After an incredible six months travelling around six major tea-producing countries, gaining great exposure to the tea manufacturing process, plantation operations and participating in auctions, I headed to the last and final stop of my tea training trip: Indonesia.

Now, there was something a bit different about this trip for me. After six months travelling alone, I was meeting my boss, the Head of Tea at Taylors, Ian. I was really excited about seeing a friendly face and travelling with a colleague to see how he worked at the plantation level and the oportunity to learn from him. It would also give me the chance to see if I'd been doing it all right or all wrong for the last six months!

It was both Ian's and my first time in Indonesia and an opportunity to really learn as much about the coutry, the people and the tea industry as possible. We started our journey in Jakarta, on the island of Java, home of the Indonesia Tea Auction, which takes place every week.

After visiting the auction we set off on what was to be a 2,000km round trip to east, central and western Java, visiting seven tea factories across three districts. Java is dotted with both semi-active and dormant volcanoes, resulting in rich volcanic soils that are really fertile. Indonesia first struck me as a really innovative place that's making full use of its natural resources. In addition to tea growing, Java also grows plenty of rubber, coffee and cocoa. They also harness the underground geo-thermal energy from volcanoes and convert it into domestic power, like the picture below.

At the factories, Ian and I did lots of work to understand the manufacturing style in Indonesia. We made many more contacts, helping to build good, face-to-face relationships with producers there that will hopefully go from strength to strength. Just the way we like to do business.