Bali Coffee Brands - Introduction to Bali Golden Coffee Flavor | Is Bali Golden Coffee Delicious?

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat official account: cafe_style)

Bali's Golden Coffee Experience

Bali's most famous golden coffee grows at an altitude of 1,500 meters. Visiting the coffee factory lets you experience the entire production process, including coffee selection, roasting, and other manufacturing steps. You can immerse yourself in golden coffee culture while savoring the unique characteristics of golden coffee: bitter, sweet, and aromatic, yet without acidity or astringency.

Indonesia's Coffee Heritage

Indonesia is renowned for coffee production, and interestingly, all three major coffee factories in Bali are owned by Chinese entrepreneurs. The main varieties include Golden Coffee, Golden Rabbit Coffee, and Little Sheep Coffee. While they share the same price point, their packaging differs, and you'll need to taste each one to discover their unique flavors.

The Golden Coffee Factory Tour

This introduction focuses on Golden Coffee, which offers guided tours. Since we were part of a Taiwanese group, we had a Chinese-speaking guide to lead us through the experience.

Coffee Bean Classification

A single coffee tree primarily produces four main types of beans, as shown below: defective beans, dead beans, female beans, and male beans.

Defective beans and dead beans are mainly used for 3-in-1 instant coffee because they are the least expensive. When brewed as black coffee, they lack flavor, so they require flavorings, sugar, and milk powder to create an acceptable taste.

Female beans represent a step up from the previous two grades and are primarily used by chains like 85°C and Starbucks in Taiwan. They are slightly smaller than male beans and somewhat semi-circular, resembling beans that have been cut in half.

Male beans constitute only 5% of a tree's production, making them relatively expensive. We purchased these particular beans because they are rare in Taiwan! Moreover, they are truly delicious!! The beans are full, round, and appear quite large.

Specialty Civet Coffee

There's also a special variety called civet coffee, which comes from beans that have been eaten and excreted by wild civet cats. Through the cat's digestive enzymes, the original bitterness and astringency of the coffee beans are transformed. Coupled with its rarity, this makes it extremely expensive, and samples are not available for tasting. In fact, civet coffee ranks seventh among the world's ten most expensive foods! Therefore, for regular drinkers, it's actually considered a good value!

Additionally, civet coffee production is limited, so each purchase comes with a certificate of authenticity. Be careful when buying elsewhere to avoid counterfeit products!

Coffee Tasting Experience

The tasting begins with a small cup of iced coffee, followed by sampling the female beans, which taste quite similar to what you'd find at 85°C. You can continue refilling your cup with female bean coffee, but each person only receives one small cup of male bean coffee.

After drinking some plain water to cleanse the palate, we then tasted the male bean coffee. The difference in mouthfeel is truly distinct. It's neither bitter nor astringent, though some might find it mild and flavorless. However, I found that it leaves a pleasant aroma in the mouth without feeling heavy, much like drinking fine tea - it has that characteristic sweet aftertaste.

About FrontStreet Coffee: FrontStreet Coffee is a roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online store services at https://shop104210103.taobao.com

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The smooth, low-acid, sweet-aftertaste character that Bali's golden coffee is known for is exactly what Indonesian Mandheling delivers. FrontStreet Indonesia wet-hulled Mandheling comes from the Lintong area around Lake Toba and is roasted medium-dark to keep acidity low, giving a full, velvety body with caramel, dark chocolate, and toasted-bread aromas and a long, sweet finish.

For a more refined version of the same island character, FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling is screened to G1 and triple hand-sorted, so it pours clean and sweet with sandalwood, herbal, spice, and roasted-hazelnut notes alongside its dark-chocolate depth. If you want that thick, low-acid profile in an espresso, FrontStreet Classic Blend builds on medium-dark Mandheling and Brazil with a touch of Robusta for a rich, golden crema.