It’s Coffee Making Time in Ubud: Workshops at Seniman

Ahhh, the heady aroma and strong flavour of coffee…who can resist a good brew? Getting a good cuppa in Ubud isn’t that hard – not if you’re looking at the right places. Make your way to Seniman, where there’s something for everyone – whether you’re a caffeine addict who can’t do without your daily espresso shot, or an aficionado with a thirst for discovering more about coffee…

seniman coffee

Along Jalan Sriwedari lies Seniman Coffee Studio – a stylish cafe buzzing with a good crowd, lively vibes and the irresistible aroma of coffee. There’s two parts to the coffee lab: the first is a café with indoor, outdoor and air conditioned seating areas, while the second is a cold brew bar located across the road from the café.

In the former you’ll be able to catch Seniman’s skilled baristas in action as they serve up cup after cup of aromatic brews, while the latter displays a collection of cold brew coffee, coffee making equipment and a small seating area. It also doubles up as the venue for Seniman’s coffee workshops.

Choices are aplenty on the menu – you’ll find a good selection of beverages, as well as desserts and savoury mains listed. But the stars of the show are the coffee beverages, and you’ll find syphon, pour-over, Chemex and Aeropress varieties made with single-origin coffee beans sourced from Indonesia, Africa, and South and Central America at Seniman.

seniman coffee outdoors


Learning about coffee making… 

You get to do more that enjoying a cup of coffee or two at Seniman. Take your love for the beverage to a whole new level by trying your hand at making your very own coffee, or delving deep into the processes of roasting and cupping coffees.

Giving espresso making a go…

It was probably a good idea to start my morning with an espresso making workshop – the heady aroma of the coffee beans certainly jolts one into an alert state within a matter of minutes. And even if it doesn’t, the coffee tasting that follows during the workshop is sure to provide the caffeine needed for an energy boost.

Alit, my instructor for the day, started off the workshop by showing me coffee beans that had been processed in different ways, such as semi-washed and fully washed beans. He then went on to explain about the processes and elements of espresso making.

seniman coffee workshop

The art and science of espresso making…

Espresso making is a complicated subject. It’s both an art and a science – the ‘art’ aspects being the tasting and appreciation of the differences in flavours, and the ‘science’ being the precise techniques and timing required to optimise the extracted shot.

We started off the workshop with tasting espresso made from different grind sizes, timings and roasts. A range of tasting terms, such as acidity, body, sweetness and aroma are used to describe the flavours. At most times the differences were subtle and hard to detect with my untrained palate (particularly when it’s used to milk coffee beverages). It was only when Alit “divided” a single espresso shot into five glasses – each one containing espresso extracted at different timings of the process – that the differences in flavours became much more obvious.

seniman coffee ubud

The elements that make up a perfect espresso shot…

In between the tasting and espresso making, I learnt about the key elements of espresso making. A few factors come into play when it comes to optimising the extracted shot: the grind sizes, water pressure, temperature, timing and tamping technique. Precision is key, and much practice goes into making the perfect shot – one that offers a good balance of body and bitterness, yet retains the sweet and fruity flavours of the coffee.

The highlights…

I liked that the workshop offered a good balance of theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience. Alit shared detailed information about the espresso making process and let me try my hand at espresso making several times. We also tried espressos made from different coffee roasts so I could learn to discern the subtle differences in flavours.

It was also interesting to learn about coffee beyond espresso making. Alit went on to explain the various degrees of roast, pointing out the differences in the appearance and flavours of the beans between light, medium and dark roasts. He also showed me different types of equipment used for home brewing coffees, and gave a brief explanation into the process of using each equipment.

seniman coffee workshop

What’s next?

It was a fun and fascinating experience, so you can be sure I’ll be signing up for other workshops from Seniman. In fact, I’ve got my eye on the cupping, roasting and home brewing courses, so it looks like I’ll be making regular appearances at the coffee studio soon…


seniman coffee bar

Wanna give coffee making a go?

Check out the following workshops:

  • Homebrewing: Gain practical knowledge and instruction to improve your coffee making skills. Learn about different home brewing methods like the pour-over, chemex, aeropress, syphon, french press and Bialetti moka stove pot
  • Roasting demonstration: Get in-depth insights into the roasting process of coffee beans – starting from the philosophy, to the equipment, techniques and roasted beans.
  • Cupping: Get a feel of what it’s like to evaluate the quality of coffees using standardised industry techniques.
  • Espresso Intro: A simplified introduction to espresso making.
  • Milk and latte art: Learn the techniques of steaming milk, as well as creating simple and complex latte art.

Details: IDR 250,000 per pax. Workshops are conducted in English or Bahasa Indonesian, and are taught by the head roaster or head barista at Seniman. Reservations must be made 24 hours in advance, and confirmed with a 50 percent deposit.

Duration: 1.5 hours

Contact for reservation: ardy@senimancoffee.com

Related: Chocolate in Bali: The Complete Guide for a Chocolate Holiday


See our villas in Bali. Selected and inspected by Villa-Finder.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.