THE LONG ROAD TO COFFEE IN NEPAL

By Ruby Glasspool (UK Executive Director)

Roads! We take them for granted in the UK, but they take on a whole new meaning in Kathmandu. I arrived in Nepal 3 days ago on my very first trip to meet our project partners and communities, and first stop was Nepal Organic Coffee. Our project partner Eco Himal work in the remote Solukhumbu region with local farmers to train in coffee production. Before heading out into the fields where the coffee is grown, I wanted to see its final, end of the road destination. Accompanied by TGT volunteer Richard Allen, we were warmly greeted by founder Dhakeshwor Ghimere and his son Saroj Ghimere.

*The road to the coffee producers is currently under construction, so we had to abandon the car and go on foot.*

I was hugely impressed by the obvious passion and integrity with which they produced the final roasted coffee bean. We were taken on a tour of the entire process, from sorting the good from the bad bean, roasting to perfection and packaging up for distribution.

*Every single bean is sorted for quality by hand.*

TGT grown coffee, mostly in the Solukhumbu region, accounts for approximately 5% of their total stock, but even so - there was a huge stock pile on site. It is still very early days in terms of the history of TGT projects producing coffee, and there is clearly room for growth. Dhakeshwor was quick to point out that the supply from Solukhumbu was the best quality bean of their supply.

*Dhakeshwor Ghimere with the coffee beans produced directly from the Solukhumbu region.*

Next we were taken through the various packaging design and processing and informed that the best selling bean was the medium to dark roast as a whole-bean. Every pack is vacuum sealed and Nepal Organic Coffee clearly take great pride in their elegant packaging design.

*One of the workers preparing the bags for filling.*

There were hundreds of boxed up orders ready to be delivered all over Nepal. We were told that the current demand for coffee beans in Kathmandu alone is far greater than supply can provide. There is huge potential for the growth of this market here, and with Eco Himal’s project design centred around integrity, sustainability and climate awareness, this can only be a good thing!

It may be a long, and bumpy, road to get coffee beans from the remotest communities in Nepal to the cups of Kathmandu coffee lovers, but it’s a road worth travelling!