This is the first dedicated exploration of the history and culture of coffee on the island of Java. From the early Dutch traders bringing coffee to Java from faraway lands, to the little-known monks of Rawaseneng producing their own prized coffee beans, readers are taken on a journey through the lush coffee-growing slopes of Java�s volcanic spine.





A Cup of Java is a brilliantly-edited taste of the exotic pleasing to the eye with its stunning archival and contemporary photographs and stimulating to the mind with its blend of daily rituals and mystical delights.





The creators of this photographic essay on coffee are eminently suited to writing about the subject. The publisher, Mark Hanusz of Equinox Publishing, is steadily building a reputation for publishing high- quality Indonesia-related titles. Moreover, he is a self-confessed addict, admitting to drinking up to six cups of coffee a day. His co-author Gabrielle Teggia, a native to Rome, is one of the founding partners of the Losari Coffee Plantation outside Semarang.





Together, they�ve produced the complete story of how coffee beans first journeyed to Java thanks to the cunning and swashbuckling guile of smugglers, how the Javanese learned to grow and trade some of the world�s most precious coffee varieties, explains coffee�s social and historical significance, describes the manufacturing process both traditional and modern - and also addresses how the industry has managed to survive to this day in the face of withering competition from other coffee producing areas around the world�s equatorial zone.





One chapter describes the epic journey of coffee seedlings from the Arabian peninsula to the Netherlands East Indies and the proliferation of plantations across the entire island. �Java Estates� focuses on several of Java�s more venerable plantations which still grow some of the world�s finest beans. Yet other chapters explore several of the island�s coffee roasters �big and small� which have brought fresh tastes to an eager market, and the role of coffee in Javanese culture and society.





As is the case with Equinox�s critically-acclaimed publication Kretek: The Culture & Heritage of Indonesia�s Clove Cigarettes (2000), the attractive visuals are the most impressive aspect of this book - packed with over 100 old lithographs, black and white vintage and contemporary photographs, as well as color prints of rare watercolor renderings of pickers, plantations, sorting sheds, drying drums, roasting machines, market scenes, coffee shops and stalls; bygone coffee tins, labels, advertisements, promotional posters and printed gunny bags of Java coffee.





As in Kretek, the book�s illustrations are a peculiar and fascinating collection of period and coffee-related artifacts, its pages encompass the entire history of coffee on Java, both its traditions and mystique.





A Cup of Java is the ideal historical and cultural primer on coffee from the island of Java and essential reading for any coffee connoisseur. As a sweetener, the main Periplus bookstores on Bali are offering a complete set of coffee cups and saucers with each book purchase.





A Cup of Java by Gabriella Teggia and Mark Hanusz, Equinox Publishing (www.EquinoxPublishing.com




Available for Rp149,000 at Periplus Bookshops in the Bali Galleria and in the Matahari in Kuta, Warung Made in Seminyak, Ngurah Rai Airport (both international and domestic terminals), Keris Gallery in Nusa Dua and in Gramedia bookstores.