Greetings from Bali…

Hope you guys are doing well!

Last week I was telling you about Bandung in West Java—a very surprising place. If you missed it, you can catch up here.

The journey back was almost as interesting as the journey there. Bondhan and I took the feeder train from central Bandung to the Whoosh station before catching the fast train back towards Jakarta and the airport.

The feeder train was pretty special. In fact, it took us to the most beautiful, cutest and most comfortable little train station I think I have ever seen. It was clean, modern, surrounded by green hills and somehow felt more like a boutique hotel than a railway station.

Then, of course, we got back on the Whoosh... and a Batik Airways flight back to Bali. But I have more to tell you about Bandung..

Tea in Punclut 

While in Bandung, we headed up into the surrounding mountains to an area called Ciumbuleuit—which I really don’t think I can pronounce properly. The locals call this leafy, elevated and rather posh area Punclut.

We happened upon a very cool taxi driver called Eco, who turned out to be an out-of-work actor. He said, “I’ll show you Punclut. It’s my local.” And he did. One of our missions in West Java was to find Indonesian tea - to add to our Mandala Leaves Tea Brand. So the plan was to visit some tea-blending companies. It turns out that tea blending here is a seriously artisan affair, and quite a few of these businesses operate in that posh area Punclut. 

Although “operate” might be stretching it a little. One company insisted that we first visit a special tea-tasting station before granting us access to their office. It was in a tree house, inside a rainforest, accessible only by a sort of vehicular railway. Well it was a bit of a waste of time.. but it was amazing.

After our tasting—and what I now realise was probably a kind of screening process to work out if we were serious buyers or just tourists wasting everybody’s time—we were granted access to the boss. 

This happened twice.

The serious tea buyer test

The second tea blender we visited was another wonderfully passionate artisan and huge tea enthusiast. He insisted that we meet in the garden of his villa first with his staff, and only invited us back once he knew we were serious. So the next day we sat at an old iron table beneath the leafy trees, while his pet cats rubbed against our legs. This is apparently how business is done in Punclut.

There are tea plantations and processing plants all over the surrounding mountains, some accessible only by long 4x4 drives up narrow tracks. Our blenders told us about exclusive arrangements with farmers growing rare and exotic strains of tea. And judging by the villas, there is definitely some money in tea.

We tasted one pure, unblended tea that our host was particularly proud of. It had a wonderful vanilla smell and tasted almost like raspberry. Naturally sweet. No sugar required. It was one of those moments when you remember that tea is not simply “tea”. There are so many varieties, growing conditions, traditions and techniques hidden inside that one little cup. West Java also has a rich botanical heritage, with many plants grown in the region later become essential oils or part of carefully developed blends. Tea and botanicals together create a very interesting blending culture. 

Eco knows everyone. The funny thing was that our out-of-work actor taxi driver, Eco, was actually an old friend of the tea blender. Of course he was.

By Friday night, Eco had also become our unofficial guide to Bandung nightlife, taking us into the Braga area.

With Bondhan and Eco our Actor / Taxi Driver friend. 

It was absolutely packed. There were youngsters dressed in cosplay outfits, more photo booths than I have ever seen in one place, and constant groups of friends taking pictures together. The hard rock subculture is also alive and well in Bandung. We found a bar with a lively band, and before long Eco and Bondhan were both up singing. Braga is lively but much more tame than any tourist areas you can think of in Asia. Here the people are polite and respectful, no-one is drunk, but everyone is taking photos and parading around. I liked it. In fact one thing I can report about Bandung:. Everyone is lovely: calm, sweet, helpful people. There are very rich and very poor in the city, we rubbed shoulders with both. Maybe because of this there are apparently pickpockets and petty thieves. Kind people kept telling us to be careful.. but honestly we didn't meet anyone who wasn't perfectly nice. We weren't cheated even once, even our taxi driver tried his best not to charge us. On the last day we had to argue just to pay.

I had thought we were on a serious sourcing trip. Apparently, I was wrong. There is still much more to report from Bandung, but it was a fascinating few days. We went looking for tea and came back with stories about rainforest tree houses, secretive blenders, mountain roads, cats, cosplay and hard rock karaoke. Not a bad result.

Meanwhile, our AW Grand World Tour Deals are rolling along through August, with total deep-dive discounts across the group.

So if you are planning your next order, do take a look and see what is available.

The trip to West Java reminded me again why I love this business. Behind every product there is usually a road, a person, a place, a story—and quite often a slightly unusual taxi driver who knows everybody.

That is the bit I absolutely love. More news from Bali soon.

Have a wonderful weekend.