De Karanganjar Koffieplantage — Attraction in East Java

What an amazing two weeks we have had doing a Workaway at this plantation! Such great experience and many friendships formed through our time here. We felt very supported and it was clear at all times what work we were doing and when we were doing it.

The people that work here and live around here are amazing, friendly people who are always smiling and laughing, we were made to feel at home by every single employee here, and feel like a part of the beautiful family feeling the plantation has.

The tasks that we were involved in varied from picking the coffee beans, to roasting the coffee, to cupping coffee to test the quality/taste. As coffee lovers, it’s such an interesting and inspiring experience to see the process from the beans all the way to the cup!

Blitar itself is a small city with beautiful and rich history, which we were able to learn about from the CEO Wima, and many of the family and employees. The plantation also has a Museum, which showcases parts of Blitar history, and the family who own and run the plantation.

We also had a special tour to Mount Kelud which we chose to walk the whole way, which was a breathtaking experience in itself and we are so grateful for the opportunity the plantation presented to us. We were also involved in a beautiful coming together of students from all over Indonesia who study at Surabaya university, which felt like a special festival with lots of music and dancing put together by the plantation, which was definitely a highlight for us and was so much fun.

Thank you so much, De Karanganjar, for the amazing experience we will never forget, we hope to return to...

Accessibility 4/5, attractions 3/5, amenities 3/5, food/drink 3/5. This tourist location was previously the owner's house, processing factory, warehouse and office of a coffee plantation owned by the Harta Mulia Company. This company was formed to manage the “Karanganyar” coffee plantation in 1960 after the cultivation rights of the previous plantation land were nationalized under the Indonesian agrarian law. After changing leadership several times, the family that owned shares in this company changed the main location to a tourist area as a diversification method to maintain the assets. This location offers several attractions in the form of the main building, which is a kind of museum, highlighting one of the rooms, said to have been used by the President of the Republic of Indonesia to rest when he visited the plantation in 1957. Apart from the main building attraction, there is also another museum containing a collection of clothes, medallions, musical instruments and weapons, specifically the Javanese traditional blades (keris) that are in the collection of the 20th Regent of Blitar, Herry Noegroho, who is the son of the late owner of this plantation. Overall, this tourist attraction is limited in presentation and does not provide a specific experience. Visitors are charged an entrance fee used as a voucher to be consumed at the café. Parking fee is not included. The food and drinks at this café are relatively ordinary and the coffee beverages -part of the main menu- were not well curated. Overall experience is...

Don't forget of visiting this place if you are in East Java. Blitar is not a foreign touristic city (although it has a lot of local tourism) but for me this is the best thing that it has. It is not a crowded place so you can visit it without the stress that has other big cities. Karanganjar Koffieplantage is an amazing place, very quiet and peaceful. All the gardens and the plantation are nice to visit. And the whole place is very beautiful. Besides you can find a small museum about the history and the culture of the area where you can see ancient objects and know about their interesting story. Don't forget of visiting the main house of the plantation (nowadays more a museum than a house), the most elegant place of Karanganjar. You're gonna realize of the huge history that there is behind this plantation and its family. Some of the workers will explain you everything with more detail. And finally you have a restaurant and a cafe for eating or drinking something while you relax. The waiters are nice people! And some of the foods amazing (please try the chocolate and cheese waffle!). And what about coffee? You can find a huge number of options. From the purest robusta or the special robusta of the plantation to outstanding arabicas from all over the country (Sumatra, Bali, Papua, other parts of Java...). And of course you can choose between a lot of different methods. If you are a coffee lover you'll get crazy. I highly recommend visiting this site. The entry is so cheap and what you learn and...