Monday, February 10, 2025
Spice country
Not wanting to repeat my last night-bus panic, Thomas Mathew took me early for the bus to my next destination – Mananthavady. We were a full hour early, in fact, for a bus that ended up being a full hour and a half late. This is referred to as Indian Standard Time, but 90 minutes was overdoing it; 20 to 30 minutes is within the range of the acceptable, I was told.
There were no beds this time, but super reclining seats called “semi sleeper.” Ah, you can put your seat waaaay back and relax. The only thing is, the seat in front of you is practically in your lap. Ah, well, sleep came quickly anyway. As the morning sun ascended, we also ascended a winding road into the highlands. This is the Wayanad District with its cool, invigorating air and panoramic landscapes. The whole bus seemed to be enjoying the view, perhaps including the driver, because there was a sudden thud and we pulled to the side of the road. It turned out to be a minor fender-bender that, by my calculations, would take anywhere from one to eight hours to sort out. Fortunately, my calculations were thoroughly wrong and we were under way in thirty minutes. By 5:00 AM, our scheduled arrival time, we were almost … nowhere near Mananthavady. It seemed another four hours were required. But no worries, I had my “gaman clock” set on high. When the bus finally came to its final stop, I was met by the smiling face of Siby (2011 ARI Graduate), somehow at no loss of patience, though he had been waiting since 5:00.
My “gaman clock,” for those of you who are seeing this for the first time, is my way of preparing for potentially frustrating travel situations by estimating the hardest scenario (i.e. a super late bus), and then doubling it. This way I can be thrilled when things go better than expected, which is more pleasant than the opposite approach. “Gaman” is a Japanese word denoting “endurance.”
Wayanad literally means “paddy place,” but my experience here was all about coffee, tea, and spices. That black pepper you keep on the table, there is a chance it was grown in these hills! Siby suggested a cup of tea before proceeding, and I wasn’t about to say no to that. Tea was followed by a short drive through a forest preserve wherein Siby noted that elephant and tiger attacks are on the rise. Hmm.
Vanamoolika
Our destination that morning was Vanamoolika. I like that name. Try saying it. Vanamoolika. So smooth. Vanamoolika is not a place, but a cooperative with about 350 women members. They started as a Self-Help Group (SHG) more than twenty years ago for the purpose of conserving medicinal herbs used to make ayurvedic medicines. Now, they are growing over 700 types of herbs and medicinal plants, all organically.
Being organic is a remarkable aspect of their work, but to reach organic markets, they needed organic certification, which requires a skill set different from what most farmers have. It’s about paperwork and strict regulations. So, to deal with this, another cooperative was formed called Organic Wayanad, a non-profit organization that specializes in promoting organic farming and assisting farmers in gaining organic certification. They work not only with Vanamoolika, but also with a network of 1,500 local farmers who grow coffee and spices.
So, we’ve now got the organic products and the certification, but what about making some money? Of course, these farmers want to earn a living from their hard work on their land, but for that, a formal company is required to manage the processing and marketing; not a non-profit, but an actual company. Why? Well, the explanation included something about Indian law and something else, and, to be honest, I didn’t catch most of it. Suffice it to say that Vanamoolika Herbals and Research Private Limited was created to fulfill the need.
Confused? If not, you are smarter than I am. With three separate but related organizations in one building, I had to ask Siby for clarification about a dozen times. To review, we have:
Wayanad Vanamoolika Swasrya Sangham – the full name of the original co-op of 350 women who are conserving and cultivating medicinal plants organically.
Organic Wayanad – a non-profit that promotes organic farming in the region and assists local farmers with obtaining organic certification
Vanamoolika Herbals and Research Private Limited – a private company that manages processing and marketing. They run a large processing center and have developed stable export markets in Europe. The farmers are given fair compensation for their produce through a profit-sharing scheme. Some of those same farmers come to this facility to work, as well. Thus, they can earn extra income and money remains in circulation within the community.
I probably didn’t need to spend so much time explaining all this, because the bottom line is they all work together for the sake of the local community. The three organizations are dependent on each other and everyone benefits. Everyone makes a decent living. It works, and it is inspiring to see. If you want to learn more, have a look at their website http://vanamoolika.org
Coffee – the backstory
Ready to have a look around? Great, right after breakfast. This morning it’s idli with a coconut chutney. The spongy idli are a typical South Indian fare and ideal for soaking up their delicious curries.
Okay, now we can set off up the hill through the lush green of coffee growing under towering trees. Coffee loves shade companions. There were also plenty of pepper vines. Joining us is George, the project manager, to give all the necessary explanations. Since the coffee harvest was nearly over, most of the picking and processing was finished, but lucky for me, they were still dealing with the specialty coffees, so I got to see all the processing machines in action. Coffee going up, coffee tumbling down, coffee shooting out of pipes and being carried in big baskets. You would never imagine all that your coffee goes through before reaching your favorite mug. Let me take a few minutes to enlighten you, at least about the processing. The long work of growing and harvesting (by hand, to ensure the selection of only the ripe cherries) is already done by the time it reaches this point. All that remains to do now is…pre- cleaning to extract leaves and other debris…color sorting to remove green, unripe cherries…first washing to take out damaged or otherwise unsuitable cherries…pulping to strip off the flesh from the seed; with coffee we throw out the fruit and keep the “pit”…second washing to remove any remaining pulp…drying in the sun…peeling off the parchment “skin” from around the bean…stone separation, because, after all this, there may still be stones mixed in…grading, into nine grades based mainly on size and cracking. The highest grade is AAA. And lastly, packing for export.
And…this does not include roasting, which is an art form unto itself. Most coffee import companies prefer to do it themselves, to ensure quality and freshness, and to get it to the perfect degree of light or dark or somewhere in between. Though it’s the last step in this long labor chain, improper roasting can completely ruin a coffee, and that is the epitome of mottanai. (Mottanai is a Japanese word that translates to something like “a tragic waste.”)
for the connoisseurs
Today they are making fermented coffee, requested by some of their buyers. This means skipping the second cleaning and putting it in containers with some homemade natural yeast for five days for anaerobic fermentation. The result is less acidity for easier digestion. They also make parchment coffee, which omits the step of peeling the skin from the seed, and honey coffee which leaves out the second cleaning, meaning a bit of the cherry flesh is dried together with the bean. Both of these affect the “flavor profile” of the coffee. The honey coffee is said to have a fruity essence.
The extra processing required for these specialty coffees raises their prices. That’s value adding. It also helps to stabilize relationships between the buyers, processers, and farmers. “If you can do this,” says the buyer, “I’ll buy more!” Talking with the farmers and training them to produce an exact type of coffee the buyer desires, for a price the farmer likes, takes time and effort. The result is a long-term relationship that is not easily broken for the sake of seeking better prices elsewhere. All parties are invested in each other in a healthy way.
Monkey coffee
Looking to expand their specialty coffee market, Vanamoolika took a shot at making “monkey coffee” and “bat coffee.” Yes, I too had the image of a group of monkeys sitting around in a coffee shop, sipping espressos, complete with bats on the ceiling somehow managing to drink upside down from tiny mugs. Actually, the idea was that these animals would pick only the ripest cherries, and spit out the bean for our (ahem) benefit. It was an attempt to emulate the lucrative, though controversial, Kopi Luwak of Indonesia. A nice try, but it didn’t work. Buyers said they couldn’t find any discernable difference in taste.
By the way, have you ever heard of “cupping?” It is like wine tasting, only for coffee. The European buyers are expert cuppers and visit every year to train the co-op members in cupping, processing, roasting, and even harvesting – how to identify the best cherries to pick. This place must be heaven for coffee lovers. You can even come here for an internship to participate in all aspects of organic farming, processing, marketing, as well as ayurvedic medicine preparation.
ARI’s part
Personally, I have learned more about coffee from our graduates than I ever knew there was to learn. Not only here, but in Indonesia, Thailand, and Cameroon and very soon, Vietnam. Most of them are organic, and almost always work within cooperatives to ensure the participation and benefit of whole communities. ARI teaches nothing about coffee farming, but we teach about leadership and that is what our graduates take home. Coffee farming – they already know how to do that, but organizing people to work together, that is where ARI comes in. That is why we train local leaders.
Siby worked at Vanamoolika as a field officer for 11 years, helping farmers form Self Help Groups (SHGs) and credit unions. It was during this time he went to ARI. Having majored in agriculture at the university, he already knew a thing or two about farming, but ARI still managed to broaden his horizons and he was eager to share his new learning back at home. Specifically, he mentioned introducing fermented plant juice and bamboo vinegar for insect and disease management. He also taught how to make rice husk charcoal; an ingredient used in making tooth paste. They are still making it today.
