Coffee: On the road again
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Sitting down to write this week’s column on an unusual topic: coffee, I was reminded of the song ‘On the road again’ by American country music legend Willie Nelson. What is the connection here? Well……coffee appears to be making a comeback since the days, many moons ago, when coffee was Sri Lanka’s (then Ceylon) main export commodity until replaced by tea.The idea for this week’s topic came during a conversation last week with ‘Shifty’ Silva, the always-inquisitive IT expert. “I say……I have been intrigued by the rapid rise in cafés largely selling and promoting the coffee-drinking culture,” he said. “That’s true. There is a growing legion of coffee drinkers in Sri Lanka,” I said.
“In this context, I was wondering why there aren’t ‘tea cafes’ because tea is more popular than coffee particularly in rural areas,” he said. “A good point indeed. It would be nice to see some ‘tea cafes’ made up of thatched huts with a pleasing interior in Colombo selling different types of tea particularly to tourists,” I said. Dilmah and a few other companies are the only ones that have exclusive tea cafes in Colombo.
More than 80 per cent of the coffee grown in Sri Lanka is by smallholder-farmers and driving this new growth is the Australian-led Market Development Facility (MDF) which is using the challenges of climate change to promote coffee production.
According to local news reports, experts say that “countries like Sri Lanka are looking at overcoming the current concerns of climate change to cultivate coffee and cover the gaps in world market production levels as they look at catering to specialty high priced niche markets”.
The MDF along with Australian Aid has made recommendations on the cultivation of coffee in Sri Lanka following a study carried out in the country in the five districts of Kegalle, Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya and Badulla “on how the impact of climate change can be overcome in trying to take up on the opportunities in using the land to grow this plant”.
While Sri Lanka is seen as an emerging coffee producing country, its volume of exports is still low compared to other major producing nations such as Brazil and Uganda, as well as regional producers such as Vietnam and India.
It is reported that the varieties of coffee grown in Sri Lanka are mainly Arabica coffee, Robusta coffee and Liberica coffee. Plantation industry experts say that there is wide scope to increase coffee growing as 50,000 hectares of land out of 200,000 hectares of tea land have been abandoned, providing a good incentive to transform such land into coffee growing.
Globally after water, tea is considered the most consumed drink while coffee comes third in this ranking. According to global statistics, an estimated 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed every day; the market value of coffee is over US$120 billion while the top producer is Brazil followed by Vietnam.
According to statistics by the Global Coffee market insights report, Sri Lanka’s coffee market by 2029 is expected to grow by 10 per cent to a market volume of $106.50 million. Revenues were projected to have hit $6.64 million (by 2024) an annual growth rate, culminating in $10.12 million by 2029. Globally, the US leads the market, with a projected $2.45 billion in revenue in 2024.
The report said that coffee consumption in Sri Lanka is expected to rise modestly, reaching 7,100 metric tons by 2028, up from 7,000 metric tons in 2023.
The MDF study revealed an opportunity for Sri Lanka to expand coffee production in a climate-resilient manner, adding that climate change is altering weather patterns and ecosystems. It said that Sri Lankan plantations are looking at the prospects of growing Arabica coffee on the estates in a bid to capture a market that is said to be fast reducing in quantities available in the global market.
When the Dutch (and later the British) invaded Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) they planted coffee in the mid-1800 and one wonders now, what would have been the country’s economy and landscape if this continued unabated. While the tea landscape is pleasant to the eye and attracts many locals and foreign tourists, would coffee have had a similar and pleasant landscape?
Between 1869 and the 1880s, a devastating fungal disease known as coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix) wiped out nearly all coffee plantations, causing production to plummet from a peak in 1870 to almost negligible levels by 1900, according to historical records.
Coffee was grown as a commercial crop in Sri Lanka first by the Dutch and then by the British, making a fortune in this product. According to recorded history, in 1870, Ceylon was one of the world’s top coffee producers, with over 275,000 acres under cultivation.
The leaf disease emerged in 1867 and by 1869 destroyed the industry, leading to the transition to tea and the rest is history.
At the peak of its popularity, Ceylon supplied nearly one-third of Europe’s coffee imports.
As I took a breather, I had told Kussi Amma Sera to prepare a hot mug of coffee to go with today’s column. I was in luck’s way because Aldoris, the choon-paan karaya, had come down the road with his breakfast goodies. There on the kitchen table were two hot ‘maalu-paans’ along with a mug of coffee (in fact, the first time I was drinking coffee in the morning because my favourite drink is tea).
While relaxing in the kitchen with a ‘maalu-paan’ in one hand and coffee in the other, I listened to the conversation under the margosa tree by the trio. “Ara iskola lamaya, guruwaru thun denek ekka sambandha kamak thibba kiyala thiyena prashney demav piyanwa kanassallata path karana ekak (The issue of a schoolboy being involved in a relationship with three teachers is a worrying issue for parents),” said Kussi Amma Sera. “Egollangey anagathaya aparadey vinasha wenna yanney mae kriya karakam nisa (The future, unfortunately for the boy and the teachers, would be destroyed by these acts),” noted Serapina. “Iskola wala prashna godak thiyenawa mae davas wala math-dravya bavithaya saha wena wenath rina asadana nisa (Schools have many problems to overcome these days like drug use and other negative influences),” added Mabel Rathiyadu.
Be that as it may, in returning to the subject of coffee, the future seems bright for this commodity and if the government also plays a big role by allocating failed tea land for coffee production, this beverage can return to its glorious past like during the days of the British Raj.
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