After our stay in Ubud we went farther north to Gobleg. Our next destination was Munduk Moding Plantation where Bali’s skies blend with the water of their infinity pool, the Bali sea and the towering volcanoes in Java where nature creates art. Incomparable views serenaded by birdsong and a choir of crickets. A hideaway nestled in a working coffee plantation surrounded by jungle. Here the real Bali is alive. I’m so glad we decided to go to this hidden place and I got to explore another side of Bali. The location was just breathtaking, the food incredible and the staff very friendly. We stayed at a villa, nestled into the jungle and surrounded by the resorts’ own coffee plants. This atmosphere changed my mind and I felt finally welcomed on the island.

The plantation grows different coffee beans, herbs and spices, pineapples and several other fruits. The highlight is definitely the coffee. Munduk Organic Coffee Plantation was established by a Balinese and European team working in partnership to bring back high quality coffee to Bali’s central hills region, thereby generating good incomes for farmers, protecting the environment, supporting the local Community while making exceptional coffee. We got the chance to met with the owner and he showed us the local coffee production area. I’m a huge fan of coffee and when we got the chance to meet the owner and pay a visit to the local production area I didn’t hesitate to take the offer. We learned a lot about the different types of coffee plants and the special wild “luwak” coffee. This is the world’s rarest coffee made from coffee beans that have passed through the digestive tract of a luwak fox. The foxes eat red coffee beans as an element of their diet which otherwise consists of ripe fruits such as banana, papaya and sometimes bird and chicken. Some beans are found on the plantation as well or around the neighboring land and collected by the team. Make sure the beans were collected from wild foxes in a jungle area and avoid buying from farms who sell this form of coffee from caged animals! We do not want to support this so I preferred paying almost twice the price compared to the caged ones.

Munduk Moding Plantation offers a few other activities if you decide to be more active. Snorkling, horseback riding and traditional cooking classes are offered as well and we decided to take the cooking class. We made a green papaya soup “Gedang Mekuah”. I will share the recipe and how we cooked it as authentic as possible in a separate post.

After a wonderful few days we had to leave this hidden paradise and left Bali. Our next and last stop on this trip was Singapore.