‘Tea’ Tourism: Wonosari, East Java

Probably the only fluid I drink in copious amounts, hot or cold, is tea. If I was Dracula then it would be blood, but I am not Drac and so iced tea is the right deal. In Indonesia you will find several tea plantations and mostly in the hills regions.

The most famous of course being that of the Puncak region in West Java. Here, on the cool slopes, the bushes flourish. Two kinds of tea are produced here – black and green. There are a couple of tea plantations in the area. One is Gunung Gedeh Tea Estate and the other, Malabar Tea Estate.

If you head over to the opposite side of the island to East Java then you will come across a plantation in Wonosari on the slopes of Gunung Arjuno. Award-winning journalist Duncan Graham of Indonesia Now visited not so long ago and wrote an article on this fabulous attraction:

‘T’ is for tourism at tea plantation
Duncan Graham, Contributor, Wonosari, East Java

If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are too heated, tea will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited it will calm you.

That endorsement reads like a TV commercial jingle, but it has far more credibility. It was written by British prime minister W E Gladstone 140 years ago and the message seems to have held up, despite the jerky rhythm.

State-owned enterprises don’t have a good name for efficiency or productivity anywhere. And when the business is hospitality it would be reasonable to expect surly service and indifferent care.

So this column is happy to report that assumptions are no guide to practice, at least in the case of the Wonosari Tea Plantation and agro-tourism project.

More than 600 hectares of forest was cleared and planted with tea bushes on the slopes of Mount Arjuno about 30 kilometers northwest of Malang, East Java. That was early last century, and a few of the original trees are still alive.

During first president Sukarno‘s purge of the Dutch in the 1950s the plantation was one of the many foreign businesses confiscated and nationalized. Now it has the unlovely name of PTP Nusantara X11, which certainly doesn’t carry a memorable ring.

Conscious of this, the nimble-minded staff have named their retail products Rolas (Javanese for 12) thereby preserving the bureaucrats’ sense of importance while creating a marketable brand.

Apart from the overstaffing there are few reminders that this is a government business, though it wasn’t always like that. A few years ago the place looked unloved. It had notices forbidding photographs in the factory, apparently because it was feared spies would copy the technology.

As some of the equipment was installed by the Dutch in 1910 and is still in use the prohibition might indicate that industrial espionage was a hollow excuse. A more likely reason was public servants’ love of saying “DO NOT” rather than “WELCOME“.

Now the signs are cheerful and positive, the place looks well maintained and bright, even though, when The Jakarta Post visited, there’d been no rain for five months and water supplies were low.

“We have a new management team in place with a vision,” said Willy Franciscus, the plantation’s deputy manager. Although trained as a social scientist he’d previously worked as a tea taster before becoming an administrator.

“We want to create a proper museum illustrating the history of tea. We have such a long history here and I’m afraid we could lose it.

“A major problem is lack of water, largely caused by forest felling on the hills above. Now we’re planting 150,000 shade trees. We also want to make the place more interesting for guests.”

Each to his own, but for this visitor Wonosari is already packed with constructive and recreational activities. On the fun side there’s a big warm-water pool, mini zoo, playground, tennis courts and many other pastimes. For those who hate being out of the city there’s a karaoke lounge.

Educationally, it’s one big schoolroom, minus the whiteboard and pedant. You can walk around the plantation or be driven in an open carriage, rubber-tired train.

Puji Iskandar who has worked at the plantation for around 20 years heads the tourist part of the enterprise.

“Most Indonesians are happy just to look around, but foreigners always want to ask questions,” he said. “We have educational tours of the factory and explain the process. People can see tea bags being filled, and the packaging system.”

After the shiny green leaves have been picked they’re taken to “withering boxes” in the factory to be partly dried by hot air. Dry season production is about three tonnes of leaf a day — much higher during the wet.

The leaves are then chopped and fermented before sorting and further drying.

The old equipment from the Dutch era takes longer to process the tea, but the product tastes better, said Puji. About 95 per cent of the tea is exported in bulk and often blended with other leaves.

Lipton is the main buyer. The locally sold tea has a touch of vanilla added for taste.

Up to 8,000 people visit at weekends, with many staying overnight in cottages or hotel-style rooms. More accommodation is needed.

If you don’t like crowds go during the week when you’ll be sharing with a few business groups and school parties. You’ll also get a 20 per cent discount. It’s a great place to relax and enjoy the Javanese countryside, feel the cool and watch thousands of swiftlets darting across the tea bushes, feeding on insects.

The tea trees may have displaced teak, but the birds are benefiting: So can you.

(Wonosari is six kilometers west of the Surabaya-Malang road. Turn at Lawang, 30 kilometers north of Malang. Tel. (0341) 426032.)