One of the more interesting things I did on my holiday in Bali was a visit to a coffee plantation where they produce the most expensive coffee in the world. This place was amazing. They also produce cocoa and vanilla beans and cinnamon and heaps of other spices and herbs which they use to make all kinds of products. 

The coffee is very expensive because it has to go through a civet's digestive system before they can process it into a very amazing roasted coffee blend.

These are the civets kept in very large cages at the plantation (they have about a dozen cages with two or more coffee bean munching tenants in them).

Yes, the civets eat the red berries and digest them and poop them out. The poop is then collected and washed and the beans are processed in several stages (to cleanse and sterilize) then roasted before they are packed and ready to be sold.

These are the berries that are fed to the civets which they are very particular about..they only eat the very best and leave the dodgy ones behind.

These are the coffee beans that have been pooped out and most of the poop already washed off....they go through several cleaning processes before the beans are roasted.

This is the final product ready to be roasted and packed for sale.

The Balinese call it Kopi Luwak and when you go to this plantation you get to have a tiny little cup to taste for a mere 50,000 rupiahs ($5.00) while the cocoa and other teas and coffees are free to taste. 

These are the little coffee tasting parlors where this lovely girl serves up little cups of all their coffees and teas for you to taste.  The only one you have to pay for is the "pooped up" coffee because it is very expensive.

Kopi Luwak is what I would call an acquired taste, once you get over the fact that it was produced from pooped up beans, it actually tastes incredible.  Their cocoa is also superb as is the ginseng coffee and I loved the lemongrass tea.

They have a shop in the premises where they sell all their products and I bought a few packets of lemongrass tea which supposedly helps keep you nice and slim.  I also bought some packs of vanilla bean pods and some cinnamon quills which smelt so heavenly. 

I also tried their aloe vera lotion which was amazing and bought just a few little bottles for myself and as gifts for some of my friends.

I didn’t buy any Kopi Luwak because I wasn’t sure they would allow them into Australia.  Sure enough I was asked at customs whether I had any and I’m glad I didn’t because they were super expensive.

I dont know why but I am having the worst time uploading these pics. This post took more than an hour to do and it became very frustrating.  I have heaps more pics to share but not sure I wanna go through this every time.