Indonesia Grocery Store shopping for Tea


Five minutes from our hotel was this grocery store. 

This was the CoCo Market, https://cocogroupbali.com/

I always enjoy heading into local stores to see the tea and goodies they have to offer.


I ended up buying some instant mangosteen tea.  These became my new favorite fruit.  I had never had them before and I thought they were great.  My old favorite fruit used to be persimmons that I first had in Spain.

I also bought a Rosella instant tea and a ginger one.  All made in Indonesia.



mangosteen



The Bali Life Kombucha was very good, and only $2.05 a bottle.




I also bought Teh Botol by Sosro, a black tea - We had a refrigerator in our room, so I was able to keep it cold and enjoy it at the end of the day.  One place called it the national drink of Indonesia, lol.
They also have it Jasmine, but I didn't see it in Jasmine.


I also tried  Liang Teh Cap Badak herbal tea.
I put this cute little can in my suitcase to bring home to put with my Indonesia tea trinkets and it was missing when I got home.  Not sure if someone at the airport took it out, but I found it odd it was missing.
A traditional herbal refreshment drink intended to relieve "internal heat" (panas dalam), which can include symptoms like sore throats, dry throats, and mouth ulcers.


Lastly, I tried Cha Xiaokai (茶小开) brand bottled tea, likely the Osmanthus Longjing flavor.


Over all I enjoyed hunting down and trying some new teas while in Indonesia for a week.

They had a nice variety to select from....



I brought back the Kopi Luwak Chocolate for myself and my coworkers to try....

"Kopi Luwak chocolate typically refers to premium artisan chocolate bars infused with Kopi Luwak (civet) coffee, a rare coffee known for its exceptionally smooth, low-acid, and naturally earthy flavor profile.
Because the beans pass through the digestive tract of Asian palm civets, the natural enzymatic process breaks down bitterness and imparts robust, naturally occurring hints of dark caramel, spice, and cocoa. When blended with high-quality dark or milk chocolate, it yields a luxurious, deeply aromatic treat." from AI


I bought some Bali chocolates but I was not a fan...they add coco butter to it and it has this soft, almost waxy taste to it.



One morning I took the kids shopping here.  They each had $10 to spend.  They absolutely loved it!!



Durian, the stinky fruit!! In Malaysia the elevators in the hotel say, "No Durian allowed".

Durian 

The flowers of Indonesia are so stunning!


More sights on my way to the market.



Fish for sale



Don't be afraid to get out there and try new things...and new teas!






 

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Bali Starbucks - Hibiscus tea with raspberries


Starbucks was less than a 5 minute walk from my hotel.

This is one of my favorite stories from my trip...The traffic is crazy!  I was standing by the massage sign and 3 young gals were sitting there.  I said, "How do I cross."  thinking maybe there was a spot to stand or something.
They did not understand, so one went inside and brought out who I assume was their mom.  I asked her and she repeated it to her girls in Indonesian.  One of the young girls, probably not over 10, grabbed my hand and before I knew it she was running me across the street.  
When we crossed the street, we were both laughing. I looked at her and said thanks. And just like that she crossed back over.
Such sweet people of Indonesia!





I wanted to try some of their new flavors, but they were all out of the them.  He said that they sold out of the tea fast and he wasn't sure when they would get the ingredients in again.


Night one, I went easy on the food.  I ate at Starbucks.
I ordered a turkey and cheese croissant with purple sweet potato chips.
I ordered the Passion tea like I get at home, but here they added raspberries to it.  IT was very good.


I liked the addition of the fruit in the Hibiscus tea.  The staff was friendly and the place was very clean.




They had a few fun mugs.  I ended up getting the dark blue travel mug that said Bali.  I also brought some back for a co-worker.


I wanted to get a Bali mug, but they were out of that too.  They just had the small one.





Some of their fun food treats...




The evening was MUCH cooler to walk around in, lol!

















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D'Wan Tea Plantation, Bali's first tea plantation

We had one day off midweek on my mission trip. I knew right away what I wanted to do!!

I booked a driver and we drove over 2 hours to a tea plantation!

In Jatiluwah, at the foot of Mount Batukaru, D’Wan Tea was Bali’s first tea garden!


We drove up into the mountains to the D'Wan tea plantation.  

I used Get Your Guide, getyourguide.com to get our driver.  I was VERY pleased with the company and the driver.  He was friendly and helpful.  I would use this company again.

What people didn't tell me on line, was to get to the plantation you have to drive through the rice plantation and that cost money....think of it like going to a National Park in the states.  It cost about $3-$4 a person to enter.  It wasn't horrible, but it also was not expected either.

The drive was nice.  As we got higher in the mountains the roads got smaller and bumpier.  It reminded me of Africa...I was loving it!


Some people said on line that you need to walk up a hill to get to the house, but our driver just revved up the van and went for it!!!  It was super steep but we made it.


Once up at the house we looked around while Wawan D'Wan got out tea ready.
This was a dream some true for me.  I just was taking it all in.

There was tea out drying in thin baskets.


The views were incredible.



The house was very open and they had lots of seating spread around.

It is my understanding you can also stay here.  He also does large classes for tea too.




Won measured tea for us.

On line we were told we would get 4 teas and friend bananas.
We got 3 teas and no bananas.  However the price was only about $12 a person.





I was so excited about the tea tasting...and we did learn about the tea.  However, it was more about Wawan than his tea...


We started out with a white tea.





Then moved to a green tea.  I think I might have liked this one best.  That surprised me, I am not a big straight green tea fan, but this was good and not super grassy.











Lastly, we did a black tea.








He asked if we wanted lunch, we said no.  But, then they made it for us, so we felt guilty and ate it. 
 I felt a little like a bait and switch.  First it was telling us we would get more tea than we got, then it was the food.  However, we embraced it and went with it.
This was all part of the experience.  We were in his home, his staff made us lunch and we would eat and pay for it.  This was about $12 a person too.  
And the food was good too.  It was red rice, chicken, veggies, and tofu.


After lunch we went to see the tea and his tea drying room.




D’Wan Tea Plantation was the first tea plantation in Bali, I know I have said it before, but I find it really cool :)

  Wawan has 30,000 tea plants surrounding his home, that is also a guest house.  These plants are among all the native vegetation.

This tea plantation is in the Jatiluwah region. He started this plantation in 2011, bringing tea cuttings from China, Taiwan, and India.



I am just so excited to be here and get my tea picking basket to take home.
My basket was around $12 and it will be fun for me to use in my tea classes.





When I got there and I went to buy my basket, he did not seem to want to sell it. I had to remind him that he said he sell me one.  And I actually one for a friend, but decided it was best not to ask for another.  Even one of the guys on the trip wanted one, but his wife said, I don't think he will sell another one, lol.


This entire experience was so fun!  There were funny memories made, tea items learned, and cultural experiences I will never forget.


If you get the chance to experience cultural things, embrace it.  This was so unique and authentic, I just loved it.





I purchased one of his Oolong teas.








The bathroom was very rustic, but it did have running water.








I tried to watercolor my day....





Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 

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