Drift, Issue 9 – Bali

Coffee sits in the background of some of the most important moments in our lives: the first time we told new friends we’d like to get to know them better, a second date, a business meeting, a passion project completed, a time we caught up with long-lost loved ones after years apart. More than anything else, coffee is tied to a sense of place and a sense of community.
Drift is about coffee, the people who drink it, and the cities they inhabit. Our collection of writers and photographers, alongside coffee shop owners, baristas, streetcart vendors, and patrons, capture a glimpse of what it’s like to drink coffee in a city at the time the magazine is printed. Each issue highlights a different city.

It’s about wandering the streets aimlessly, cup of coffee in hand, and learning more about what a place has to offer, whether you’ve been there for 25 minutes or 25 years. Coffee helps us chart the geography of our cities. It’s about seeing those cities with fresh eyes, as visitors or long-time residents, and trying to understand what makes them tick.

In this issue:

Drift, Volume 9 takes a multi-faceted look at the coffee culture of Bali. Once a hideaway haunt for yogis and surfers, this tropical destination in the world’s largest archipelago nation has become a hotspot for a wide range of visitors, from coffee purveyors to nomadic techies and itinerant bon vivants. And the new global trade winds they bring to the Indonesian island offer fresh perspectives on its cash crop coffee, as well as an increasingly international sense of style. A burgeoning third wave of coffee has narrowed the proximity between coffee farmer and consumer in Bali, presenting new opportunities for collaboration and education—what one author posits as the fourth wave of coffee. But it also presents challenges, as the Balinese, steeped in local tradition and religious beliefs, are confronted with foreign money and interests. Drift Volume 9 examines these relationships, while taking readers all over the island to explore the temples and beans of the Kintanami highlands, to the highly designed coffee shops of Canggu and Ubud.

Drift, Bali includes:

• How the Balinese take their coffee—with everything from durian to egg yolks
• Photo essay of local baristas and their personal interests
• The influence of digital nomads and other expats on the coffee culture of Bali
• Explainer of “fourth wave coffee” and Indonesia’s Coffee Wheel
• How coffee shops in Bali are doing their part to alleviate the island’s waste crisis
• Balinese religion and how they need to be in balance with both gods and devils
• And much more..