Growing up with memories of the March coffee flower seasons, the image of the ripe red coffee garden was deeply ingrained in Ngo Thi Quynh Trang's mind. Leaving behind the bustling city, the young girl and her husband returned to their hometown to start a business, bringing coffee beans from Lam Ha far away.
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| Quynh Trang and Quoc Thang (in blue) welcome foreign guests to visit the raw material area and experience the coffee processing process. |
• BANANA FLAVOR COFFEE
The time approaching the Lunar New Year of At Ty is also the time when Lam Ha Robusta coffee gardens turn dark red, carefully harvested by farmers for processing. The greenhouse of LikeFarm Cooperative in Lien Ket village, Da Don commune, Lam Ha district is also continuously covered with drying racks, preparing to produce batches of high-quality green coffee beans in the 2024 - 2025 crop season.
LikeFarm, short for Lien Ket, is both the address of the cooperative and the meaning of linking with farmers with the desire to make the best and most unique green coffee beans of the couple Ngo Thi Quynh Trang and Mai Nguyen Quoc Thang. This year, LikeFarm continues to launch a batch of high-quality green beans processed by naural and honey methods. Among them, it is impossible not to mention the coffee sample fermented from banana honey wine - an interesting random combination, highly appreciated by customers. "We also did not expect the product to be so popular with customers. The product was also certified to achieve 84.38 points for the Arabica sample and 85.75 points for the Robusta sample", Quynh Trang shared.
The idea of fermenting banana nectar wine came to Trang by chance, when that year, the price of Laba bananas was very low. Hundreds of banana bunches in Trang’s mother’s garden could not be sold and were at risk of being thrown away. Trang wanted to try combining coffee fermentation with bananas, like many people who make high-quality coffee still ferment with oranges, tangerines, pineapples, etc. to give the coffee beans a richer fruit flavor. Trang’s banana nectar wine recipe was shared by a friend. “This is also a way for me to create a unique product from the famous Laba bananas of Phu Son, Lam Dong ,” Trang said.
After being judged as a specialty coffee, Trang and Thang brought their sample of Arabica coffee with banana wine flavor to sponsor a coffee roasting competition with the belief that from the highest quality green beans, under the creativity of each roaster, they will produce the best batches of coffee, with many unique flavors and increase the sophistication of the coffee.
Through meetings, experiences and sharing between growing, processing, manufacturing and trading units, Trang receives more and more orders. Quynh Trang said that LikeFarm is currently cooperating with 57 farming households in Lam Ha district. They are all experienced farmers, so the unit is completely assured to look forward to a new processing season.
• BRINGING SPECIALTIES COFFEE FAR AWAY
Quynh Trang is from Lam Ha, while Quoc Thang was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City. The couple graduated with a master's degree in Economics from Hong Bang University and both work in the education sector. However, Quynh Trang shared that the trips home made her forever miss the coffee tree. Because Trang's parents are also from Hanoi who went to build a new economy and have been attached to coffee trees on the plateau for many years.
Unlike Trang, Mr. Quoc Thang - Director of LikeFarm Cooperative, when returning to his hometown, had to start getting used to picking each fruit, carrying each bag of coffee, staying up late and waking up early to process it. But it seems that his love for a girl born and raised in the highlands helped him quickly adapt and now completely take on the appearance of a farmer with tanned skin and a gentle smile.
Trang said that the couple's decision to return was supported by their family, but their idea of making high-quality green coffee beans using naural and honey methods was met with skepticism from their parents and those around them. "This method is not really popular here, so at first we encountered many difficulties. For example, convincing people to pick ripe coffee with a rate of about 80% or to switch to organic and safe farming... Even though the cooperative had committed to buying at a higher price than the general level. Changing a habit is not easy," Trang recalled.
When it comes to making coffee, Trang truly understands the hard work of her parents and farmers to produce delicious cups of coffee for consumers. Each stage bears the mark of human hands with meticulousness, care and heart.
In recent years, Trang and her husband have always taken advantage of their time to visit places with advanced agriculture to learn more about knowledge and experience in sustainable agriculture. At the same time, they bring their coffee to be evaluated by experts. This is one of the effective ways to gradually introduce Lam Ha coffee products to international friends.
“Every journey of a thousand miles must begin with the first small step. We are not sure how far we will go, but we still want to take steady steps to bring high-quality Vietnamese coffee to the world,” Quynh Trang shared.
Source: http://baolamdong.vn/kinh-te/202501/tu-tinh-yeu-voi-hat-ca-phe-cao-nguyen-1767da3/
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