Coffee shops were amongst the biggest casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, while the café industry suffered, coffee itself was able to survive with consumers attempting to emulate the cups they craved.



By Paula Slier and Sasha Star



Motorcycles weave past minibus taxis as street vendors enthusiastically promote their wares. Flurries of people hurry by in colorful dresses while making their way to and from work. There’s a buzz in the air.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The bustling streets of Addis Ababa, the capital and largest city of Ethiopia, could be mistaken for almost any city on the African continent, but amidst the whirl of daily life in what is known as “the political capital of Africa”, is something that makes the scene characteristically Ethiopian.



The air in the East African country is permeated by the rich aroma of fresh coffee being brewed on almost every corner. Those with well-developed palates pick up hints of citrus fruit and chocolate, berries and spice. It is a heady fragrance that manages to both comfort and invigorate simultaneously.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Roasted-coffee-laid-out-for-a-cupping-tasting-session-767x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-53663" width="392" height="523" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Roasted-coffee-laid-out-for-a-cupping-tasting-session-767x1024.jpg 767w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Roasted-coffee-laid-out-for-a-cupping-tasting-session-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Roasted-coffee-laid-out-for-a-cupping-tasting-session-768x1025.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Roasted-coffee-laid-out-for-a-cupping-tasting-session.jpg 809w" sizes="(max-width: 392px) 100vw, 392px" /><figcaption>Roasted coffee laid out for a cupping (tasting) session</figcaption></figure></div>



“Coffee is in the blood of every Ethiopian,” says Aman Adinew, who runs a coffee producing and exporting company in Addis called METAD.



“When you go to the mall or anywhere that people gather, there are women sitting and brewing traditional coffee. People sit around short stools and drink a cup or two. In offices, women prepare and serve coffee at least twice a day. So wherever you go, coffee is there.”



It seems natural that the drink has been woven into the very fabric of the country considering it is in Ethiopia that coffee originated.



According to folklore, the magic beans were discovered in the ninth&nbsp;century by a goat herder who noticed that his flock had an extra spring in their step after noshing on some unusual berries. He shared both his findings and the fruit with those at the nearby monastery who proceeded to make a drink which helped keep them alert throughout the many hours of prayer. With such a miraculous effect, it was not long before news of the berries traveled far beyond the Kaffa province from where the name coffee is derived.



From its humble and fairly inconspicuous beginnings, coffee has become ingrained in societies around the world. Millions indulge in at least one cup per day, with many partaking in the ritual of starting their day with the energizing elixir. One often dare not engage with them before they have consumed that initial sip.



“It’s the last legal drug,” laughs David Donde, owner of Truth Coffee Roasting in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2016, the steampunk-inspired café was named as the best in the world by&nbsp;The Telegraph.&nbsp;



“The drug in coffee isn’t actually caffeine; it’s endorphins. It’s the idea of discovery — you discover this incredible coffee, this incredible new bean.” Donde also believes that coffee shops offer an attractive alternative to bars and other establishments where liquor is the beverage of choice. “In a coffee shop, you can have the social gathering without the anti-social component which too much alcohol brings. Too much coffee, people invent things; too much beer and we kill each other.”



It is much the same in the birthplace of the caffeinated brew. “Neighbors will brew coffee and invite each other. And when they sit together, they discuss family matters, social issues, politics. It’s a social event,” explains Adinew.



While drinking coffee is very much a part of Ethiopian culture, the same is not true for all African countries that are famous for their beans. “In Kenya, we don&#8217;t drink coffee. We are more British influenced. Largely, we Kenyans drink tea,” says coffee farmer Haron Wachira who lives in Kirinyaga, at the foot of Mount Kenya.



Although Kenyan coffee is regarded as being amongst the best in the world, Wachira believes that the locals’ affinity for favoring tea is actually damaging to coffee.



“New bean varieties have been introduced over the years&#8230; But because Kenyans don’t drink coffee in general, the researchers themselves are people who are less focused on the taste and more on the production. There is only an interest in coffee where it is related to money.”



The locals may not appreciate the nuances of Kenyan coffee, which is said to be brighter and more acidic than its Ethiopian counterpart, but the beans are enjoyed by coffee connoisseurs around the world.



Coffee shops were amongst the biggest casualties of the Covid-19 pandemic, with worldwide lockdowns forcing millions to close. Yet, while the café industry suffered, coffee itself was able to survive with consumers attempting to emulate the cups they craved.



African Coffee Roasters, a roasting facility situated an hour and a half from Nairobi in Kenya, produces 140 different coffee products which can be found on the shelves and in speciality coffee shops in Denmark, Finland, Holland, and other European countries. The company’s head of quality, Stephen Vick, noticed an increase in people buying coffee during the pandemic — and better-quality coffee at that.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Taken-by-Sasha-Star-768x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-53661" width="424" height="565" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Taken-by-Sasha-Star-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Taken-by-Sasha-Star-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Taken-by-Sasha-Star-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Taken-by-Sasha-Star-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Taken-by-Sasha-Star-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes="(max-width: 424px) 100vw, 424px" /><figcaption>Taken by Sasha Star</figcaption></figure></div>



“During Covid, consumers became interested in learning about new flavor profiles. While stuck at home, people realized they could make really nice coffee and actually make it taste like it does in the coffee shop,” Vick says.



Brewing a good cup of coffee seems to be less of an art and more of a science. “It’s about great beans, a deep understanding of what to do with those beans, understanding the extraction, and most importantly, a great grinder,” explains Donde. “I describe it as a three-dimension seesaw: the bean on one side, grind size on the other, and then the amount of time it will be brewed for and at what temperature. If you adjust one, you can compensate by adjusting for another, but the variables must be balanced.”



The practice of drinking the roasted beans may be popular in Ethiopia, but most locals have never actually sampled the best of what their nation can produce. “The government insists that we export the high-end coffees, so they are not sold locally,” notes Adinew. It is a method that appears to be paying off considering coffee accounted for 5% of the East African country’s GDP and brought in $900 million during the last fiscal year.



Yet despite the lucrative nature of coffee production and export, those on the ground who grow the fruit are often not privy to the benefits. Numerous coffee roasters and cafés have committed to using only fair trade beans that promise to give a percentage of the sales back to the farmers, but Adinew believes the idea may be better in principle than practice.



“With such certifications, sometimes they are designed to help the certifier more than the farmer as they don’t have the mechanisms to check whether the farmer is actually benefitting. It’s a good start, but there needs to be more regulation to ensure that the farmers get that premium.”



Wachira agrees: “I think that a farmer who puts so much time into making a good cup of coffee should actually get a decent wage from the coffee and not become a slave.”



Coffee bean farmers are also facing a problem much larger than themselves — that of climate change. “Research is being done into how to save coffee as a species, but we don&#8217;t know where coffee is going to be in 2050 or 2075 as far as supply goes,” admits Vick.



The one hopeful element is that as plans are put in place to mitigate the effects of the phenomenon through carbon offsetting, coffee-growing zones happen to be neighboring areas for trees which can be grown to facilitate offsets.



Even if the consequences of climate change can be brought under control, the world’s demand for the enticing beverage could see it taking on a new form. Coffee is currently in its fifth wave, which has focused predominantly on the business element. According to Donde, the next could be potentially sacrilegious: “There are guys who are trying to manufacture coffee out of non-coffee ingredients in the same sense as scientists having created lab-grown meat. It sounds horrific to me, but I don&#8217;t know what I don&#8217;t know yet.”



Regardless of the world’s ever-changing dynamic, coffee has proven itself to be a constant companion — a simple reminder to take life one sip at a time.

Taken by Haron Wachira

Coffee Culture – Change Is Brewing

By: Fernando Morales-de la Cruz, Founder of Café For Change 



Opinions expressed by Forbes Africa contributors are their own.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignleft is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FernandoMoralesdelaCruzSeat242ofEuropeanParliament-576x1024.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-39718" width="186" height="331" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FernandoMoralesdelaCruzSeat242ofEuropeanParliament-576x1024.jpeg 576w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FernandoMoralesdelaCruzSeat242ofEuropeanParliament-300x533.jpeg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FernandoMoralesdelaCruzSeat242ofEuropeanParliament-600x1066.jpeg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FernandoMoralesdelaCruzSeat242ofEuropeanParliament-169x300.jpeg 169w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FernandoMoralesdelaCruzSeat242ofEuropeanParliament.jpeg 649w" sizes="(max-width: 186px) 100vw, 186px" /></figure></div>



The International Coffee
Council of the International Coffee Organization (ICO) will meet in Nairobi,
Kenya, from March 25 to 29, at a moment of serious crisis in all coffee-producing
regions due to the exploitative prices paid by coffee-importing nations. 



Unfortunately, at the ICO, the
coffee importing members do not include the United States and Canada and,
usually, the European Union, importer of 41% of all coffee in the world, is
represented at ICO meetings by European Commission officials with no influence
on trade issues. 



Switzerland, a country that is
home to 70% of all coffee trading and even chairs the ICO, is also represented
at the ICO by public officials with little or no authority on major trade
issues. The ICO and its meeting in Nairobi are therefore of little or no use for
solving the coffee crisis.



 The increasingly profitable global coffee industry is controlled by a smaller number of more powerful multinationals. A concentration of these companies, in Switzerland, that are trading green coffee, &nbsp;have put 25 million coffee producers and more than 125 million people living in coffee communities in a deep economic and humanitarian crisis, and in a situation of defenselessness.



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<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="UUZaM18nIb"><a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/02/19/the-coffee-farmers-betting-on-blockchain-to-boost-business/">The Coffee Farmers Betting On Blockchain To Boost Business</a></blockquote><iframe class="wp-embedded-content" sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" style="position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);" title="&#8220;The Coffee Farmers Betting On Blockchain To Boost Business&#8221; &#8212; Forbes Africa" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2019/02/19/the-coffee-farmers-betting-on-blockchain-to-boost-business/embed/#?secret=hxPgW0ptDt#?secret=UUZaM18nIb" data-secret="UUZaM18nIb" width="500" height="282" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
</div></figure>



 The drastic fall in the price of coffee, which is not a new issue, has also had a devastating impact on the economies of the coffee-growing countries. Not only coffee growers and workers depend on coffee production. Coffee growing, like many other rural activities, has a huge economic impact on national economies and, even, in the capitals of those nations.



 Coffee multinationals now pay less than one dollar per pound of coffee, a price that is 74% less than that agreed in the International Coffee Agreement of 1983. Recently, the price of coffee fell to $0.93 per lb. This amounts to only $0.36 at 1983 prices, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the United States DOL. The coffee price in 1983, agreed by the importing countries (Europe, Switzerland, United States, Canada, Japan, etc.), was $1.20 to $1.40 per lb because it was estimated that this amount could, reasonably, cover production costs in the coffee countries.



 The “Ideal Price” of Coffee The solution to the crisis in the price of coffee has been further complicated by the position taken by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Columbia, FNC, representing the third largest coffee producer in the world, to try to set and promote internationally an “ideal price” of only $1.40 to $1.50 per lb, even below the false and unjust “fair price” of $1.40 + $0.20 premium, defended by “fairtrade”. 



The “ideal price” proposed by
the FNC, $1.50 per lb, is less than 42% of the price of the 1983 International
Coffee Agreement. That price is “ideal” for multinationals but it is not ideal for
coffee-growers or rural workers in any country in the coffee belt.



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="450" height="433" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/price.png" alt="" class="wp-image-39717" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/price.png 450w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/price-300x289.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" /></figure>



It is absolutely unfair that farmers
should receive 58% less in 2019 than what they were paid by multinationals in
1983, more than 35 years ago. The production costs of farmers have increased
substantially since 1983 but, on the other hand, they have also increased by
tens of billions of dollars per year, in coffee-importing countries, the
profits, the added value and the taxes generated for the coffee crop to be sold
to the final consumer. 
 
The multinationals estimate internally the FOB value of coffee at between $4
and $5.50 per lb., an estimate that makes a lot of sense when calculating that
the price of $1.40 of the ICA of 1983, adjusted for inflation and using the CPI
of the US Department of Labor, would today be $3.61 lb. After adding taxes in
origin, the true cost of land, social security, pensions and education to the price
of coffee of 1983, the current price should be between $4 and $5.50 per pound,
as the multinationals estimate internally.



 Obviously, the multinationals work with development agencies on false sustainability initiatives, and NGOs that claim to fight against poverty, even though they perpetuate it, “studying” and promoting production costs that only suit multinationals and condemn farmers and workers, and their children, to extreme poverty. 



“Production costs” that also
guarantee underdevelopment in rural communities so that coffee continues to be
available, together with many other agricultural products, at a very low price
for the developed nations.



 One of the greatest challenges for coffee-growers is that most of them are poor and have no way of defending themselves against greed and the influence of multinationals in their own cooperatives and organizations, nor in their national governments and institutions. 



 Farmers operate locally, regionally and, in very few cases, at the national level, while on the other hand, multinationals, by their nature, operate and have economic, political and communication influence at a global &nbsp;level. 



It is much easier for a
multinational to influence the national agricultural policy of any country, or
all of them simultaneously, than for the majority of coffee farmers together.
It is obvious that neither national coffee organizations nor governments have
known how to, or have wanted to defend producers for decades and this is why we
have reached the unacceptable reality that multinationals now buy coffee 74%
cheaper than 36 years ago and farmers receive less than two cents for every cup
of coffee served in developed nations. 



This cannot go on like this.
It is essential to create and implement a transparent shared value system that
compensates producers and workers, and also rural communities, with at least $0.10
per cup. 



 The true ideal price of coffee, cocoa, tea or any other product is one that allows all farmers and workers, and all their children, to aspire to be middle class, because they are the basis of an industry that generates tens of billions of US dollars in profits annually.



 To all the friends of the National Federation of Coffee Growers, to the 25 million producers from all over the world, to all the organizations of coffee-growers and to the presidents and officials of the governments of coffee-producing countries, I invite you all to fight together for a truly ideal price that allows everyone from the coffee belt, and all their children and dependents, to live with dignity by growing coffee.



 Neocolonialism and the exploitation of farmers, workers and millions of defenseless children and the fraudulent “fairtrade” and false certifications cannot be part of the “coffee landscape” of each chocolate bar or any other industry that presumes to operate within of the law, respecting human rights and the rights of children.

A Fight For The Truly Ideal Price Of Coffee

&nbsp;On a bustling street near the shiny new international airport in Ethiopia’s capital is a small coffee roastery with big dreams.&nbsp;



Nearly 40 Ethiopians &#8211; a third of them women &#8211; sift, roast and package prized Arabica beans for export to Europe under the Moyee brand, founded by a Dutch social entrepreneur.



The roastery, together with the innovative use of blockchain technology to ensure the supply chain is transparent, represents an attempt to keep as much of the profits as possible in Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries.



“It’s the world’s favorite drink. We drink over 2 billion cups a day,” said Killian Stokes, who set up the Irish branch of Moyee.



“The industry’s worth $100 billion and yet 90 percent of coffee farmers in Ethiopia live on less than $2 a day.”



That is partly because most exporters process the beans elsewhere, but also down to price fluctuations and other factors that make coffee growing a precarious business.



READ MORE | <a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/agriculture/2019/01/24/ugandan-firm-uses-blockchain-to-trace-coffee-from-farms-to-stores/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Ugandan Firm Uses Blockchain To Trace Coffee From Farms To Stores (opens in a new tab)">Ugandan Firm Uses Blockchain To Trace Coffee From Farms To Stores</a>



To make things fairer, Moyee has created unique digital identities for the 350 farmers it currently works with &#8211; meaning buyers can see exactly how much each individual grower is paid, with prices set at 20 percent above the market rate.



Now the brand, whose slogan is “radically good coffee”, wants to use blockchain to take that to the next level &#8211; allowing buyers to tip farmers, or fund projects such as a new planting program, through a mobile app.



The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a recent report that blockchain had huge potential&nbsp;to address challenges&nbsp;smallholder farmers faced by “reducing uncertainty and enabling trust among market players”.



The technology, used to underpin cyber-currencies like Bitcoin, allows shared access to data that is maintained by a network of computers and can quickly trace the hundreds of parties involved in the production and distribution of food.



Once entered, any information cannot be altered or tampered with.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">‘BIGGER THAN THE INTERNET’</h4>



Siobhan Kelly, an advisor to the Food Systems Programme at the FAO, said blockchain would ultimately be “much bigger than the internet”.&nbsp;



“Within 10 years &#8211; it’ll take probably 10 years &#8211; it’s going to be a major revolution, for everything,” said Kelly.



Fruit farmers in Caribbean nations are also looking at using blockchain to attract better-paying customers, bring traceability and build a credit trail.&nbsp;



“It’s an innovation that is poised to empower local farmers in the Caribbean region,” said Pamela Thomas, executive director of the Agriculture Alliance of the Caribbean (AACARI), a regional network of nearly 100,000 farmers.



AACARI’s project has two components: auditing by accredited professionals to ensure farmers adhere to the Global GAP (good agricultural practices) standards, and a digital marketplace where buyers can find detailed information about the produce.&nbsp;



Global GAP is a voluntary standard required by many European and U.S. supermarket chains.



Vijay Kandy, whose company is building the blockchain platform, said the auditing process would allow farmers to deal directly with buyers &#8211; bypassing the middlemen that many currently rely on &#8211; and make access to credit easier.



“One reason why buyers from faraway places or different countries go through middlemen is because they rely on them to make sure farmers are following these good practices,” he said.



One such buyer is London-based Union Hand-Roasted Coffee.&nbsp;



The company sources its coffee directly from growers’ cooperatives to ensure higher quality, pays farmers more than minimum price set by the global Fairtrade organization, and works with more than 40 producer groups in 14 countries.



“We currently undertake direct interviews to verify farmers have been paid, but it’s very time- and labor-intensive to do that and to record all that data,” said Steven Macatonia, who co-founded Union in 2001.



“So to have a much more simple system where we can get a confirmation that payment has been received and how much that is, that could be hugely beneficial,” he said.



Price fluctuations and the impact of climate change make coffee a particularly challenging crop to grow.



“Large companies’ profits usually increase when prices are low, but the profit for farmers does not, and in some cases it may cost them money to produce coffee,” said Aaron Davis, head of coffee research at Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.&nbsp;



Davis’s latest research shows climate change and deforestation are putting more than half of the world’s wild coffee species at risk of extinction.



Ethiopia &#8211; the birthplace of Arabica, the world’s most popular coffee &#8211; is of particular concern. Up to 60 percent of the land used to grow coffee could become unsuitable by the end of the century, Davis found.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The more a farmer is paid, the more resources he will be able to devote to climate resilience,” he said.&nbsp; &nbsp;</blockquote>



Both Davis and the FAO’s Kelly however cautioned that blockchain technology was not going to be a “quick fix”, with farmers around the world facing multiple challenges.



“Farmers need access to affordable seeds, to affordable finance and credit when they need it &#8230; and these things are not going to be given by blockchain,” said Kelly. -Reuters



-Thin Lei Win @thinink

952007732

The Coffee Farmers Betting On Blockchain To Boost Business

It’s a chilly Friday morning at at Lynnwood Bridge Shopping center in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital – ideal weather to talk to Dale Mazon, the entrepreneur who makes his money selling hot cups of coffee.
We are at TriBeCa Standard, one of Mazon’s 125 coffee shops in South Africa that make around $75 million a year.
The shop is buzzing and the waiters, in beige chinos, checkered shirts and navy cardigans, are kept on their toes. As we walk towards Mazon, he has a smile on his face. But it’s a smile that didn’t come easily; it was earned through blood, sweat and sleepless nights.
“I used to sleep in the shop. I had no waiter. I couldn’t afford to hire a waiter. So, I just kept doing it on my own and I kept my own tips,” chuckles Mazon, as he recalls how he started TriBeCa with his Co-Founder Martin Fitzgerald.
Mazon, from Seattle, in the United States, moved to South Africa after completing his studies at a hotel school in Switzerland.
“The coffee was shockingly bad,” is what he thought of the first cup he tasted in South Africa. That unbearable coffee triggered his dream to open his own coffee shop.
“I went in full force. I was 24 at the time. I decided that I was going to come into South Africa and make it an adventure. When I moved here I only had $300, so I had nothing. I started very simple. A friend of mine I worked with at hotel school borrowed $50,000 from his brother and that is how we started the business and everything was built from there,” says Mazon.
Though his journey has not been easy, he has managed his coffee shop business for 21 years and, since 2000, has helped retail giant Woolworths run their coffee shops.
The sustainability manager for TriBeCa, Matthew Carter, says they currently roast 120 tons of Arabica coffee a month. The bulk of their coffee comes from Tanzania, Ethiopia and Indonesia.
“We struggle a little bit with trying to get coffee out of the country on time. With Ethiopia, for instance, they had some political crises,” says Carter.
The industry in South Africa has boomed since the coffee drinkers shifted their tastes from instant to more authentic coffee.
“A lot of people are switching on to what we would call real coffee. They are also more interested in the story of the coffee and it has no longer just become a beverage,” he says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/investment-guide/2017/07/20/tough-times-cocoa-bean-counters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tough Times For Cocoa Bean Counters</a>
He adds that there is an increased consumption in gourmet coffee, non-espresso drinks such as cold brew, and brews from single-cup machines.
“Single capsules, such as Nespresso, are taking the lead because almost everyone has a little espresso machine at home,” says Carter.
It seems Mazon got into the right business at the right time.

Brewing A Coffee Empire

For many, a morning doesn’t start until they’ve had a cup of coffee. The hot beverage has become a ritual, in homes and businesses, across the continent. But not just in Africa; the global coffee market is worth an estimated $100 billion and is projected to grow at 4.7% per year up to 2019.
In South Africa, hidden in the hills of the KwaZulu-Natal province, overlooking Port Edward is Beaver Creek Coffee Estate. This is where 10 to 15 tons of coffee is produced annually, on 14 hectares of land. The farm imports a further 35 to 40 tons, with a large portion of that coming from Africa.
“There is a growing demand for the high-end, specialty coffee. People are looking for coffee that is distinct in its character and that they know exactly where it is grown. This region is one of the best to grow coffee in the world, a combination of latitude, altitude, and ocean currents create ideal climatic conditions to produce world-class coffee,” says Dylan Cumming, a farmer, roaster, barista and Managing Director of the Arabica coffee producing family business, Beaver Creek.
Established in 1984 with just four trees, Beaver Creek has gone through three generations. The founders Ed Cumming and Doug Tupper planted the first crop in 1986 and three years later they harvested the first few kilograms of Arabica coffee. Now the farm boasts more than 60,000 trees, and brews R12 million ($915,000) annually.
“People are looking to try coffee from a specific origin which is of high quality in terms of its taste. We grow and harvest from three cultivars – SL28, Catuai and Catimor F6 – with each day’s harvest and cultivar being tracked from field to roast with our lot tracking system,” says Cumming.
Producing coffee is a lengthy process, says Cumming. They collect the fruit from February to October and start selling once the coffee completes the curing process, which includes fermentation, drying, hulling and grading.
<div id="attachment_33952" style="width: 308px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33952" class=" wp-image-33952" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Dylan-Cumming-198x300.jpg" alt="" width="298" height="452" />Dylan Cumming, the Managing Director of Beaver Creek Coffee Estate. (Photo supplied)</div>
Beaver Creek keeps it old school.
“A lot of the equipment that we use is over 50 years old. The technology that was used then is still very efficient. We continue to develop our processes and methods around these machines to maintain the quality that our trees produce,” says Cumming.
The farm supplies retailers and coffee shops around South Africa, as well as exports to countries, such as Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), Denmark and Germany.
Around 800 kilometers down the east coast of South Africa, in Port Elizabeth, is another family business, Masterton’s Coffee and Tea Specialists. The founder of Masterton’s, Ronald John, known as Jock Masterton, was an immigrant from Scotland who came to South Africa in the 1920s. He served as an officer in the Black Watch regiment during the First World War.
According to his grandson, and director of the roastery, Ryler Masterton, a fellow officer from South Africa was the reason for Ronald’s immigration.
“He then worked as assistant manager on the farm Three Rivers in Vereeniging, where he met his wife Marjorie, who at the time was visiting her uncle, the farm manager,” he says.
The couple relocated to his wife’s hometown, Port Elizabeth. In pursuit of being an entrepreneur Ronald went to Sri Lanka [formerly Ceylon] to study tea tasting. When he returned to Port Elizabeth, he opened the first tea and coffee house in the city center. Months later, the roastery moved to where they have been for the last 93 years.
“Both the global and South African coffee industry has grown and developed in leaps and bounds, since we first opened our doors. We like to think of coffee as not just a product, but an experience. Global trends and developing coffee cultures, as people want to know more about coffee, experience greater varieties and enjoy the different experiences, have really been the driving factors in this rapidly growing industry,” says Masterton.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/investment-guide/2017/07/20/tough-times-cocoa-bean-counters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tough Times For Cocoa Bean Counters</a>
Finding the right blend can make all the difference in these tough economic times.
“Someone once jokingly told me that there are only three consumer items that are recession-proof: alcohol, tobacco and coffee. Although not entirely accurate, we have fortunately found the coffee market to be quite resilient in times of economic hardship. In most cases the consumer is prepared to continue to buy their preferred brand of coffee during these tough times. It seems that the value associated with a good coffee experience can outweigh the financial cost,” he says.
Technology has been the catalyst for change in the industry.
“Aided by the advance in technology and greatly improved supply chains, more people want a good coffee experience, and now have access to it. This has all seen many new entrants to the market in its various sectors, further accelerating the industry’s growth, value and reach, especially over the last 10 years,” he says.
<div id="attachment_33953" style="width: 322px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33953" class=" wp-image-33953" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Ryler-Masterton-243x300.jpg" alt="" width="312" height="385" />Ryler Masterton of Masterton&#8217;s Coffee and Tea Specialists. (Photo supplied)</div>
Despite the new technology, Masterton’s continues to roast Arabica coffee using the same process his grandfather used almost 100 years ago.
“We use sight, sound and smell to bring out the best characteristics of every coffee bean, for our customers’ ultimate enjoyment. However, sourcing superior quality green beans is a big part of it. But it’s the roasting process itself that has the biggest impact on the end product, and where experience really comes into play,” says Masterton.
They import green coffee beans using brokers. Currently, Masterton’s has two stores in Port Elizabeth – a roastery and a coffee equipment store, which they also use as a barista training center. Masterton’s has 38 employees and they plan to expand.
Masterton believes the quality of African coffee has improved as the market has increased.
“There most definitely is significant growth potential on the African continent for the many sectors of the coffee industry. We’ve seen an increase in the volumes of green coffee being grown and exported from many African countries, but most importantly here, we’ve also noted an increase in the quality of this coffee,” he says.
“The global development of a coffee culture, with a greater demand for higher quality coffees, has trickled down to the source, with farmers, co-operations and others involved in the supply chain realizing that a quality focused approach can only be beneficial, both financially and reputational, while also boosting their respective countries’ coffee industries, Growth Domestic Production (GDP) and foreign investments received.”
In Africa, there is a growing appetite for good quality coffee.
“This is especially evident in the younger generations and the upwardly mobile, who are viewing a quality coffee experience, high-end coffee shops and boutique retailers as points of interest and social hubs respectively. Organizations, such as the Specialty Coffee Association of Southern Africa, the African Fine Coffees Association, and the East African Fine Coffees Association, are all playing their part in developing the industry, making it more accessible to new entrants and the consumer alike, while inspiring passion within those already involved in the industry. Although there may be the occasional wobble in the market, the trend is positive and Africa has much to look forward to when it comes to great coffee,” he says.
Africa’s coffee exports increased 1.5%, to 22.3 million 60-kilogram bags in 2016 from 22 million bags in 2015, according to Gilberto Biacuana, Research Analyst: Commodities at the Land &amp; Agricultural Development Bank of South Africa.
In 2016, the major African exporters by volume were Uganda (15.9%), Ethiopia (13.5%), Ivory Coast (6.7%), Tanzania (4.1%) and Kenya (3.3%). Uganda exported $371.7 million in roasted or decaffeinated coffee husks and skins, and coffee substitutes. Ethiopia exported $725.4 million.
“The global production of coffee comprises of Arabica and Robusta coffees, which include Colombian milds, Brazilian naturals and other milds. Global coffee production is dominated by Arabica, which accounts for 63% of total global coffee production in 2016/17,” says Biacuana.
Brazil, with 28.8% of volume, and Vietnam, with 23% of volume, were the major global exporters last year. Coffee prices are expected to remain under pressure due to increased output from the two countries.
“Global coffee prices have seen a sustained downward trend since November 2016, influenced by abundant global supplies. With the exception of Robusta coffee, global coffee prices were generally lower compared to a year ago,” says Biacuana.
Coffee production is sensitive to weather patterns, such as drought and frost, which affects the amount and quality of beans produced.
“The 2104 drought in Brazil led to a global shortage 6.4 million 60kg bags, which caused the Arabica futures in the New York Stock Exchange to increase by approximately 50%,” he says.
Consumption however has been rising in countries such as India, China, Latin America and Africa due to the rapid growth of the middle class and the high pace of urbanization.
The International Coffee Organization estimates that the global demand for coffee will increase by 175 million 60kg bags of coffee by 2020.
The next time you are enjoying a cup of coffee, remember that it is a commodity driving growth in Africa.

Caffeine Boost For Africa’s Economy

The girl with the big dreams and bright eyes looks confident as she poses in front of the dusty Soweto street in which she grew up. This is no ordinary street. It’s the Vilakazi Street in Johannesburg’s black township of Soweto, where the late Nelson Mandela once lived. His house, 8115, is now a museum, and Thembi Mahlangu’s café, Thrive, occupies a pride of place on the same historic street, once also home to yet another Nobel peace prize laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29914 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/CBdec2014-4830-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CBdec2014-4830-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CBdec2014-4830-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CBdec2014-4830-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CBdec2014-4830.jpg 1024w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
For 31-year-old Mahlangu, her café is a dream come true.
She had embarked on a career in the hospitality industry more out of necessity than passion, starting as a sculler at Nescafé straight after high school. She worked at several coffee shops thereafter, which fostered in her an enormous love for coffee – and people.
Her turning point came when she met businessman and entrepreneur Ross Paton at the Hyde Park Corner mall, where she worked in Culinary’s Café 41.
“Ross would come in for coffee every morning at the same time and I opened up for him even when the shop was closed,” says Mahlangu.
They had a mutual love for brewed beans and he was curious about her dreams and ambitions. She spoke about Soweto and how she wanted to introduce the neighborhood to good coffee.
“I often went to the street on my off days to see what was missing – coffee!” she says.
She dreamt of having a coffee trolley, but lacked funds. Luckily for her, Paton saw her drive and determination. He agreed to go with her to Vilakazi Street.
“At first I was terrified,” says Paton. “The first person I met on the street was a very friendly hawker and I thought, well, if all hawkers are this nice, this might not be such a bad idea.”
It was a Saturday and on Monday, he gave Mahlangu the go-ahead. He invested in a small piece of land and a year later, Thrive Café was born. He made Mahlangu his business partner and co-owner.
Growing up, Mahlangu had no idea the street would become so famous. Now, she gets to spend every day in the heartland of history. What was meant to be a coffee trolley turned into a vibey restaurant attracting locals and people from the (northern) suburbs alike, not to mention celebrities and tourists who “want to see Soweto but don’t want to compromise their palates”.
“Sometimes it is quite overwhelming,” says Mahlangu. It is a happy problem.
The Café has since turned into a bistro and bar. People come back for the food, service, ambience and to meet the young entrepreneur. Some of Mahlangu’s former customers from Sandton are regular patrons here too.
Thrive Café brought to the fore Mahlangu’s true ability to succeed under tremendous pressure in a highly competitive industry.  She is grateful the eatery is popular.
“Sometimes we don’t put chairs outside because it is just too busy. People queue up like they do at Tasha’s,” she says. Her team is her greatest support when things get tough and there is a true sense of camaraderie between them.
Mahlangu dedicated her time to what she truly loved, and was willing to learn and dream big.
Her life began in Soweto, and she chose to return to make it a better place.

Tag: Coffee

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