hot peppers, were growing side by side, all organically grown. We had our own personal guide who informed us of the plants growing with little tidbits of knowledge about each.

The tour ended with a free tasting of 6 coffees and teas the organic farm produces and boy were they delicious! The drink pallet came out with little samples of bali coffee, hot coco, ginseng coffee, coconut coffee, vanilla coffee, ginger tea, and lemon tea.

 Then we ordered a cup of the famous Luwak coffee to try at 50,000 rupiah, (almost 5 USD, not bad considering its sells for upwars $20 a cup at home) It was pretty good. It was very rich in flavor and texture. We were really glad we tried it, but luckily we don't think we will be craving the expensive coffee anytime soon!

After our little boost from our organic coffee experience, we were recharged and ready to make our way to Ubud!