INDONESIA - DAY EIGHT
MAY 23, 2024
Kali Klatak Banyuwangi Plantation
The Kali Klatak plantation has a land area of around 1013 hectacres, and is at an altitude of 450 meters above sea level.
This plantation was originally owned by Mij Moorman & Co, a Dutch company. In 1957 this plantation changed hands to a native entrepreneur named R. Soehoed Prawiroatmodjo.
The Kali Klatak plantation develops pepper, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, keninger, eucalyptus, coconut and fruits such as bananas and oranges. The main commodities from Kali Klatak include coffee, chocolate, rubber, cloves and spices.
Rubber tree
Nutmeg Tree
Cinnamon Tree
Of course….my favorite…..COFFEE! Robusta.
After seeing how cinnamon and rubber are extracted from a tree, we drove to the very tippy top point for a coffee and fried banana break, where we could look down across the whole plantation. I consider myself a coffee snob, not connoisseur as much as just particular. I have never had better coffee in my whole life, since I started drinking it in high school, than I have had in Indonesia. I am really going to miss this coffee.
After our coffee stop, we headed back down through worker housing to tour the rubber processing factory. I won’t explain this with accuracy, but will report what we observed. After collecting the white liquid, they bring it to this facility to make a tofu-like substance, which they then roll out into sheets and smoke. It smokes at different temperatures, increasing by the day. Then they press it out even more and fold several sheets up together into cubes and ship to France, where they make Michelin tires. Who knew, right? I hope you appreciate your tires!
I think if I understood correctly, here is where the liquid turns into a tofu-like substance.
It’s rolled out and smoked for several days.
This is where they hand sort coffee beans
After our tour, we were served a traditional Indonesian lunch by the plantation chef.
