We were greeted by a charming genteel Dutch chap who made this his home several years ago. Upon his reccomendation we sampled his Kopi Luwak. Prices for this coffee vary. Sold here in a third world country from a coffee growing region I could acquire 1 kilo for a meagre $250 USD. Available by the glass at cost / $6 USD. Given how cheap this was I couldn't resist a taste. It certainly was delicious, with a host of flavours slightly unexpected. It's not 'better' than regular coffee in my opinion, just a very tasty variation which I'd happily order again should it be within my means.
We soon discovered he was hosting a coffee farm tour the next morning followed by a workshop in the afternoon. Excellent! Excited, and slightly over-caffeinated, we departed.
At 10am the next day, after a delicious espresso, our Dutch host, Koffee, started the tour. We walked around the farm which is behind his house while he expounded his knowledge on everything coffee related, from talking us through some different tree varieties, to drying processes, to how the small local farmers operate. Fortunately he didn't dictate what good coffee was, stating simply that each is a personal preference and suggesting what causes these differences. The workshop's major attraction was roasting our own coffee in a wok - something I'll try doing again when I reach home.
We are in Arabica country (arabica range 1200 - 1600m ish) but some farmers did have some less desirable Robusta trees for no particular reason. For growing coffee what is important is soil, water and light (but not too much). Guava trees are planted throughout 'good' plantations to provide shade which allows for a fuller, tastier berry. Allegedly the surrounding fruit trees do not add to the flavour of the coffee as would happen with wine but I am not sure I can agree - more researched required. There can be some trees which are detrimental such as pines which contribute acidity. The coffee trees do not like to swim in water so the porous volcanic rocks and soil around this plateau are ideal.
Trees grow to maturity after five years and will live for roughly 80 years before becoming brittle. The area where trees grow needs to be weeded meticulously, in the first few years of a trees life especially. A man per hectare and a month to weed it sounds standard. This repeats 8+ times each year. Two local trees mentioned as being farmed around here are Arabica Typica, a 2nd generation tree from Yemen, and Arabica C...?, a third generation from Indonesia. The generation represents the jumps made from its origin, and Arabica is the name for / basically means the coffees traditionally found in Arab countries.
Pick the ripe red berries. Some farmers pick unripe green ones and this results in a cheaper bitterer brew.
The next art is in the drying. Our Dutch host jumped a little between approaches and so this might be slightly muddled.
Drying approach 1 - wet / ferment:
Take berries, remove casing (via machine), place in water. Bad berries float, good sink. This is a cheap triage. The mix is then fermented for a couple of days (not really sure why) before being dried in the sun for a few.
Cheap dry option, option 2:
Dry berries in sun
Expensive dry option, option 3:
Triage, removing all unwanted berries (green unripe ones and those with defects such as insects)
Remove skin of berry and discard
Dry berries in sun
From here we discussed how the Laos farmers managed. Roughly 70-80% of Laos's coffee is produced by a few large companies meaning that it is pretty tough on the poor old farmer, of which there are between 5-10,000. We had the concept of Fair Trade coffee challenged and we were told of the value of caring for each other in Laos means the non fair trade labels aren't really applicable. The wages are surprisingly good for the fruit pickets regardless, and the Laos camaraderie means that the sick get treated, the hungry get fed, and so forth. After all each is a business that depends on reliable hard workers each season. Furthermore, looking at the scale at which some of these poor farmers operate on it makes little sense to obtain some label, if even possible. And so I feel comfortable to drink whatever coffee I like now and I shall do so with the clearest of conscious.
Now we move on to a dried bean which lasts a year or two, so long as its kept dry. And the next step is roasting.
We used a very hot wok (although apparently not too hot so the beans don't immediately become sticky...) and just roasted away for several minutes watching and listening to the coffee do its thing. And stirring constantly. Once done the most important thing is to cool promptly, otherwise the coffee continues to roast which can end up giving it a bitter or even burnt taste. For this they were tossed on a weaved thingy. And voila, we had our roasted coffee. We continue to roast for hours, drinking, chatting and so forth. A very entertaining day.
We also enjoyed a Turkish coffee. Recipe:
Heaps of fine coffee
Cold water
Slow to boil (10-15 mins to make)
Stir on two occasions between 1 & 4 mins
Once hot, scrape off a bit of foam in to glasses
And half fill glasses
Resume heating
Fill glasses
Delicious.
Overall the day was very insightful. I found the coffee statistics most fascinating however. One kg of dried beans costs around 50-70.000 kip ($6.25 - 9.75 USD) per kilo. A hectare of land hosts roughly 2,500 trees. This seems to be an optimal figure as packing additional trees in does not increase a yield overall, despite numerous farmers trying. Mature trees produce 5 kilos of berries, or 1 kg of dried coffee. This reduces after roasting a bit (maybe 25% or so at a guess). This is the first time I have ever been able to map my consumeristic ways to physical trees and labour in the real world. At a guess I drink half as much coffee as an average Finnish person each year, meaning 12 trees are planted, grown, and cared for each year just for my sake. Fascinating.
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