Sri Lankan coffee from the family garden

[Terje]

So, now I'm back from Sri Lanka where I went with my wife,The Jungle Woman, to visit the family and relax. My plan was also to get some raw coffee beans for me an my mom. Coffee is not a big thing in Sri Lanka, they're known for and very proud of their tea. And rightfully so, it's a great tea. The coffee they brewis very weak an sweet and tastes terrible but the powder they make it from isn't bad, the stuff you can buy in stores.

Anyway,to get tothe main point. We got some beans (most likely Arabica beans but I can't be sure since they also have some sort of hybrid beans that's grown everywhere and I'm no expert) in Kandy from the guys we buy tea from whenever we're there. Cheap as hell, not very clean thoguh so I have to rinse it a lot. That is worth it though cause this is an excellent coffee. Reminds me of Monsooned Malabaar an Old Brown Java. There is this Asian taste, meaning that there's very little acidity. This is not my favorite taste by any means but I see it's value. It makes for great cappucinos and it's of course good for blending.

The Robustas from the family garden are a bit the same. A mild coffee with an earthy taste. Virtually no acidity at all and both beans I got tend to lean towards chocolate. The Robustas aren't that great on their own (although I did make a small cup in my moka pot with 100% Robustas and that was decent) but they are brilliant in a blend. They add a dark tone to a blend, a depth that for instance the lighter and fruitier Kenyan AA don't have. Or as my french colleague would say when given a coffee with some Robusta in it "This is a rich taste". As these beans are mild you can easily add 30% of them in a blend.

The beans from the family garden... I didn't get to pick them but I got a chance to help out when they were rinsed or peeled or whatever it's called. It was fun and gaveme this idea for speciality tourism. How many of you here would pay good money to go to a tropical island to pick, peel and rinse your own coffee beans that you then get to bring home with you? Apart from the coffee you'd be living in the village with some family where at least someone spoke english. You'd be eating rice and curies for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Isn't there a market for this?

Speaking of market... we have a friend, who does business actually, with whom I spoke a little about coffee and why nobody in Sweden is importing from Sri Lanka. After talking about it for a little while he looks at me with a curious look on his face and asks "So, coffee, is it a big market?".

[Joris]

I would most certainly be interested, if I would really go would be depending on the cost of it.

A coupe of thoughts:

It would not work as a package deal (flight, stay and coffeeprocessing in one deal) because that would only work with one country as homebase because of the flights. One country has only so many coffee enthousiasts.

If it were a seperate stay you could book online, people could sort out their own flight, maybe a short holiday in India before Sri Lanka and so on. That also has the advantage that people from all over the world can book, instead of from one country only. Another advantage is that you don't have to buy-in flights on forehand (which is the only way to offer packagedeals).

I think there could be a couple of problems with taking coffeebeans with you:
- Not dry yet (most people can't spend 2 / 3 months on a holiday), so it could start to go mouldy.
- Most countries have strict rules about exporting food, especially things like vegetables and the sort.
- Most countries have strict rules about importing food, especially things like vegetables and the sort.


So I think the coffee beans should get sent by mail after they've dried. Although that might not solve any problems with rules. Maybe Steve can tell more about that...

Just my 2 pence.....

[ivdp]

Don't forget, the best beans from a certain market are destined for export.
Local people usually cannot afford to pay the same high prices paid by exporters/importers/traders.
So what you find locally is of (usually) low grade coffee.
If you want to send some bags overseas, the local seller will have a postage problem.
If you arganize a full container you are in a different ball game.

If you go to a coffee production country go on a fact finding mission and not a purchase mission.
Fact finding and enjoying is much nicer than buying a couple of kilo's.
Local coffee is so cheap, you'd better donate that money to the people and not take the coffee.

Ivo

[Terje]

To go on a fact finding mission about coffee in Sri Lanka is probably easier through the internet. The problems are transportation, language and outlook in general. Sri Lankans really don't care much about coffee, and if they do it's cause they want to sell you the coffee they have in their shop and you can talk all day about quality and differnt types of beans and get nowhere.

To find the coffee farms would take days, possibly weeks. The roads are really bad, public transport is decent but you'd have to rent a driver and a van for this kind of thing. That's not hard to do nor isit expensive really but it would take a lot of time.

I was there on vacation. I will probably never import coffee myself. I bought a couple of kilos for me and my mom while buying tea from a store we always go to in Kandy and the coffee is really good, once you rinse it from bad beans. I'll pass a sample on to a local seller/importer herein Stockholm and then he can act on it if he wants to.

I'm not into charity. I'll buy the coffee, or the tea, or whatever it is that I buy. But I won't haggle the price and sometimes I'll pay more than they ask. Like, I always go to the local barber. It's a low caste job in the countryside in Sri Lanka, because you have to touch other people, so even locals know his prices are low. He does a great job, asks for less than €1 (about a half) and I always give him at least €2. I'm still getting a good haircut for next to nothing compared to swedish prices, he gets more than he asked for but can still keep his pride.

[Steve]

I'm not into charity. I'll buy the coffee, or the tea, or whatever it is that I buy. But I won't haggle the price and sometimes I'll pay more than they ask. Like, I always go to the local barber. It's a low caste job in the countryside in Sri Lanka, because you have to touch other people, so even locals know his prices are low. He does a great job, asks for less than €1 (about a half) and I always give him at least €2. I'm still getting a good haircut for next to nothing compared to swedish prices, he gets more than he asked for but can still keep his pride.

Here Here !!! Counld not agree more. Its not about charity but just paying what you think is a little fairer for a good job.

Steve

[Terje]

I would most certainly be interested, if I would really go would be depending on the cost of it.

A coupe of thoughts:

It would not work as a package deal (flight, stay and coffeeprocessing in one deal) because that would only work with one country as homebase because of the flights. One country has only so many coffee enthousiasts.

If it were a seperate stay you could book online, people could sort out their own flight, maybe a short holiday in India before Sri Lanka and so on. That also has the advantage that people from all over the world can book, instead of from one country only. Another advantage is that you don't have to buy-in flights on forehand (which is the only way to offer packagedeals).

I think there could be a couple of problems with taking coffeebeans with you:
- Not dry yet (most people can't spend 2 / 3 months on a holiday), so it could start to go mouldy.
- Most countries have strict rules about exporting food, especially things like vegetables and the sort.
- Most countries have strict rules about importing food, especially things like vegetables and the sort.


So I think the coffee beans should get sent by mail after they've dried. Although that might not solve any problems with rules. Maybe Steve can tell more about that...

Just my 2 pence.....

This indeed raises some thoughts...

I think you're right about it not working as package deal. It would be smarter to have it as a trip you could go on while you're anyway in Sri Lanka. You know, get out in the countryside for a few days and live with the locals and get some coffee beans.

As for the drying process... I'm a little worried about the ones I bought from a store in Kandy in fact, but not the ones we got from the family. They seem fine but the ones bought in the city... there is a smell about them that I don't like (before I roast them, after they smell and taste just fine). I drying them a bit at home now but I don't know if that will make any difference. But anyway, maybe you could get to pick some beans, clean some other bunch and finally carry well dried, well prepared beans with you home. Or you could get the beans you picked yourself mailed I guess.

As for the rules of the customs control and what food you can carry... I suppose you'd have to sortthat out before you could do this officially, right? We just buy whatever we want and walk through customs with it and so far nobody has cared cause people carry far worse things in amazing qauntities across the border.

I'm not the one to make this happen but it sure would be great if someone down there had the energy to do things like these cause I think there is a market for it. The way we live when we're in Sri Lanka is out in the countryside, and it's so much better than then hotels in the city that I can't even begin to tell you. And if the house you stay in has a good bed and a decent bathroom (with a working "western style" toilet) I suppose a lot of otherwise quite poor people on the Sri Lankan countryside could make a decent living on tourists. There is young generation, used to travelling, that would probably pay pretty good money for something like this, at least in the eyes of the locals. The coffee idea is just one of many along the same lines.