Unique potted coffee of K'ho girls

From coffee beans, Ka Nhuy - a K'ho girl at the foot of Dai Binh mountain has transformed with a special brewing method, creating a coffee style full of highland character.

Ka Nhuy harvests ripe coffee

“Bao Lam people specialize in growing coffee, and I, like my neighbors, have been involved with this crop since I was young. Therefore, the aroma of coffee is as familiar to me as the smell of cooked rice from the stove,” Ka Nhuy recounted the feelings about coffee beans of a K'ho farmer in village 15, Bao Lam 3 commune ( Lam Dong ). Initially, Ka Nhuy, like most of the surrounding farmers, grew and sold buckets of coffee beans after harvesting. Later, she realized that selling buckets to traders affected farmers' income. Encouraged by her family, Ka Nhuy made small-scale roasted coffee.

“At first, I roasted and ground coffee by hand, mainly supplying to friends and relatives in Can Tho City, where my husband was working. Gradually, customer demand expanded, the Lek Coffee brand was born and was widely accepted by consumers,” Ka Nhuy recounted her steps. Currently, in the Bao Lam coffee community, Lek Coffee is highly appreciated for its local character, thinking associated with the culture of the Southern Central Highlands region as well as its connection with local coffee farmers.

Not stopping at roasting and grinding, providing coffee beans and ground coffee, Ka Nhuy also came up with the idea that Tay Nguyen rice wine is famous for its strong yeast and unique mountain and forest aroma. What if we incubate coffee beans in jars of rice wine, similar to how people in Bao Lam and Bao Loc incubate tea aroma. So in 2022, Ka Nhuy experimented right in his home garden.

When the coffee harvest season comes, Ka Nhuy waits for the fruit to ripen, then picks and dries the whole fresh coffee beans until the moisture content in the coffee beans is 12 - 13%. After drying, grind and remove the outer shell, dry it, and continue to remove the broken, black and flat beans. Then, separate the remaining silk shell, roast for 3 - 5 minutes to reduce the moisture, drain and incubate in a jar for about 6 months. The jars used to incubate coffee are jars that have been used up and have been used up, still imbued with the aroma of the wine. Ka Nhuy washes the jars, dries them in the sun, then bakes them on a stove and lets them cool. Green coffee beans are filled in the jars and incubated for 6 months. After 6 months, the beans are taken out, roasted, ground and processed into finished products. The coffee beans and roasted coffee have the flavor of the wine leaves.

At first, Ka Nhuy only made a few jars, mainly for friends and relatives to try. Unexpectedly, the coffee beans with the flavor of Tay Nguyen wine were favored by the market. In 2024, she brewed over 200 jars, about 500 kg of coffee. In the 2025 coffee season, she plans to order 1,000 jars and perfect this unique coffee product. Ka Nhuy shared that if she wants the coffee brewed in jars to have a delicious flavor, she must first ensure the quality of the fresh fruit, carefully care for it, pick it ripe, and dry it in the sun and wind. Then, the type of jar used must be the traditional type of the K'ho people, the jars must be of medium size, with walls 1.5 - 2 cm thick, enough to absorb the wine yeast. Good coffee, good jars will produce a product with a strong aroma.

Mr. Truong Van Tung - Chairman of the Provincial Farmers' Association assessed that Ka Nhuy's solution of fermenting rice wine is a good direction, contributing to the preservation and development of local identity and beauty, aiming at mass production, at the same time, increasing the value of local products, improving competitiveness in the market. The K'ho girl won the Encouragement Prize in the 8th Provincial Farmers' Technical Innovation Contest, 2024 - 2025.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/doc-la-ca-phe-u-choe-cua-co-gai-k-ho-395745.html