In search of the perfect cup...Indonesia Day 2

Day 2: March 21, 2009

My mom and I arose at 7:00am, we walked for about 30min through the garden, met a tea garden manager, saw some people plucking the leaves, chemical and pesticide free areas, and new sapling tea plant growing areas. They use the leaves from a palm tree to mulch the area around the new saplings to protect them from weather and bugs. Strategically located throughout the garden are tall trees. These trees are allowed to grow during the summer to provide the tea plants with the necessary shade and in the rainy months they are cut back to allow more sun.

After hiking through the garden we reached the river and the waterfall. It was beautiful and such a fun experience to have breakfast there. Along the walk we were able to see a few eagles and monkey (it was black and had a white belly) hanging from the tree. It was really cool and I was glad that it was so remote. After eating breakfast we went and saw the hydropower dam which supplies electricity to their factory and the houses in the village.

My mom and I were asked to plant a tree in memory of our visit. They ask all visitors to do this as a way of giving back to nature. I hope to see it as a grown tree someday! After planting the tree we were taken to the factory and participated in a professional tea cupping and tasting. This was a great experience learning how to taste tea and cup tea. After tasting the tea, we suited up to go into the factory. We had to remove our shoes and use some special flip flops. It was really cool seeing the machines that dry, fire, roll, and sort the leaves. There was one machine that sorted one type of tea into different grades ranging from premium quality to fannings/dust. Upon completion of the factory tour we grabbed our stuff and headed back to Jakarta thus ending my first plantation tour.

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