Where in the world is Neil?: Coffee, Cloves and Rubber

After our Bromo climb, it was time to head back to a more gentile Java, the historical plantation area of East Java. Like Goldilocks, we found the perfect climate, not too Hot (the tropical lowlands), not too Cold (the high alpine volcanoes), just right (plantations at 700 metres elevation).

The familiar minivans took us to the scenic hills near the town of Kalibaru, and the lovely Margo Utomo Agro Resort. After our long travels, this seemed like absolute luxury. We checked into our comfortable fan cooled rooms, checked out the huge pool, and proceeded to really chill. A couple of the ladies indulged in spa treatments by the pool.

The open air dining area was very nice, and both Jack and I indulged in our first glass of wine on the whole trip (very expensive in Indonesia).

After lots of delicious Indonesian food on this trip, I decided screw it, I feel like some Beef Stroganoff. All I can say is mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!

The next morning, we were up to freshly made individual omelets, and something the Dutch girls (and the rest of us) have been craving… fresh cheese from the on-site dairy farm.

We then hopped into the minivans for a short drive to a plantation that was over 100 years old. It was very interesting, in that they grew, and processed, coffee, cloves, and rubber.

We wandered amongst the coffee and rubber trees, being shown how they tap and collect the rubber sap. It was then inside, to see how rubber sap is processed into the rubber we are familiar with. Unlike spices and coffee, this was all new to me, and quite interesting.

The first process is mixing the rubber sap with powerful acids. We were all a bit horrified to see the friendly workers doing this with their bare hands!

Processing rubber sap with acid

We saw less daunting processing and storage of the coffee and cloves. I got some excellent shots of the historical building interiors, complete with old machinery and signs.