What are you doing during vacation other than exploring the destination? Going shopping, of course! During your leisure walk, you can easily spot both local and designer shops selling varied beach wear and tourism knick-knacks, mostly consist of painting, an assortment of wood carvings, handicrafts, and unique snacks and treats.
These are common goods vacationers choose to bring back home for loved ones and themselves. However, Bali has more to offer rather than that, and if you are willing to go out of the box, you can have a lot more beneficial and meaningful goods to enjoy back at home.
Local Chocolate
Aside from the beach, this island is blessed with a mountainous area and high land, where the air is cooler and the soil is great for plantation. The land birthed a number of productive chocolate farmers and producers who are making quality chocolate. Seriously, the Balinese take their chocolate seriously, they are on different side of the spectrum with another local chocolate manufacturer in the industry.
Pod Chocolate, Uforia, and Big Tree Farms are among the most well-known. Moreover, they are incorporating local spices, fruits, and natural seasoning to make totally unique chocolate variants other than the classic milk and peppermint chocolate. Some of these chocolate makers also feature cafes and chocolate-making activities in their factory, so it’s worth a visit for either chilling or stacking up some ginger, pineapple, and sea-salt chocolate.
Balinese Coffee
Indonesia is one of the largest coffee producers in the world, and thanks to its vast archipelago, it produces many kinds of single origins, a variety of coffee with distinct characteristic according to climate and land of the island. Balinese Kintamani coffee is one of the most famous single origins, and it is available on both arabica and robusta. Kintamani’s arabican has a distinct medium body and fruity aroma, and light flavor, enhancing an exotic feeling.
Bali is also the home of the uber-famous Kopi Luwak or Civet Cat “poop” Coffee. The civet cat, fondly called as Luwak by the locals, is known to eat the ripest coffee fruits in the wild, but leave the coffee bean intact. Here’s what makes it unique; digestion enzymes in the civet cat will take away bitterness from coffee beans, leaving mild and smooth taste to the produced coffee. And this goodness is found among….civets’ poo. You might be freaked out, though, but you’ll be even more surprised to know that the price of a cup of Luwak Coffee is ridiculously high, especially overseas, and tastes really good too.
If you are a coffee enthusiast, stashing some packs of Balinese is definitely worth special space on your luggage.
Vegan Food Grocery
Starting small but growing rapidly, vegan food is blooming across Bali. Initially sprung to support lifestyles of the Brahmanas, high priest of Hindu in Bali, whose diet are strictly to vegetarian. Infused with international influence, Bali blossoms into a paradise of vegan and healthy living, and your body will thank you for bringing some of these goodness home. At lots of grocery stores and vegan restaurant and shops, you can easily find locally made muesli, granola, variety of nuts and seed, and other rare vegan complementaries that might only available in Bali such as shredded and dried coconut, vegan protein powders, peanut butters, exotic fruits butters and jams, sea salts, shredded carrots, and other heavenly materials which will satisfy your vegan lust.
Cheers to unusual goods!