2020 NOVEMBER DISCOVERY
Vietnam
RAW COCOA, STEWED APPLE, TOASTED TEACAKE
ESPRESSO ROAST
FARM: DUNG K’NO SMALLHOLDERS / LOT 2
REGION: LAM DONG PROVINCE
PROCESS: SEMI WASHED
VARIETALS: CATIMOR
ALTITUDE: 1500 MASL
DUNG K’NO SMALLHOLDERS
These very special coffees come from smallholder Arabica producers living within the Central Highlands of Vietnam, known as the K’No people. Characterised by their local language - the K’No people, one of many ethnic minorities in Vietnam - started growing coffee around 20 years ago on very small plots (less than 2 hectares).
The main variety of Arabica grown in the region is Catimor, although wild single yellow bourbon and mocha trees are also likely found in producer’s lots. Catimor was originally chosen for its adaptation to local climate & altitude, as well as its resistance to coffee leaf rust and coffee berry diseases. More recently, however, the Vietnamese government has started to recommend locally selected alternatives to Catimor, unknown to the global market. This could mean exciting new coffee varieties for the specialty coffee market in the future.
Farmers in the region are accustomed to pulping and sun-drying their own parchment. Drawbacks to this system, in addition to the labour required, are that the infrastructure is highly variable and often quite rustic. Furthermore, the weather in the region is highly unpredictable due to the mountains’ influence, and showers can rapidly deteriorate the drying product, resulting in mouldy and fermented coffee. In order to preserve the improved quality resulting from careful cultivation and harvesting, this coffee is centrally processed at our partner’s wet mill, where processing is managed with a scrupulous eye to detail and quality control.
Once the cherry has been hand-picked, it is taken to the nearest individual collection point. Rather than relying on assigned collectors, our partner has established collection points for cherry, which helps ensure a higher quality end product. Here, each bag undergoes stringent quality control, separating out; % ripe cherries, % damaged cherries, exclusion of old lots and any of unfit quality. After individual sacks have been checked for quality, Lots are defined by day of collection. Within those lots, the quantity & quality of cherry is recorded for each producer. This means that at the end of the harvest, our partner knows the exact volume and average quality sold by each farmer and is able to pay them accordingly. Farmers that deliver the higher quality cherry will be paid a premium for their hard work.
At the end of each day, the harvest is transported by truck from Dung K'No to Duc Trong wet mill (~90 km away). Cherries are unloaded into a water tank and are then delivered to a flotation tank to eliminate ‘floaters’ (empty cherries or insect-eaten cherries). There is no fermentation of coffee cherry at Duc Trong wet mill, as beans are immediately taken to the mill’s Penagos processing line; an eco-friendly de-pulper known for its reduced water consumption. After the coffee is eco pulped, it is run through a demucilager, before being delivered to raised beds next to the mill for sun-drying. Depending on the weather, drying can last from 4 to 10 days. In some instances of unfavourable drying conditions, partially dried coffee will be moved to their mechanical dryer to finish the process. After processing, all coffee is cupped according to strict protocols, and lots are separated according to cup profiles with only the best profiles making it as speciality lots.
HISTORY OF COFFEE IN VIETNAM
Coffee was introduced to Vietnam in the 1800s and was grown on many French-owned colonial plantations. Nonetheless, due to a variety of political and economic factors (including the civil/cold war and subsequent Communist prohibitions on private land ownership), Vietnam was slow to achieve any real relevance as a coffee-producing nation. As of 1990, Vietnam was responsible for a tiny 1% of world coffee trade.
This had all changed by 1990, by which point Vietnam had reached its current place as the second-highest producing coffee country in the world (after Brazil) – a result of heavy investment in coffee production made possible by the liberalisation of land ownership under Đoi moi reforms in the mid-1980s and World Bank/IMF policy recommendations, incentivising farmers to produce coffee for export. The country’s story of rapid growth, however, left little room for high-quality coffee. Some 95-97% of the country’s production is Robusta, and although Arabica coffee production has been increasing in recent years due to the expansion in the growing area and yield improvement, it still accounts for very little of the overall coffee production in Vietnam.
Coffee production in Vietnam is concentrated in the Central Highlands (80%), and the small portion of Arabica grown in the country hails almost entirely from the Lam Dong province, where the K’No people are located. Dung K’No, home to the K’No people, is a commune of around 500 households, for whom the main source of income is agriculture. Some residents may also have a secondary job e.g. working for the public sector, but will likely still produce some crops to provide food and an extra income. For many families, coffee farming is the only source of cash earnings. Other crops may include rice, maize vegetables and fruit trees such as bananas and peaches; however, these are mainly reserved for personal consumption. Similarly, small scale farming of pigs, chicken and cattle are kept to provide sustenance.
