Cupping Notes: Bakers Chocolate, Orange Peel, Juniper, Molasses, Clean
Grower: Producers organized through Subak Abian (SA) a traditional structure of farmer organization in upland Bali
Region: Kintamani Highlands of Central Bali, Indonesia
ALTITUDE: 1200-1600 MASL
Harvest: May-October
Soil: Volcanic Loam
PROCESS: Hand-picked, Wet-hulled,
Two-step Sun Dried on
Raised Beds
VARIETALS: Bourbon, (S795 & USDA
762) Typica, and Catimor
Details: Bali Blue Moon is a staple named after the hallmark bluish hue of the bean produced from the wet-hulling process called Giling Basah in the Indonesian language. The bulk of Bali’s coffee production comes from small family-owned farms where each producer uses a few acres to cultivate coffee along with citrus trees in the volcanic soils of Mount Agung’s Kintamani highlands. They carefully sort their harvested cherries before depulping and fermenting overnight with their own micro-mills. Then the coffee is washed and laid out on patios to shed the excess water from the coffee parchment. Next the coffee takes a detour from the conventional path of processing in other origins, wherein, the coffee parchment is removed while the coffee still has a high moisture content. This wet-hulling process or Giling Basah leaves the coffee bean exposed while drying on patios to a moisture percentage acceptable for export and gives the beans their distinct bluish color.
Balinese producers continue to maintain a traditional rural lifestyle organized around a Subak Abian, which is a reference to the ecologically sustainable irrigation systems developed more than 1,000 years ago by Hindu priests who practice Tri Hita Karana (the three sources of prosperity), a philosophy focused on the harmonization between the environment, humans and God. These traditions are followed in coffee cultivation, which means pesticides and synthetic fertilizers are never used.
