The volcanic eruption of Gunung Agung in 1963 all but destroyed coffee cultivation in the Kintamani highlands of Bali. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Balinese government began a program to supply coffee seedlings to local farmers and now the growing area in Bali is estimated at 7,500 hectares. Coffee farmers in Kintamani are organized through a spiritual/agricultural group known as Subak Abian. This organization is founded on the Hindu philosophy of “Tri Hita Karana” (meaning the three causes of happiness), the relationship of the individual to God, to other men, and to his environment.

Pesticides are never used on coffee farms in Bali, and all the fertilizers are 100% organic. Bali Kintaman is a fully wet-processed coffee. In addition to organic farming methods, the farmers also use shade trees such as Erythrina, Albizia, Tangerine, and Orange, which have been found to improve both the yield and cup quality. This results in a clean cup unlike traditionally dried Sumatra coffee, while retaining the deep dark, almost black essence of the volcanic soil. BTW in my opinion, this is the most extreme coffee of 2010, due to it's amazing forward dried-fruit aroma and flavor, combined with the heavy punch of Indonesian volcanic flavor!