A visit to the big house and an Indonesian company

While we were in Singapore I received an email invitation to attend a morning coffee event at the home of the US Ambassador to Indonesia. Don't get too excited. This wasn't a personalized invitation to me alone. This was an invitation to AWA members. It was limited to 75 ladies, however, so I quickly signed up. I did not know where the Ambassador lived so I asked for the information. I was told an email would go out shortly before the event. The day before the coffee I received an email telling me the address. You cannot find accurate information online for this sort of thing for obvious reasons. I learned that Mrs. Ambassador  (Sophia Blake) opens her home to AWA annually so next year I will know the address, and more importantly, our driver Pak Oky will know the address.

I should also mention how nice Pak Oky looked on this day. He'd gotten a fresh haircut and was in full uniform including shoes. As a general rule he wears sandals. He has a black uniform that he reserves for "special" driving days like this.

On arrival at the residence, armed guards checked for my name on the list of invited guests and allowed me to pass through the small door in the tall fence surrounding the compound. The entry door is just to the right of the pillar with the house number on it. A second guard took a peak in my purse and then pointed towards a covered walkway which led up to the house. At that point I just opened the door and walked right in.

It is a beautiful home but Mrs. Ambassador considers it just an extension of US soil. She invited all 75 of us to come over anytime we wish. If we all took her up on her offer, she might regret saying it, but she seemed very nice so...  The AWA President told me that Mrs. Ambassador invited her over to play tennis anytime she wants.

We had several speakers, one of which is a woman who started a company in Indonesia: Javara Indonesia. The company's mission is to "celebrate and keep alive Indonesia’s heritage of food biodiversity, indigenous wisdom & culinary tradition."  I later found out that a friend was aware of this company but most of my other friends knew nothing about it. We decided that day to visit this place the same week. 

We did just that on Friday last week. Side note: There was also a lunch involved at a sort of French cafe. Javara itself was not easy to find. The address listed is on a main road but the building itself is down an alley sized street off the main street, then you turn left and then left again in to the tiny parking lot. Driver Pak Oky was on the phone trying to find it and at one point I'm sure he thought the route was down an alleyway too small for a car because I heard him saying something about "mobil" (bahasa Indonesia for car).  I also saw his frustration as we passed the tiny alleyway and he was shaking his head. 

Javara sells a variety of products: coconut oil, coconut sugar, select coffees, teas, different rices, gluten-free flours based on rice and root veggies, root vegetable "pastas", the list goes on. The founder of the company said there used to be some 7000 types of rice grown in Indonesia and that some have been lost already. They work with 50,000 farmers of all types around Indonesia. They sell really interesting finishing salts. This one comes from Bali and is not yet available to purchase. The cubes are large (0.5 to 1 cm on a side) so you'd have to smash them to use them. 
 
They also sell pyramid shaped salt. This one also comes from Bali. Salt making is an art. I learned a lot during this visit. The woman who I believe is head of sales spent a lot of time having me taste things and explaining things. They sell two types of coconut oil, both of only the highest quality. One type is colorless and does have a coconut aroma. I myself would like this, but apparently the locals won't buy the colorless oil. In addition to the colorless oil, they sell a slightly yellowed oil. This is put into an evaporator with a little heat applied which removed the coconut aroma. 

I got a package of a specialty black rice. Lots of rice varieties to try. This black one is loaded with fiber.

They represent 7 different types of coffee so I bought 1 cup samples of 5 of them to try.  I did not buy their Kopi Luwak. { See previous posts about why I didn't buy that sample.} They sell a blue pea blossom tea which is best served iced. It is actually blue in color unless you squirt in some lime juice. With lime juice, it turns purple. I got two single serve packs of this to try.  I purchased some coconut sugar to try. It is supposed to be good in baked goods, coffee, etc. I will have to let you know. They have about a dozen different specialty honey varieties. My absolute favorite is Rambutan Blossom honey. It far surpasses my old favorite: Orange Blossom honey.  Javara exports 90% of their products, mostly to Europe. but you might look for it in the US. I also learned that a major hotel here has a weekly standing order for honey. I found the prices to be acceptable but for the average Indonesian, the prices would be considered high. That's the reason for the high export level. The founder says in part they are selling the story of preserving a heritage so it tends to sell better outside of the country.