After I left Munduk, my next stop was Ubud, a town in south-central Bali that dates back to the eighth century, its name deriving from the Balinese word ubad, 'medicine'. Ubud has long been popular with the backpacker circuit and expats and there are as many yoga studios, co-working spaces and brunch spots as temples these days.
During my recent trip to Bali, I spent four days in and around Ubud. After the peaceful surroundings of Munduk Moding Plantation, the hustle and bustle of Ubud was a shock to the system, but I dived straight into exploring the town's specialty coffee shops and roasteries. The places listed are within 15 to 20 mins' walk of the centre. I have a separate post about the other things I did in Ubud, but read on to find out about my coffee experiences.
A few months ago, I received a dream work invite — to a meeting in Bali. I flew out 10 days early to take some much-needed holiday before the work part. After several weeks of intensive research into where I should go and what I should do, one place emerged as my top priority: Munduk Moding Plantation, a beautiful resort and coffee farm in the mountains of north Bali.
As regular readers know, my family hail from the Black Country. I've spent even more time in Wolverhampton over the past two years since Wolves tickets became easier to obtain. When I've needed a coffee stop, I have tended to break my journey in Birmingham, visiting spots like Quarter Horse and Faculty. Perhaps Wolverhampton specialty coffee spots are like buses because two of them have now come along in quick succession.
Another two months have passed (how?!), which means it's time for my bimonthly book recommendations. I read 19 books in July and August, taking my total for the year to date up to 78. I enjoyed so many of the books I read over the past two months and it was really hard to select just five favourites...but here they are.
There are a whole host of excellent specialty coffee shops in the City of London these days but somehow it's taken me a decade to visit Host Cafe, which opened up inside the Church of St Mary Aldermary in 2012. In my defence, it's closed at weekends and I'm blessed with very few free weekdays in London. And when there's been a church on the site for over 900 years, what's another few months?
I never could get the hang of Wandsworth. Like Southwark, it's a London borough and a district, which confused me. In any case, that part of south-west London is poorly connected to my part of south-east London. This is a long-winded way of saying that it's taken me longer than it should have to visit Story Coffee's Wandsworth location. But I'm very glad I did!
