Exploring the Plaga Coffee Plantation, Tracing the Origins of Balinese Arabica

Tracing the Plaga Coffee Plantation, Discovering Bali Arabica

Last week, a friend invited me to visit a coffee plantation in the Plaga area. The hook in the invitation: this coffee plantation existed before the ones in Kintamani. Without hesitation, I accepted.

Plaga is known for lending its name to a local wine brand. However, on the way to this area at the border of Badung and Buleleng regencies, I didn’t find a single vineyard.

The road to Plaga is often used as an alternative route to Lake Batur or Lake Bedugul, as it lies roughly in between. The journey passes popular Bali destinations such as the Sangeh Monkey Forest, Nungnung Waterfall, and Tukad Bangung Bridge, said to be the tallest in Asia, connecting two hills.

Meeting the Sudana Family

Upon arriving at the plantation, I was warmly welcomed by Pak Nyoman Sudana and his wife, Ibu Wayan Sari. In their modest home, I was immediately served coffee made from their own plantation. Even though I’m not a coffee expert, I found the flavor quite unique: a mix of fruity notes, palm sugar, and honey.

Soon after, Pak Nyoman left to return to work in the plantation. Since I intended to make a documentary video about Balinese coffee, I asked to accompany him. A rare opportunity, I thought.

Don’t imagine Pak Sudana’s coffee plantation like the neatly arranged coffee farms in Brazil or Kenya, similar to tea plantations. Here, the coffee farm looked more like a grassland in the middle of a forest. We had to walk along narrow paths between tall trees. Birds perched in the branches, filling the air with cheerful chirping.

How to Pick Coffee Cherries

Pak Sudana taught me how to pick coffee cherries. To get the best flavor, only fully ripe, dark-red cherries should be picked. Yellow or green cherries are not yet ready and won’t taste good.

Picking coffee also requires care and patience. Each cherry must be plucked individually so that unripe ones aren’t accidentally collected.

The Arabica coffee trees on his farm are decades old. While villagers in the area alternated between planting rice, oranges, and coffee, Pak Sudana maintained his coffee trees.

His love for coffee began in childhood, working as a caretaker for a Dutchman’s cows. Being offered coffee often introduced him to the beverage, and he eventually fell in love with it. He planted coffee on his father’s former rice field. His decision was considered unusual by his family, who preferred rice and fruit, but he didn’t mind.

A Balanced Ecosystem

My curiosity about why the plantation looked more like a forest than a farm was answered when Pak Sudana explained the concept of shade trees.

If coffee trees receive direct sunlight all day, they yield heavily with harvests every five months. The downside: the trees age quickly and rarely live beyond fifteen years.

With the shade-tree concept, coffee trees are harvested only once every eight months, but they can live over fifty years and continue producing fruit. The coffee quality is also higher, with a unique flavor.

Ibu Wayan Sari added that as farmers dependent on nature, they must cultivate various plants. “Want rice? We plant rice. Want fruit? Just pick it. Want coffee? We harvest the beans,” she said happily.

Empowering Farmers

Indonesia has the potential to be the world’s largest producer of quality coffee, but why are we only fourth, and why are farmers not prosperous? Ayu, the daughter of Pak Nyoman and Ibu Wayan Sari, asked.

Seeing this, Ayu Sudana, who had worked 12 years as a marketing manager in Dubai, returned to her hometown to introduce Plaga coffee to the world.

For decades, Indonesian farmers have struggled because their coffee passes through multiple middlemen before reaching breweries and consumers. It’s time for farmers and consumers to work together for fair trade.

For years, Pak Nyoman Sudana formed the Plaga Coffee Farmers Association, teaching organic, high-quality, sustainable coffee cultivation. His love for coffee keeps him passionate even in his old age.

Ayu Sudana imported a coffee roasting machine from the Netherlands with her own funds, so she could collect coffee from Plaga farmers, roast it, package it, and sell it directly to breweries and consumers. Farmers earn fair prices, and consumers get high-quality coffee straight from the source.

That afternoon, I was served coffee again. This time, it tasted slightly different. The finish had a strong honey aroma. Pak Sudana concluded: good coffee comes not only from excellent plants but also from proper processing.

As the sun began leaning west, I said goodbye and headed back to Denpasar. Ayu Sudana gave me a bag of the coffee I had just tasted. “So you’ll always remember us every time you drink coffee,” she said with a laugh.