Coffee in Nepal is still young – only about 20 years old. The country produces perhaps 30 containers of coffee annually, and it’s estimated that more than half is for domestic consumption – driving high (government-guaranteed) parchment minimums. In a country renowned for its tea, you’ll see coffee cafe after coffee cafe in Kathmandu. A good sign for sure, this is a place that has a thirst for coffee.
Commercial cultivation of coffee in Nepal only began in the 80’s as a secondary cash crop behind tea. Moving west from Kathmandu, coffee speckles the countryside, being cultivated in full sun on heavily terraced mountainsides that can span over 1,000 ft in elevation. Coffee harvests are difficult and distributed as a result. In general, Nepalese farmers aggregate around small pulpers. 30 or so farmers will contribute to a washing station that consists of a hand pulper, a couple raised beds and some buckets and bags for fermentation. Annual production of one of these groups might be 10-15 bags. Coops aggregate coffees further, paying government mandated prices (two-tiered based on general quality, and almost all farmers receive the premium for top quality, regardless of the actual quality due to high demand).
In 2015, massive earthquakes hit Nepal. In a 2018 visit, the undeveloped land in front of one of Kathmandu’s fanciest hotels was still serving as a ramshackle camp for displaced families. The earthquake stopped the country in its tracks for quite a while. The young coffee industry was especially vulnerable.
While coffee production is small, specialty coffee production – in its more sophisticated forms – is almost non-existent. Tenzig, a western-educated Nepali with significant landholdings, is an anomaly. His circumstances are exceptional but less so than the man himself – a highly intelligent, curious, humble person, working feverishly to elevate Nepali coffee. The vast majority of Nepali coffee is from new producers without adequate training in cultivation or processing, loosely knitted together into coops. Despite the proximity to the Himalayas, most of the Nepali coffee we saw was grown at modest elevations and in more arid conditions than one might expect. Domestic consumption and high payment minimums (~2.5/LB) drive up the price of coffee in Nepal, despite the fact that conditions in general aren’t ideal for specialty. For these reasons, when you do see Nepalese coffee in the US, it’s often (1) expensive and (2) insufficient from a quality perspective.
As the cafe culture continues to flourish in Nepal, driven by domestic consumption and a steady stream of tourism, it’s inevitable that quality of prepared coffee improves. It’s also inevitable that cafes and green buyers begin to push for higher qualities coming from Nepalese producers. It would appear that production in general will continue to increase because of the incentive of strong parchment prices. It may be a long time before Nepal is on the radar for large-scale specialty coffee production, but we’re already seeing very unique coffees, processed immaculately and we have reason to believe that we’ll be seeing a good deal more of it in years to come.
