Indonesia has coffee. Lots of kinds of coffee, and is known for the civet cat coffee (see http://indocivetcoffee.com/). Here it's called luwak and it's about $30 for a cup. Haven't tried it yet. Just some weird aversion to cat poop, I guess. I feel like I need to come clean, though. We've tried a number of local beans and a number of roasts.. but in my cupboard at the moment is Starbucks Kenyan beans. And I did buy them here. And they are cheaper than the local coffee. And, yes, I feel like I'm betraying the Indonesian coffee industry. Zeric likes the Merdika Aceh blend and some of the beans from Papua. I don't yell in the morning when he puts those in my cup.. though there were a couple of mornings where the consensus on the blend was (as my dad used to call it) "pipi de chat". That now has a whole new meaning with the civet thing.. but that's not what we were talking about. When the boxed milk overrides the flavor of the beans.. you realize it's a Diet Coke kind of morning.
The really great thing about this coffee production is the coffee culture here. There really are coffee shops all over the place [ehm, with free wifi]. It's GREAT. I can't say I've spent a ton of time in them, but in my own mind, I'm gonna. With a real book and everything. Someday.Did I mention that people take their coffee seriously here? We are missing what looks to be a very terrific coffee class this weekend because I will be in Yogyakarta buying silver things while mom buys batik (and we whizz by a few temples).
We also really rocked the kids' world when we ran across a bunch of coffee bushes up in Puncak a few weeks ago. What?! Coffee grows on trees? Imagine..
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Memere.. waaaaay off in the distance with more trees.
The final product, in Jakarta's Chinatown
So come, come have a cup of Java with us!
pipi de chat! i need to start using that one on a more regular basis.
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