01 Start with Bali coffee
Coffee is part of everyday Bali as well as a tourism industry. Traditional kopi Bali is often finely ground coffee brewed directly in a cup, leaving sediment at the bottom. Modern cafés now sit alongside simple warungs, and local beans from highland areas such as Kintamani appear in espresso bars across the island.
If you care about coffee, try both ends of the spectrum: a simple local brew and a specialty café that can tell you where its beans came from. Plantation tours can be interesting, but avoid assuming every roadside “coffee plantation” is an agricultural deep dive — many are primarily tasting and retail stops.
Kintamani coffee is often marketed as if it were one single flavour profile. In reality, altitude, processing, roast and producer all matter. If a café offers beans from a named farm or cooperative, ask how they were processed and brewed; that tells you more than a generic “Bali coffee” label.
02 Local non-alcoholic drinks worth looking for
Young coconut is the simplest hot-weather drink: coconut water served straight from the fruit, sometimes with ice or lime. Fresh juices are everywhere, with watermelon, papaya, mango, dragon fruit and avocado among common options.
Lohloh cemcem is more specifically Balinese. Indonesia Travel describes it as a green herbal drink made with cemcem leaves, cinnamon and coconut water, with a sweet-sour-salty profile. Jamu is also easy to find, but it is a broader Indonesian herbal-drink tradition rather than uniquely Balinese.
03 Beer and Bali’s modern brewing scene
Beer is widely available in tourist areas, from familiar Indonesian lagers to an expanding local craft-beer scene. What is stocked changes quickly, so a guide naming a dozen “must-try” brands dates itself faster than it helps.
If you like beer, ask what is brewed in Bali or elsewhere in Indonesia and check the style and strength rather than buying purely for a Bali-themed label. Beach bars and restaurants often price beer very differently, so menus are more useful than old online price lists.
04 Arak, tuak and brem are not interchangeable
Arak is a distilled spirit made from fermented ingredients such as palm sap or rice depending on local practice. Tuak generally refers to a fermented palm drink, while brem can refer to fermented rice products including a traditional alcoholic drink. Recipes, strength and terminology vary.
These drinks have cultural and ceremonial histories as well as modern commercial versions. A properly produced, sealed commercial arak from a reputable maker is a different risk proposition from an unlabelled bottle poured from a reused container. Do not treat “homemade” as a guarantee of authenticity or safety.
Commercial arak production has become more visible and better packaged in recent years, but that does not remove the need to check the bottle and venue. Seals, producer details and normal pricing are reassuring signs. A spirit decanted into an anonymous bottle remains something we would avoid.
05 Methanol poisoning is the rule-changing safety issue
Australia’s Smartraveller continues to warn about methanol poisoning in Indonesia, including Bali and Lombok. Methanol can be present in illegally produced or adulterated alcohol, and poisoning can cause blindness, severe illness or death. You cannot reliably identify dangerous methanol by taste or smell.
Our practical rule is conservative: drink alcohol only at reputable venues, favour sealed and labelled products, and avoid suspiciously cheap spirits, premixed drinks of unclear origin and unlabelled home-distilled alcohol. If a drink tastes wrong or you become unexpectedly ill after drinking, seek urgent medical help.
06 Drinking water and ice
Untreated tap water in Bali is not a good default for visitors to drink. Use sealed bottled water or water from a trustworthy filtration system. Many villas and hotels supply refill dispensers; ask how they are maintained if you are staying long term.
Commercial ice is widely used by established businesses, so blanket advice to avoid every ice cube is outdated. The more useful question is whether the venue handles food and drinks hygienically. A busy, reputable café using commercial ice is very different from an improvised roadside setup with questionable storage.
For longer stays, refill stations can reduce plastic waste, but use established services and clean containers. If a villa supplies a large dispenser, keep the nozzle clean and do not top it up from an unknown source. Safe water habits are boring — which is exactly what you want them to be.
07 Juice, smoothies and sugar
Fresh juice can be excellent, but “juice” may arrive with sugar syrup, condensed milk or lots of ice unless you specify otherwise. Ask for no added sugar if that matters to you. Smoothies may include yoghurt or dairy even when the menu description focuses only on fruit.
People with allergies should ask about blenders and shared equipment. Nut milks, peanut butter and dairy are common in modern Bali cafés, and cross-contact can happen even in places that appear health-focused.
08 Bars, nights out and transport home
Alcohol and Bali’s road environment are a terrible combination. If you are drinking, do not ride a scooter. Use a driver or ride-hailing option where permitted and arrange your trip home before you are impaired. This matters far more than finding the cheapest beer.
Keep an eye on your drink, stay with friends and avoid accepting open drinks from strangers. Tourist nightlife areas are generally busy and social, but the normal precautions you would use in any international nightlife district still apply.
Nightlife geography matters too. Walking conditions can be poor, pavements inconsistent and ride-hailing pickup points restricted around some venues. Arrange a driver or confirm the pickup point while you are still clear-headed instead of discovering at 1 am that your app wants you to walk along a dark road.
09 Alcohol has cultural context too
Traditional alcohol in Bali is not just a party product. Arak can appear in ritual and community contexts, while modern regulation and commercial production have changed how it is sold. Visitors do not need to romanticise strong local spirits to appreciate that history.
Similarly, coffee, herbal drinks and coconut water often tell you more about everyday Bali than a night of cocktails. A useful drinks guide should make room for both the ceremonial and the ordinary.
10 The short version
Drink the coffee. Try young coconut and, if you find it, lohloh cemcem. Explore local beer if that is your thing. Treat arak with respect and only drink products from a source you trust. Use safe drinking water and judge ice by the hygiene of the venue rather than internet folklore.
Bali has an excellent drinks scene, but no drink is worth gambling with methanol or riding home impaired. The best night out is still one you remember the next morning.