Detour

WHERE CUPPAS COME FROM Coffee fiends couldn't concoct a better wake-up call: sip a steaming mug of joe on the balcony of your own villa, overlooking the very bushes that produced the beans. This caffeine dream can become reality at the Losari Coffee Plantation and Resort.

Sprawling across 20 hectares in the hills above Magelang, the 75-year-old coffee plantation has received a marvelous sprucing up by Gabriella Teggia, one of the founders of the Amandari resort in Bali. Teggia added sunken tubs, facial rubs and comfy antiques—all the frills expected of a luxurious retreat. Yet she avoided altering the rustic allure of life on the former Van ders Wan farm. The original 1828 farmhouse is now a library and a lounge. Guests enter the resort through an 1878 train station, moved from Mayong junction 250 kilometers away.

The plantation produces 20 tons of coffee each year, as well as bananas, peanuts and coconuts. An enormous garden yields herbs and vegetables for the table; practically everything served at the resort is grown here. All the cultivation is organic. Visitors can stroll the fields and watch the production of coffee—following the beans as they are picked, roasted and ground into the powder fancied by Indonesians. Another favorite is local home brew jamu, a fluorescent-hued energy drink that is a national obsession. Losari's version uses a tasty blend of tree sap, honey and fragrant herbs.

Day trips are offered to Borobudur and Dieng Plateau, as well as to the nearby train museum at Ambarawa. Yet most guests stick close to the farm, which has spectacular views of seven surrounding volcanoes. Those feeling perky can walk to nearby villages that seem not to have changed in centuries. Part of the fun is feeling like an early pioneer. But there's plenty to be said for facial rubs and fresh coffee, too.