IO – When speaking of tourist destinations in Magelang City, Borobudur shouldn’t be the only topic, as there are many other interesting places to visit with the family. Having cool air is the most important part in determining where to visit in Magelang City but if you want a luxurious and calm place to stay in the city, MesaStila Resort & Spa could be the right place.
MesaStila Resort & Spa offers a unique experience, as during your stay on the 22-hectare resort, you can experience what it feels like live like a king. The resort is surrounded by eight iconic Central Java mountains, which in itself is enough to bring in many visitors. Other than offering beautiful scenery, the resort, which is located in Grabag Losari Village, is rich with historical artifacts leftover from the times of colonization by the Netherlands, such as seen by the receptionist room which was previously Mayong Station in Jepara. In 2001, MesaStila Resort & Spa moved the building from Jepara to Losari.
“This is originally from Mayong in Jepara, to here (Magelang),” said a MesaStila Resort & Spa staff when greeting visitors.
I made sure to explore MesaStila before staying the night as all the buildings in the resort were unique and dominated by teak, including the villa owned by MesaStila. Where ever you stand, the background of the villas in MesaStila are filled with mountains and trees.
In line with the beautiful scenery and unique buildings, MesaStila also has several spots made to be photographed, such as trees decorated with lights to unique gapura gebyok (traditional wooden carved doors).
Tasting Coffee
The best part of MesaStila is the joining of the natural panorama and Robusta coffee plantation at 680 meters above sea level. Visitors can explore the coffee plantation and observe the manual coffee processing methods used in the plantation.
“One of the highlights of this resort is the coffee plantation tour. We will invite tourists to walk around the coffee plantation, explain which coffee beans are suitable for harvesting, the process of seeding fertilizers for coffee trees, to directly serving the coffee,” said Rizal, one of the resort employees.
Robusta coffee is famous for its strong aroma and reduced acidity while still having a thick body like Arabica, characteristics which are not only suitable for daily consumption, but also make it viable as a commodity.
The MesaStila plantation also uses cross-grafting techniques on Robusta and Arabica, or Robusta with Arabica. The technique is helpful for farmers who do not have large amounts of land.
The harvesting process is fast, at only three years after grafting, as they do not start from seeds, but rather from the tree trunks of grown coffee plants. So far, the plantation has harvested coffee twice from the results of cross grafting.
Unfortunately, the coffee grown and produced is not sold freely on the market but rather is only for guests who stay and tour participants. MesaStila sells the coffee in pouches or kanting. (Pramitha Hendra)