Arak, Tuak, Loloh and Es Kuwud: The Drinks of North Bali and Where to Try Them

Bali's north coast makes its own drinks from its palm trees, its coconut groves and its hill farms. The Balinese drinks to know start with tuak, the palm wine, and arak, distilled from it on the Tejakula coast. In Tembok, the two are shared over news and friendship, the way coffee is shared in a French café.

A cream ceramic bottle of Arak Bali carved with a Balinese face, with a printed label and tag
A cream ceramic bottle of Arak Bali carved with a Balinese face, with a printed label and tag. Photo: Li Tsin Soon / CC BY-SA 2.0.
On this page
  1. In Brief
  2. North Bali Drinks at a Glance
  3. Arak Is Palm Wine Distilled Through Bamboo Pipes
  4. Arak Became Legal in 2020, and a Legal Bottle Shows It
  5. The Danger Is Methanol, in Illicit and Adulterated Spirits
  6. Tuak Is the Palm Wine Behind Arak
  7. Loloh Is the Balinese Word for Jamu, the Herbal Drinks
  8. Es Kuwud and Rujak Yeh Kuwud Are Buleleng's Coconut Drinks
  9. Coffee Is the Drink You Will Be Offered Most
  10. Where to Try the Drinks in the North
  11. Practical Notes
  12. FAQ
  13. Sources

In Brief

The Balinese drinks of the north come from the lontar palms of the Tejakula coast and the coffee slopes of Munduk.

Arak is Bali's traditional spirit, distilled from fermented palm sap. It is legal to produce and sell under a Bali governor's regulation. Legal bottles carry a food and drug agency (BPOM) registration and an excise stamp.

The safety rule is simple. Drink arak only from sealed, labelled bottles or at reputable licensed venues. Home-made and adulterated spirits in Indonesia have caused deadly methanol poisoning, and symptoms can appear hours after drinking.

Tuak is the palm wine that arak is distilled from. Loloh is the Balinese word for herbal jamu. Rujak yeh kuwud is a Buleleng coconut-water drink made on the days families cook lawar.

North Bali Drinks at a Glance

  • Arak: Distilled palm spirit, legal under Bali Governor Regulation 1 of 2020
  • Safe arak: Sealed bottle, BPOM registration, excise stamp, alcohol content and producer on the label
  • The danger: Methanol in illicit or adulterated spirits. Get medical help fast if you suspect it
  • Tuak: Palm wine from coconut or lontar sap, and the base for arak
  • North Bali's arak villages: Les and Tembok, on the Tejakula coast, tap lontar palms
  • Loloh: Balinese herbal drinks (jamu), such as loloh cemcem
  • Rujak yeh kuwud: Coconut water with galangal, a home drink from Buleleng
  • Coffee: Arabica and robusta from the Munduk highlands, served at warungs as kopi selem, black coffee
  • Arak Bali Day: 29 January

Arak Is Palm Wine Distilled Through Bamboo Pipes

Arak is the clear spirit of Bali, made by distilling tuak, palm wine.

The sap is tapped from the flower of a palm and left to ferment. It is then boiled, so the vapour runs through bamboo pipes and condenses as arak.

The palm differs by village. In Tri Eka Buana in Sidemen, Karangasem, one of the best-known arak villages, the base is coconut sap, according to Bali's provincial cultural inventory. In the villages of Buleleng's Tejakula coast, the base is the sap of the lontar palm.

How arak is made in Les

Les is a village in Tejakula district. A 2023 report in tatkala.co followed the process there, at a kitchen called Dapur Bali Mula.

Farmers climb the lontar palms every day to collect the sap. It ferments overnight with coconut fibre, and the tuak is then boiled over a wood fire for four to five hours.

The first drops come off strongest. A batch runs from about 60 per cent alcohol down to 20, when the distillers stop and sort the arak into jars by strength.

Arak is also sacred

Arak is poured as tetabuhan on the ground offerings, segehan, made to the lower forces at ceremonies. It is poured with tuak and with brem, the sweet rice wine. Arak is also mixed into boreh, the traditional healing rub.

The daily offerings it accompanies are explained in Balinese offerings explained.

For decades arak was made quietly, in villages, outside the law.

That changed on 29 January 2020, when Bali Governor Regulation 1 of 2020 took effect. It governs traditional Balinese fermented and distilled drinks, and it covers:

  • tuak
  • brem
  • arak
  • artisanal products
  • arak and brem made for religious ceremonies

Producers and distributors now need licences, as the Buleleng regency reported when the regulation was issued. It bars sale to minors and schoolchildren, and at these places:

  • youth venues
  • street stalls
  • lodgings and campsites
  • places near temples, schools, government offices and health facilities

A national step followed. Presidential Regulation 10 of 2021 opened the alcoholic drinks industry to new investment in Bali. In 2022 the governor declared 29 January Arak Bali Day.

Bali's trade and industry office has counted 48 brands of arak-based drinks sold legally with excise stamps, Antara reported.

The Denpasar excise office explained the customs rules to NusaBali. Legal arak is made by a licensed factory and carries a BPOM distribution permit and an excise stamp (pita cukai). It also states its alcohol content and its producer.

All of this is printed on the bottle. A bottle without those marks is the kind to leave alone.

The Danger Is Methanol, in Illicit and Adulterated Spirits

Arak itself is ethanol, the same alcohol as in any spirit.

The danger is methanol, a toxic alcohol that can form when distillation is done badly. It is also added deliberately to stretch or strengthen cheap spirits.

The World Health Organization lists Indonesia among the countries that have had methanol poisoning outbreaks. These arise from counterfeit or informally produced spirits.

The risk is real, for locals as much as for visitors

Of the 25 people who died of methanol poisoning in Bali in 2009, only four were foreigners, according to Inside Indonesia. The same article reports 44 people from a village in Bangli treated for methanol poisoning in late 2012. Three of them died.

Australia's Smartraveller warns that locals and foreigners, including Australians, have died or become seriously ill from methanol poisoning in Indonesia. The contaminated drinks have included local spirits such as arak, spirit-based cocktails and brand-name alcohol.

Symptoms come after a delay

The WHO describes a delay between drinking and the first real symptoms, because the body has to break methanol down before it does harm. Drinking ordinary alcohol at the same time can delay them further.

After that gap come headache, vomiting, abdominal pain and dizziness. Fast or laboured breathing and trouble with vision follow, and these can lead to blindness, coma and death.

Smartraveller notes that the symptoms can look like drinking too much, only stronger. Treatment exists, and late treatment is a large part of why outbreaks kill.

How to drink arak safely

  • Buy sealed bottles with a BPOM number, an excise stamp, the alcohol content and the producer's name on the label.
  • Drink at reputable, licensed venues. Smartraveller adds that labels are not always accurate, so the venue matters as much as the bottle.
  • Refuse arak from unlabelled bottles, jerrycans or plastic water bottles, and treat very cheap spirits with suspicion.
  • Be most careful with cocktails and buckets, where you cannot see what went in.
  • If you or a friend feel unusually ill hours after drinking, especially with blurred vision or trouble breathing, go to a hospital emergency department at once and say you suspect methanol. Smartraveller also asks travellers to report suspected cases to the Indonesian police.

Ask your villa host which nearby hospital to use before you need it. The clinics and hospitals on this coast, and how travel insurance fits, are in healthcare in north Bali.

Tuak Is the Palm Wine Behind Arak

Tuak is the everyday drink behind arak, palm sap left to ferment. In the lontar country of Tejakula it is a daily trade.

In Tembok, at the eastern end of Buleleng, villagers turn lontar sap into four products, as tatkala.co found when it visited:

  • Tuak manis, the fresh, sweet, barely fermented sap.
  • Tuak wayah, fermented with a starter of coconut husk or lontar-fruit fibre, sharper and stronger.
  • Tuak badeg, the tuak set aside for distilling into arak.
  • Gula Bali, the dark palm sugar boiled down from the sap.

The same report describes tuak and arak in Tembok as drinks for news and friendship, shared the way coffee is shared in a French café.

A lontar palm tapper climbing a tall palm trunk with a container, blue sky behind A lontar palm tapper at work in Tianyar, Karangasem, on the same north-east coast. Photo: Imadedana / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Where tuak stands on methanol, and where to buy it

Tuak is fermented rather than distilled. The WHO notes that the small amounts of methanol found naturally in fermented drinks are not harmful. The dangerous amounts come from badly managed distillation or deliberate adding.

Buy tuak from a seller the village knows. Which warungs around Lovina and Tejakula pour it openly changes, so ask your host.

A man in 1929 carrying clay jars of palm wine on a shoulder pole beside a rice field on Bali A tuak seller on Bali in 1929, carrying palm wine in clay jars. Photo: Unknown author, Tropenmuseum / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Loloh Is the Balinese Word for Jamu, the Herbal Drinks

Families make loloh at home.

One of the best known is loloh cemcem. It is made from the leaves of the wild kedondong tree (Spondias pinnata), with spices and young coconut flesh. The drink is sour, salty, sweet and faintly spicy, and people take it for panas dalam, "inner heat".

Loloh cemcem comes from the village of Penglipuran in Bangli. Bali's cultural inventory records it as a village speciality.

Buleleng has its own home brews. Palm Living's list of local north Bali drinks names three:

  • a tea of secang wood from Bubunan village
  • an avocado-leaf tea from Gitgit
  • loloh sembung, served with sweet tuak in Banyuseri

These are family and warung drinks, found by asking rather than on menus.

Es Kuwud and Rujak Yeh Kuwud Are Buleleng's Coconut Drinks

Kuwud is coconut.

On a hot north-coast afternoon the simplest version is iced young coconut. The water and soft flesh are served in the shell, an Indonesian favourite at food stalls.

Iced young coconut served in its shell with a straw and spoon at a food stall Iced young coconut in the shell, the everyday version, here at a stall in Jakarta. Photo: Gunawan Kartapranata / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Rujak yeh kuwud is made at home on lawar days

The Buleleng classic is rujak yeh kuwud, from Suwug village in Sawan district. It is the water of a half-mature coconut seasoned with galangal and salt. The taste is sweet, salty and faintly fizzy, according to the Budaya Indonesia archive.

It is made from the coconut water left over when families cook lawar nyuh, so nothing of the coconut is wasted. People drink it to settle the stomach after rich pork lawar.

The same record notes that nobody sells it. It appears on lawar-cooking days, at home.

Es daluman in Les

In Les, Dapur Bali Mula served es daluman when tatkala.co visited. It is a cooling drink of daluman-leaf jelly, made from leaves bought from village households. Ask your host whether the kitchen is serving before you drive out.

Coffee Is the Drink You Will Be Offered Most

At a warung, coffee usually comes as kopi selem, the Balinese name for black coffee made the tubruk way. Finely ground coffee goes in a glass and hot water is poured straight on. Sugar is stirred in, and the grounds are left to settle at the bottom. Wait a minute before you drink.

The beans closest to home grow in the highlands around Munduk, a village at about 600 to 800 metres by the Buleleng tourism office's count. Smallholder plots of arabica and robusta share the slopes there with clove, cinnamon, cacao and vanilla.

Farm walks there follow the bean from tree to cup. See coffee plantations in Munduk, and for the wider island, the best coffee in Bali.

Coffee beans roasting in a pan over a wood fire at a Bali plantation Wood-fire roasting at a Bali coffee plantation. Photo: Rennytan / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Where to Try the Drinks in the North

  • For arak: Licensed bars and restaurants in Lovina that serve arak from sealed, labelled bottles. Which venues pour legal arak cocktails changes by season, so ask your villa host for a current name. Ask to see the bottle, and check it yourself when it arrives.
  • For the arak villages: Les and Tembok on the Tejakula coast, east of Lovina beyond Tejakula village, where lontar tapping and distilling are part of daily life. Go with a guide who knows the families. See the Tejakula guide.
  • For tuak, coffee and the local drinks: The warungs, where kopi selem is the standing order and the coconut drinks follow the season. Start with the best warungs in north Bali.
  • For coffee at the source: The farm walks around Munduk.
  • For the full table: Pair the drinks with the food in what to eat in Bali.

Practical Notes

Venues, products and rules change. Confirm what a venue pours before you order, and check current advice from your government before you travel.

  • Legal arak is labelled. Look for the BPOM registration, the excise stamp, the alcohol content and the producer.
  • Arak is strong. A distiller's first drops can reach 60 per cent alcohol. Check the label and pace yourself.
  • Suspect methanol, go to hospital. Blurred vision, breathlessness or severe vomiting hours after drinking need emergency care, not sleep.
  • Arak Bali Day falls on 29 January.
  • Respect the ceremonial use. Arak and brem poured on offerings are for the offering. Never pick them up or drink from them.

FAQ

Is arak safe to drink?

Arak from a sealed, labelled bottle made by a licensed producer, served at a reputable licensed venue, is an ordinary spirit. The danger is methanol in illicit, home-made or adulterated spirits, which has killed locals and travellers in Indonesia. Avoid unlabelled or very cheap arak, and seek emergency care if you feel severely ill hours after drinking.

How strong is arak?

It varies by producer, so read the label. In traditional distilling the first drops can be around 60 per cent alcohol and the run is stopped at about 20 per cent, with the arak then sorted by strength.

Is arak legal in Bali?

Yes. Bali Governor Regulation 1 of 2020, in force since 29 January 2020, governs the production and sale of arak, tuak and brem. Legal bottles carry a BPOM permit and an excise stamp, and sales are banned to minors and at certain places such as street stalls and near temples and schools.

What are the symptoms of methanol poisoning?

After a delay, often hours, headache, vomiting, abdominal pain and dizziness, then breathing trouble and blurred or lost vision, which can progress to coma. It can look like a bad hangover, only stronger. Go to a hospital emergency department immediately and say you suspect methanol.

What is tuak?

Tuak is Balinese palm wine, the fermented sap of the coconut or lontar palm. It is sold fresh as sweet tuak manis or stronger tuak wayah, and distilled to make arak. In Tejakula villages such as Tembok, lontar sap is also boiled into palm sugar.

What is loloh?

Loloh is the Balinese word for jamu, traditional herbal drinks made at home. One of the best known is loloh cemcem from Penglipuran, made from wild kedondong leaves with spices and young coconut, drunk to cool the body.

What is rujak yeh kuwud?

A Buleleng coconut drink from Suwug village: half-mature coconut water seasoned with galangal and salt, made from the water left when families cook lawar and drunk to settle the stomach after the rich pork dish. It is a home drink and is rarely, if ever, sold.

Where can I try arak in north Bali?

At licensed bars and restaurants in Lovina that pour from sealed, labelled bottles, or with a guide in the lontar-tapping villages of Les and Tembok on the Tejakula coast, where arak is distilled. Ask to see the bottle wherever you drink.

Sources

Read next: the best warungs in north Bali, what to eat in Bali, and the best coffee in Bali.

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