"Welcome to Five Senses Coffee"

We’re very excited about this Direct Trade shipment from Bali. After a three year ‘apprenticeship’ in understanding the region and the people, we think this year’s crop will be the big pay off! Special prize to anyone who can pick out the 250 grams of coffee that was picked by our Bean Counter (that joke just keeps getting funnier!), Jason Gray.

This year’s crop is divided by cultivar and farmer, is all packed in GrainPro bags and comes from our two favourite Subak Abians (co-ops), Ulian Murni and Kerta Waringin. This separation of the crop allows us to work out exactly which cultivar works best in the region and also which farmers are doing the best job. Some of the lots are as little as a few 60kg sacks, which requires a lot of micro-management along the production trail, especially in an industry that tends to talk in tonnes and shipping containers!

There are plenty of roasters who are proclaiming to be involved in Direct Trade, despite the fact that they don’t actually go to the countries of origin and don’t deal direct with the farmers. I think we have good reason to be proud of our efforts in Bali. We’ve overcome a few obstacles and we’ve achieved our two main objectives:

- paying the farmers a premium price for their efforts, and
- working actively with the farmers to improve their coffee.

We hope to be involved in the area for many years to come, and it’s fair to say we get as much from the experience as the farmers do!

As a weird coincidence, our two favourite Balinese baristas, Komang and Gede, are due to fly over to Perth for an intensive week’s training and will arrive on 19 November. We met Komang and Gede during our June visit, where we conducted lots of barista training in the Ubud region. There’s an old saying that the coffee you drink gets worse the closer you get to a coffee growing region and that holds true in most origin countries. We’re hoping to make Kintamani an exception to the rule.

Komang in particular is a natural and he picks things up incredibly quickly. His dosing and tamping is absolute best practice, despite the pretty ordinary equipment he has to work with in Bali. I can’t wait to see his improvement after a week’s training at the Barista Academy and down at the roastery. Gede (yes, pronounced G’day!) hasn’t received as much training but makes up for it with sheer enthusiasm and won’t be far behind.

Our plan is to run this scholarship each year and bring over two budding baristas as part of our commitment to the region. It won’t be long before you will be able to drink world class Balinese coffee in Bali, made by talented local baristas. Now that’s a coffee that’s going to leave a great taste in our mouths for a whole bunch of reasons!