Eric Coffee: Journey to conquer the market

Hoa Ninh Commune, Di Linh District - one of the famous coffee growing areas of the Southern Central Highlands is entering the harvest season of the year. There, although far from the city, there is a young coffee brand that is busy on its journey to conquer the market.

Eric Coffee's continuous roasting system

Ms. Bui Thi Thu, born in 1992, a young farmer in Hamlet 10, Hoa Ninh Commune, Di Linh District, was busy packing goods for customers while saying that Hoa Ninh Robusta coffee beans are in the peak harvest season, the plump coffee beans after roasting are fragrant. “I myself am the child of a farming family that has been attached to coffee trees for many years. On this land of Hoa Ninh, our parents, siblings, friends, and neighbors all live off coffee trees. If in the past, farmers harvested, dried, and then sold beans to agents, then as a young person, I passionately wanted to create a coffee brand aimed at domestic customers. Therefore, Eric Coffee was born in the middle of the epidemic in 2020," Ms. Bui Thi Thu shared.

After four years of exploration, Eric Coffee is gradually establishing its position in the market. According to Ms. Bui Thi Thu, the specialty coffee of Di Linh is Robusta coffee beans with a strong flavor and color but lacking the slight acidity and aroma of Arabica coffee. Therefore, in addition to Robusta coffee beans from local residents, Eric Coffee purchases Arabica from Cau Dat, Da Lat. With a reasonable blending ratio, Arabica and Robusta coffee will produce flavors suitable for each customer. In addition to Robusta and Arabica, Eric Coffee also processes Culi coffee, a specialty round bean coffee.

“To enter the market when we are a very new business, small in scale, in remote and difficult areas, Eric Coffee chose its own path, which is to ensure the quality of coffee beans as well as diversify communication activities and build the brand,” Ms. Bui Thi Thu informed. Accordingly, Eric Coffee branded roasted coffee is processed entirely from ripe red coffee beans, whether Robusta or Arabica, Eric Coffee chooses coffee beans of the same size, ripe, with a strong highland flavor. The business chooses a continuous roasting and packaging system, in which the coffee roaster uses a hot-air return roaster, for evenly ripe, fragrant coffee beans. The finished coffee is run directly into bags and packaged immediately after leaving the system, ensuring the freshest flavor to customers.

“Eric Coffee is a young business, located in remote areas, so we apply a lot of propaganda and brand building based on social networking platforms such as Facebook and TikTok,” said Ms. Bui Thi Thu. On online channels, Ms. Thu and her husband, Mr. Vo Hong Nguyen, share about the journey of farmers planting and caring for coffee trees from the time they are seeds until they flower and bear fruit. Drinkers can feel the hard work of farmers in the fields, the day-night growth cycle of coffee trees, the white flowers covering the sky... giving customers the most authentic feeling about the life of coffee trees and highland farmers.

Ms. Bui Thi Thu added that Eric Coffee has many coffee varieties, including the traditional Se coffee variety. She said that because the old Se coffee variety has low productivity, most people have now switched to replanting higher-yielding coffee varieties. Only a few areas, especially the K'Ho ethnic minority area, still retain the Se coffee variety, which produces small, fragrant, and flavorful coffee beans. Eric Coffee purchases traditional Se coffee beans from the people, blending them to create ground coffee products with a strong highland flavor. "In addition, we also personalize the needs of each customer," said Mr. Vo Hong Nguyen. If customers prefer stronger, lighter coffee, or different blending ratios between different types of coffee, Eric Coffee can meet all of those needs. This is the strength of a coffee business located right in the raw material area, with enough conditions to meet the diverse needs of each customer.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai - President of the Farmers' Association of Hoa Ninh Commune, Di Linh District, assessed that although it is a newly established roasted coffee brand in the locality, with its youthful energy, Eric Coffee has quickly gained loyal customers, purchased coffee for surrounding farmers and brought consumers cups of coffee with the bold flavor of the Di Linh plateau.

Source: http://baolamdong.vn/kinh-te/202412/eric-coffee-hanh-trinh-chinh-phuc-thi-truong-76f2ff4/