The Okay’Ho Espresso Farm and Roastery is an arabica espresso farm named after the native tribe that owns and operates it. We chat with co-founders Rolan and Josh about Vietnamese espresso, the tribe’s lifestyles, and extra.
BY TANYA NANETTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT
Pictures via Tanya Nanetti
All through our weeks in Vietnam, we had the chance to seek advice from many specialty-coffee stores and roasters all through the rustic, making an attempt signature beverages, in the community grown robusta, and regional specialties.
However as Vietnam is likely one of the biggest espresso manufacturers on this planet, shall we now not pass over the chance to seek advice from a espresso farm. So after we reached Dà Lat—the principle town in Vietnam’s Central Highlands and the unofficial espresso capital of the rustic—we organized to seek advice from Okay’Ho Espresso Farm and Roastery close by. This espresso farm is known as after the native tribe that owns and operates it, and grows completely arabica beans.
Meet Rolan and Josh
So it used to be that on a sunny iciness morning we took a cab to Okay’Ho Espresso to satisfy our hosts for the day, co-founders Rolan Co Lieng and Josh Guikema, companions in trade and lifestyles.
Whilst Rolan set the entirety up within the espresso store for the day’s paintings, Josh gave us a excursion. We began with a take a look at Okay’Ho Village, a wonderful house the place time turns out to have stood nonetheless—youngsters nonetheless play within the streets and napping canines roam the dusty central boulevard—and everybody seems to grasp one every other.
Then it used to be time to discover the espresso farm, slowly immersing ourselves within the small greenhouse within the again with the tiny espresso bushes, the close by plantation segment and processing house (with raised beds filled with beans left to naturally ferment), and, as soon as again on the café, the roasting nook and brewing house.
It used to be already transparent that we had been in a distinct position, a novel espresso store run via an area tribe providing in the community grown, processed, and roasted espresso.
We had the chance to take a seat down over a cup of washed arabica to be informed extra in regards to the Okay’Ho espresso farm and the tribe’s lifestyles, beginning with the fundamentals: seeking to higher perceive the espresso scene in Vietnam.
Okay’Ho Espresso Farm and Roastery’s Roots
“My spouse Rolan and I began our roasting trade at the farm in 2014,“ Josh mentioned. “She grew up on a espresso farm in a fantastic mountain village within the central highlands of Vietnam, whilst I’m in the beginning from Michigan, USA. We met nearly by accident, at a network fireplace dance in her village, whilst I used to be using my bike throughout Vietnam.“
Josh defined that finding espresso thru Rolan used to be an exhilarating building for him. “After a while, when she first introduced me house to satisfy her folks, they had been at paintings harvesting of their espresso box within the hills, and it used to be love in the beginning sight for me,“ he mentioned. “I stopped up spending the season serving to with their circle of relatives’s espresso harvest, making an attempt other strategies of processing arabica cherries, and finding that the espresso used to be in point of fact just right! Quickly after, we purchased a coffee-roasting system and began a small trade that grew organically.“
However the historical past of Okay’Ho espresso has older roots. Consistent with Josh, it used to be Rolan’s great-grandfather who “planted espresso bushes (the oldest at the plantation are of the arabica Bourbon selection) in our village about 100 years in the past, with seeds first presented all over Vietnam’s French colonial generation, at a time when a cog railway gadget used to be being constructed within the house up the steep terrain, connecting coastal ports to the hill stations at the plateau the place we’re.“
Arabica and robusta in Vietnam
Josh additionally shared a incontrovertible fact that stuck us utterly via marvel: Opposite to well-liked trust, the historical past of Vietnamese espresso is in some ways extra associated with arabica than robusta.
“The primary espresso planted in Vietnam used to be arabica, traditionally disbursed in some high-altitude spaces, whilst robusta used to be presented to Vietnam extra lately and extensively planted within the Nineteen Eighties-Nineteen Nineties and has since transform an export massive because of the recognition and comfort of immediate and soluble coffees,“ Josh mentioned. “However we at Okay’Ho Espresso like to be tied to our roots, proceeding to develop the outdated heirloom types and roast most effective natural arabica beans.“
The Espresso Scene in Vietnam
Josh defined that espresso stores are on nearly each and every nook in Vietnam. “You’ll at all times discover a relaxed area to attend out a monsoon downpour whilst you’re to your motorcycle,“ he mentioned. “However, as is the case in maximum coffee-producing nations, it is usually simple to discover a unhealthy cup of espresso as a result of many grimy beans that don’t seem to be appropriate for export are ate up in the community. Historically, robusta is brewed within the iconic Vietnamese steel dripper known as Phin, and served with candy condensed milk and ice, in a drink known as ca phe sua da. However issues are slowly converting, and these days many superb specialty-coffee puts also are arising in Vietnam, the place you’ll get the most productive cup of single-origin arabica. You simply wish to know the place to search for it.“
As soon as Rolan joined us with a 2d brew—a super-sweet honey-processed espresso—we realized about Okay’Ho Espresso and what occurs at the farm all over the manufacturing yr.
“We’re a community-based circle of relatives trade. Which means—along with the various volunteers and collaborators outdoor the village to whom we’re utterly thankful—all of our group individuals are a part of the coffee-farming network with a shared heritage as a standard artisanal village of the Okay’Ho Hills tribe,“ Rolan mentioned. “We produce most commonly washed arabica (in restricted amounts, being utterly single-origin), in addition to some honey-processed and herbal coffees that you’ll check out in case you come and seek advice from our farm retailer.“
And as soon as right here, why now not spend an afternoon serving to the farm as a volunteer? As Josh mentioned, “It’s an eye-opening enjoy, particularly for a barista or roaster, to spend an afternoon within the lifetime of a espresso farmer, and can give a brand new appreciation for the paintings required to provide a bag of inexperienced espresso.“
Occurring to speak about the day by day duties required via operating a farm and roasting/espresso store, Rolan defined that “there’s a cycle of actions at the farm according to the season. As an example, harvest season is the busiest and most enjoyable time of the yr, whilst within the wet season we do tree pruning and box care. However there may be a day by day regimen: On a regular day within the village, we rise up early and roast a number of batches of espresso to be packed and shipped the similar day, headed to other espresso stores in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, and to many house brewers scattered across the nation. When it’s 8 a.m., we open the café and welcome visitors for espresso, looking forward to guests to return to our farm to enjoy an afternoon within the lifetime of a espresso farmer, or simply to have a cup of in the community grown espresso.“
Fashionable Tribal Lifestyles
Rolan informed us in regards to the Okay’Ho tribe and what it method to are living in a tribal village in modern day Vietnam.
“The mountainous highland area of Vietnam’s Lam Dong province is the ancient house of the Okay’Ho tribe, a culturally matriarchal tribe the place historically after marriage the husband strikes to are living along with his spouse’s circle of relatives,“ Rolan says.
“Our farm and roastery is positioned in a standard Okay’Ho handicraft village, identified for generating stunning handwoven textiles with intricate and colourful designs,” she persevered. “In fact in fashionable lifestyles there are lots of task alternatives outdoor the village, however many Okay’Ho nonetheless make a choice to stick with the tribe and paintings in mountain farming. Maximum households have a area within the village and a plot of espresso with a small paintings shed within the mountains. In the end, espresso remains to be the most important crop for the network, and households at all times come in combination to take part in harvest paintings.“
Talking of households, we additionally realized in regards to the further individuals of the couple’s circle of relatives.
“Now we have 4 youngsters and lift (them) on our farm: They have got a herbal formative years within the village with a robust network a number of the gardens with many prolonged family members and pals close by,“ Rolan mentioned. “The kids attend public faculty and spend some weekends taking part in in combination at the espresso farms whilst their folks and grandparents paintings.“
Prior to pronouncing good-bye, we requested Josh about his determination to modify his lifestyles via shifting from america to a Vietnamese tribe village. Used to be it simple from day one? Used to be it value it?
“My spouse’s circle of relatives and network had been very welcoming from the very starting after I moved together with her to the village,“ Josh mentioned. “I’m in point of fact thankful to are living in Vietnam, and I really like the folks and the panorama. It’s great to look a network and a circle of relatives residing and dealing in combination, and I feel this is lacking in my nation.“
Most likely it used to be the friendliness of Rolan, Josh, and the opposite villagers, or the satisfied faces of the kids we noticed taking part in football at the dusty street. Or possibly it used to be the non violent surroundings a number of the lush mountains, or the scrumptious espresso we simply had. No matter it used to be, we left Okay’Ho Espresso with the information that shall we now not have agreed extra with Josh.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tanya Nanetti (she/her) is a specialty-coffee barista, a traveler, and a dreamer. When she’s now not in the back of the espresso system (or visiting some hidden nook of the arena), she’s busy writing for Espresso Rebel, a website online about uniqueness espresso that she’s developing together with her boyfriend.
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